Classy AF (Cheap Thrills 3)

He didn’t even need to think about his answer. “Kevlar on the outside. Texas is hot, our uniforms are hot, and the vests make it even hotter. Even with an undershirt you sweat onto the vest, and it doesn’t make for a comfortable or pleasantly scented experience.”

This intrigued me because it’s not something I’d ever thought about. “Can’t you wash them?”

“We can wash the carrier vest, the thing that you see that has the protective plates inside it, so long as we follow the instructions, but we have to take the Kevlar panels out and remove the straps first. It gives us a chance to make sure there’s no damage or wearing to the armor, too, so it’s a smart thing to do, and I usually give mine a clean with a wet wipe while I’m doing it,” he told me, his hand releasing the one of mine that was still holding him, and wrapping itself around the back of my head. Before I could ask him what he was doing, he’d tipped onto his side, and had relocated me so that my cheek now rested on his bicep, leaving us face to face.

The new position allowed me to watch his face properly as we talked – which I loved – but it also meant that his erection was now pressed up against my stomach. Let it be known, both aspects were freaking amazing. That said, I still had questions. “Don’t they make special undershirts that you can wear to catch the sweat?”

Nodding, he shifted his hand to move some hair off my cheek, making sure not to press on the injured area. “Yeah, but sweat is sweat, it’ll stink no matter what you do.”

“Actually, it’s mainly your apocrine glands and bacteria that do that. The glands produce a sweat that’s high in protein and the bacteria breaks it down easily. Plus, you’re a man, and I’m assuming you don’t shave under your arms?” When he shook his head, looking amused at what I was saying, I explained it a bit further for him. “Figured as much. The hair gives the bacteria more time to break it down because it evaporates at a slower rate, and what’s left over is what stinks. Deodorant slows down the production of sweat and also kills the bacteria, but with your vest pressing up against the stinky area, that shit’ll just build up on it.”

A huge grin spread across his lips, showing his even white teeth that had totally had an orthodontist work on them. They were too perfectly in line to be natural, although it could happen. I’d wanted braces badly as a kid, but there hadn’t been much need for them at the time. Since then, my wisdom teeth had grown in so space was limited, which sucked when I saw how nice his were.

“As informative and interesting as that was, baby, you haven’t asked what I figured would be the first question you threw at me this morning.”

“What was that?” I asked, looking up at his eyes and loving how soft they looked as he watched me. Normally he was scowling or glaring at me, which was highly amusing, so the look on his face just now did funny things to my tummy. It also did funny things to my vagina which would have made me squirm, but I didn’t want to dislodge the erect part of him that was poking me or make him think that I was uncomfortable because of it, so I stayed still.

“I figured you’d start with – why was I here in bed with you,” he mused, moving his hand up my hip to my ribs.

He had a point, and the question had occurred to me, but other things had overshadowed it. Plus, now that the painkillers were kicking in, it did seem like the more pertinent question to have asked first. I hazarded a guess at why, though. “Because you were worried about my face?”

“That’s part of it,” he confirmed, and then moved so that my head was on his forearm and he was leaning up on an elbow over me. “There was also the fact that you wouldn’t let me go last night. You told everyone – including your brother – that we were having a sleepover. When I carried you inside, you wrapped your arms and legs around me and refused to let go.”

Wincing at the thought of Ellis’s reaction and tempted to use my nails to dig a hole in my mattress to bury myself in, I tried to remember any of that but came up blank. “I’m so sorry…” I started, but he interrupted immediately.

“I’m not, not even slightly,” he muttered, leaning his face in closer to mine. “When I first met you, there was something that caught my attention and wouldn’t let it go. Then you threw some shade my way…”