“You look asleep on your feet, Jesse. I have a guest room. It’s yours until you get your bearings. You said your friend might still come through for—”
“No,” Jesse said more firmly than he’d intended. “I need to come through for myself. I can’t wait on him anymore. If it wasn’t for you, I’d probably already be—”
“Hey. Shhh. Don’t even think that. No what-ifs, Jesse,” Mason said, gazing up at him as if Jesse were something mesmerizing. Then he blinked rapidly and sputtered about getting Jesse’s backpack and duffle bag out of the truck when the rain let up. “But I have some spare toiletries in the guest bath. I think you’ll find everything you need.”
“I don’t want to take up an entire room, like a guest or anything. I can just crash on the floor right here if you don’t mind.”
“I do mind.” Mason nodded. “I mind a lot.”
“Ellis, I—”
Mason cupped both Jesse’s cheeks, and instinctually his eyes fell closed, and he relished the comfort. “You are my guest, now.” Mason’s gaze bore into his as if he truly wanted Jesse to understand his words. “And it’s important to me that you’re comfortable, not crashing on my couch. It’s important that you’re safe.”
“Why me?” Jesse needed to know. If this was charity, then he’d treat it as such and vow to pay Mason back as soon as he could, but if it was more, if Mason was feeling even a fraction of the desire that Jesse felt for him, then he was all in for this exceptional man.
“Honestly—” Mason rubbed at the scruff on his chin. “—I really can’t say. All I know is from the moment I saw you wandering alone on the streets, nervous and terrified, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Every time I saw you while I was working, I struggled not to go to you and beg you to just come home with me.”
Jesse couldn’t speak because of the wedge of emotion clogging his throat, and Mason being the phenomenal person that he was knew that he needed a moment alone. An hour ago, Jesse thought he was going to be shot in the back and his body dumped in a creek. Now, he was staring into the eyes of the man who he believed was his angel, his savior… and maybe one day soon, his lover.
“We should maybe try to get some rest. It’ll be daylight soon.” Mason took a deep breath before slowly releasing him. “The guest room is the door on the left. There’s a bathroom in there with some products under the sink.”
“Okay. Good night,” Jesse whispered before he retreated down the dim hall. There was another bathroom opposite his room and an open door at the end of the hall with a large, unmade bed dominating most of the space that he assumed was Mason’s room.
Noted.
Mason
It was still dark outside and even darker in Mason’s bedroom, but his internal clock told him the day was about to break soon. The thunder from the storm continued to shake the foundation of his house, but that wasn’t why he struggled to sleep. It was because he was extremely conscious of the man he’d brought into his home who was just now stepping out of an almost hour-long shower.
Mason imagined Jesse wrapping a towel around his lean hips while drying the ends of his dirty-blond hair with another one. He was sure Jesse’s slick, warm skin smelled good, like the Men’s Dove accessories he had in the shower alcove. Mason groaned and turned over flat on his back, throwing his forearm over his eyes. He had to stop torturing himself.
He wasn’t sure how much time passed when he heard the door down from his open and light footsteps moving toward him. Mason had deliberately left his bedroom door open in invitation, in hopes Jesse would accept it. Jesse’s sexy body appeared in his doorway, draped in the heavy terry cloth robe Mason kept behind the guest bathroom door. Lightning flashed across the walls, and he caught a glimpse of the uncertainty on Jesse’s beautiful face.
“Hey.” Mason sat up on one elbow, his sheet falling to his lap and revealing his bare chest. Jesse’s eyes were hot and heavy on him, but it seemed as if he needed something more than what his body was saying.
“I wasn’t sure if you were up.” Jesse’s voice was shaky. “I’ve been wanting to sleep for weeks, and now… now that I’m… safe, I can’t seem to keep my eyes closed.”
“You can come in if you want,” Mason said, wishing his tone wasn’t so thick. “I’m struggling to rest too.”
“Because of the storm?”
“No,” Mason answered honestly. “Because of you.”
“I’m sorry… I—”
“I was worried you weren’t comfortable.”
“No. No, everything you’ve done is great. The shower made me feel human again, and the bed is really soft…” Jesse ran his hand through his hair. “It’s just—I’ve never been shot at before.”