Coming Clean

By Jay Sallow

We’d shifted somehow in the night. Vane was spooned loosely against me now, her head buried in Alec’s shoulder as he lay facing us both. He looked peaceful – more peaceful than I’d seen him in a long time, but then, I’d never seen him asleep in his lover’s arms before, much less in his lovers’ arms. The thought pleased me, and kept me from slipping out of my side of the bed to sneak round to spoon him instead of Vane. I’d only wake them both, and I wasn’t as confident of what that waking would bring as I’d like. Much as I wanted him close, maybe he’d be less likely to run if he knew that he could? It wasn’t a reassuring thought, but nothing was reassuring in the dawn, nothing had the clear, warm certainty of the night before ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jay Sallow
• Release date: Jun 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463132463

Jay Sallow

Jay Sallow fell in love with words a long time ago. She never knows where to tell people she comes from because hardly anyone has ever heard of her home town and the few people who have claim that her accent doesn’t match. Now that she lives far too far away from her family, she keeps herself warm at night writing happy ever afters for sensuously seductive men.

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Coming Clean

Jay Sallow

Book Two of the Handful of a Houseful series

Copyright 2020 Jay Sallow

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Coming Clean

We’d shifted somehow in the night. Vane was spooned loosely against me now, her head buried in Alec’s shoulder as he lay facing us both. He looked peaceful – more peaceful than I’d seen him in a long time, but then, I’d never had quite this view of him asleep in his lover’s arms before, much less in his lovers’ arms. The thought pleased me, and kept me from slipping out of my side of the bed to sneak round to spoon him instead of Vane. I’d only wake them both, and I wasn’t as confident of what that waking would bring as I’d like. Much as I wanted him close, maybe he’d be less likely to run if he knew that he could? It wasn’t a reassuring thought, but nothing was reassuring in the dawn, nothing had the clear, warm certainty of the night before.

His eyelids fluttered. He shifted a little, not enough to disturb my hand where it lay on his hip, not enough to disturb Vane where she snuggled against him. He looked down at her, and smiled fondly. I knew he’d flown home yesterday thinking of nothing except finding himself in exactly that position, and I couldn’t help wondering how much of what came between the flight and the dawn was a half-forgotten dream to him. But then he looked up, and the soft smile didn’t waver. It widened.

Morning, beautiful.

So okay, one thing was reassuring, in the soft dawn. Two, if I counted the hand that detached itself from Vane’s shoulder to run gently, flutteringly, along my side.

Beautiful?

He shrugged very carefully. Something else you’d prefer, darling?

Darling always sounds a tiny bit sarcastic, from you … sweetheart?

Sweetheart? But before I could retract it, sweetheart’s fine, darlin’.

He drawled the vowel and clipped the end, and the effect was anything but sarcastic. My cock gave a lurch I was afraid would wake Vane, but I surprised myself by managing to answer evenly enough darlin’ I can live with, pudding.

Pudding? He almost spluttered, one eyebrow quirking high. We’ll have to come to some arrangement about pudding.

And there was my boy. I hardly knew until he said it how afraid I’d been that I’d gained a lover and lost a friend, but that was the Alec I knew, dryly amused and gently cynical. I daren’t do more than tighten my hand at his waist, and change the subject gently.

Is Vane awake?

He peered down, though she was buried so tight into his shoulder that I really had the better view.

Well she’s not laughing, at least.

And why would I be laughing, came sleepily, very important to get these things settled early on, before your otherwise perfectly nice boyfriend calls you buttercup once too often in the middle of the student canteen and …

She trailed off. She must have been able to feel our sudden stillness, and I was proud of Alec for keeping his own amusement in check as I bit my lips to restrain mine. His hand came naturally to my face, his fingers tracing my jawline before easing across my lips. When I relaxed on a sigh his knuckles brushed back