Chapter 55 | You Gave Me a Buff With Your WHAT?

Naomi stood in Jace’s bathroom five minutes later, still naked, still covered in the aftermath of everything they’d done. Her legs wobbled when she tried to walk. The space between her thighs felt slick and strange.

Jace turned on the shower. Steam began filling the small room immediately.

"Get in," he said.

She stepped under the spray and nearly moaned from the heat alone. Her muscles unclenched in stages. The water ran down her chest, washing away the dried milk in thin white streams that swirled around the drain.

Jace stepped in behind her.

The shower stall wasn’t built for two people. His chest pressed against her back. His arms came around her waist.

"Saving on the water bill," he said into her ear.

Naomi’s brain took a second to process that. "We don’t get billed for water."

"What?"

"The dorms cover utilities. It’s in the orientation packet."

"Huh." Jace’s hands slid up her stomach. Slow. Deliberate. "Well that’s crazy."

She tried to turn around but his grip tightened, keeping her facing forward. His lips found the side of her neck.

Naomi closed her eyes.

Something warm trickled down her inner thigh. She looked down and saw the thin white trail mixing with the shower water. More of Jace’s release escaping her body in slow pulses.

Her face burned.

She should feel embarrassed. She should feel disgusting. Used.

Instead she felt full.

The word didn’t make sense but it was the only one that fit. Like something had been missing and now it wasn’t. Like her body had been waiting for exactly this and finally got what it needed.

Her skin felt warmer than it should. More alive. The exhaustion from earlier had faded into this low hum of energy that sat just beneath her ribs, making everything sharper.

Stronger.

She flexed her fingers and the muscles responded differently than before. Tighter. More responsive.

What had Jace done to her?

His hand slid over her breast. Not sexual. Just washing. His palm moved in slow circles, gentle and thorough, cleaning away the milk that had dried in thin streaks across her skin.

Naomi’s breath hitched.

His other hand moved lower. Across her stomach. Down to her hip. Then between her legs with the same careful attention.

"Jace," she whispered.

"I know."

The heat from his body pressed against her spine. She could feel every inch of him. The solid weight of his chest. The strength in his arms. And lower, against the small of her back, the unmistakable hardness of him already recovering.

Her body responded before her brain caught up. A pulse of want that went straight between her legs and made her press back against him without meaning to.

Jace made a low sound in his throat. His hand stilled where it was.

"You’re going to kill me," he muttered.

"I’m not doing anything."

"You’re breathing."

She laughed. Actually laughed. The sound echoed off the shower tiles and bounced back at them.

Jace turned her around. His amber eyes caught the bathroom light and held it there, glowing faintly in the steam. Water ran down his face and dripped from his jaw.

He was beautiful.

Naomi hadn’t let herself think it before. Too distracted by everything else. But standing here, looking at him properly for the first time since this started, she couldn’t deny it.

The body was still heavy. Still soft in places. But his face was striking. Sharp jaw. Full mouth. Those eyes that looked at her like she was the only thing worth seeing in the entire world.

She reached up and touched his cheek.

Jace caught her wrist. Brought her palm to his mouth and kissed the center of it.

Something in Naomi’s chest cracked open.

"You’re staring," Jace said.

"You’re worth staring at."

His expression shifted. Went soft around the edges in a way that made him look younger. More vulnerable.

Then he leaned down and kissed her.

Slow. Thorough. The kind of kiss that had nothing to do with getting somewhere and everything to do with staying exactly where they were.

Naomi kissed him back with both hands on his face, her fingers sliding into his wet hair. The spray hit her shoulders and ran down her back in warm rivers. Jace’s mouth tasted like her. Sweet and strange and completely wrong in a way that made her want more of it.

When they finally broke apart, she was breathing hard again.

"Hi," Jace said quietly.

"Hi."

"You okay?"

She nodded. Then shook her head. Then laughed because she didn’t know what she was anymore.

"I don’t know," she admitted. "I feel weird."

"Good weird or bad weird?"

Naomi thought about it. Really thought about it. The fullness. The warmth. The energy humming under her skin like electricity waiting to discharge.

The cum still dripping from between her legs in thin trails. The soreness where he’d been. The way her body kept clenching around nothing, remembering the feeling of him inside her and wanting it back.

"Good weird," she said finally. "Really good weird."

Jace’s mouth curved. "The essence does that."

"Does what?"

"Makes you feel stronger. More alive. It’s a side effect of the extraction. Your body processes what I gave you and it enhances your physical capabilities for about twenty-four hours."

Naomi blinked. "You gave me a buff."

"Basically."

"With your dick."

"My ability works in mysterious ways."

She punched his shoulder. He didn’t even flinch.

"You could have warned me," she said.

"Would it have changed anything?"

No. It wouldn’t have. She’d already decided to do this before she walked through his door. Before she took off her underwear because watching him sweat through training circuits made her want him so badly she couldn’t think straight.

"I guess not," she said.

Jace pulled her closer under the spray. His hands found her lower back and stayed there. Just holding her.

Naomi pressed her face into his chest and breathed.

The water ran hot between them. Steam filled the small bathroom until she couldn’t see the mirror anymore. Just Jace. Just the two of them in this tiny space that smelled like his soap and her shampoo and the unmistakable scent of what they’d done together.

Her whole life had been plans. Careful steps. Making sure her brothers were fed and her parents were proud and she didn’t cause trouble for anyone.

This wasn’t careful.

This was reckless and impulsive and completely insane. Letting a boy she’d known for three days drink from her body and take her virginity and fill her with something that made her feel like a different person.

But standing here with Jace’s arms around her and his heartbeat steady under her ear, Naomi couldn’t find it in herself to regret a single second.

"I should probably go," she said into his chest.

"Probably."

Neither of them moved.

Jace’s hand slid up her spine. Drew patterns on her skin that made her shiver despite the heat.

"One more minute," Naomi whispered.

"Yeah."