Porter slowly pulled down his sweats, revealing royal blue Calvin Klein boxers. I thought about Marky Mark and the classic Calvin ads. Porter could have given him a run for his money. He sat on the bench on the end of my bed and took off his socks. He then stood in front of me, in just his boxers. And with an erection that was hard to miss. No pun intended.
We hadn’t had sex in a couple of weeks, and I needed it. Wanted it. Missed it. I moved to take off my own pants and Porter bent down, putting his hands on my thighs.
“Ari, stop. Just wait…”
I froze. “What? What is it?”
“I don’t want to have sex tonight.”
I ignored my clitoris beatboxing all over the place, like Doug E. Fresh, choosing to think like a rational adult. As much as I wanted to sex this man like crazy, given the circumstances, maybe now wasn’t the time.
“It’s totally fine. We don’t have to.”
Porter groaned. “Trust me, I want to. I just… I don’t want you to think all we do is… Or all I want is… I’m not trying to violate your boundaries.”
I laughed. “Porter, you’ve never violated my boundaries. I’m not worried about that.”
Porter bit his lower lip, the color in his cheeks blush pink. “I know. It’s just. Right now, we don’t know where we are. I don’t need the confusion. I just want to touch you. Hold you. Lie with you. Be intimate without being…well…intimate. Just let me hold you, Ari. Can we do that?”
I sat back on my elbows and looked at Porter. I smiled. He stood there in his boxers asking me to allow him to be something a lot of men hadn’t—vulnerable.
“Sure.”
Porter smiled. “Okay. But first, let me undress you.”
Suspicions rising, I gave him a piercing look. “Undress me? And you don’t want to have sex?”
Porter shook his head. “No sex. I’m not lying. When have I ever lied to you?”
I thought about it. Porter truly had never lied to me. Ever.
Porter bent down and softly peeled down my leggings. I lifted my hips, and they slid down easily over my thighs and bare feet. Then I remembered…
Oh, fucking hell.
“Are those Wonder Woman underwear?” said Porter, trying hard to suppress a chuckle.
Shit.
My faced warmed with embarrassment. “Yeah. I mean, it’s the weekend. I need to do laundry.”
Porter let out a laugh deep from his belly. “You were serious about being a DC girl.” He put his hands on the soft folds of my belly, his thumbs making those slow, soft circles that he always did. Porter’s touch alone was enough to make me come.
“Yep. A DC girl.” I breathed out.
Porter moved his hands up my torso and removed my cropped sweatshirt over my head. Luckily, the tank-like bra matched the panties, with Wonder Woman crests right over the nipples. Porter pulled the covers back, and we both slid into bed. Warm and safe under the covers in just our underwear, we could hear the soft whirring of the central heat coming on. I looked at Porter and he moved me into the cradle of his arm. I felt his lips on my forehead, the familiar smell of his cologne all around me.
“Thank you for being there for me today, Ari,” said Porter.
“Again, you don’t have to thank me. Besides, you were there for me today, too.”
Porter brushed my hair against the coolness of the pillow, then wrapped my thigh over his leg. I laughed.
Porter kissed my shoulder. “I just love this part of snuggling with you. When your legs wrap around me.”
“Well, you know what they say, thick thighs save lives.”
Porter erupted into laughter. “I suppose so. I guess in a way you saved my life, Ari.”
I looked up, directly into his face. Porter’s green eyes looked like mossy ocean water, inviting me to take a dip. “How did I save your life?”
Porter twirled his index finger in my hair. “Before I met you, I was just existing. Work and life were just routine. Now, I get excited going to work. Because I know you will be there. I never know what I’ll experience with you, Ari. You make me passionate about so many things now. I mean, look at the progress we’ve made in designing the stadium. And today, Jesus, where would I have been without you by my side.”
I bit my lip, holding back tears. My hands rubbed Porter’s sandy brown curls. I lifted my face toward Porter, kissing him softly and slowly until we both fell asleep. Our lips still touching and breathing words unspoken into each other.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Porter