“I was feeling good. So I walked.”
Lily walks up and smacks my arm. Not the greeting I was expecting or at least hoping for, that’s for fucking sure.
“Jude, that was not smart. You know I work you hard on therapy days, so you’re meant to save the longer walks for in-between. Now we’ll have to back off on our exercises, so you don’t over do it. And you better text your brothers to ask for a ride home when we’re done. Am I clear?”
I’m biting my tongue, trying not to say anything about thework you hardpart of what she just said, even as a mental image of bending her over the damn massage table in that private room and driving into her from behind fills my head.
“Sorry,” I mumble. But she can sense the lack of sincerity in my voice, judging by the huff and eye roll I get in return. God, she’s so fucking cute, I just want to reach out and pull her into my arms to fill myself with her light.
Instead, I trail after her into the room we always start in. Once the door is closed, however, all bets are off. I don’t know who reaches for who first, but we’re grabbing for each other, lips landing wherever they can within seconds.
“Fuck, Lily,” I groan quietly when her hands dig into my ass. I press forward, and I know she feels the hard imprint of my dick straining behind my joggers.
“Jude. We can’t do this here.”
Her words say one thing but the frantic kisses she gives me say another. Still, she’s right. This isn’t the time or place.
I force myself back from her and find her eyes blazing with need. “I slept again last night.” Those beautiful eyes widen at my seemingly random statement. Because she alone knows why that’s important. “I told you, sunshine, you’re working miracles on more than just my knee.”
Lily drops her gaze from me to the floor before turning and busying herself with lining up the bottles of massage oil on the shelf. “We should get started.”
I can take a hint, even if I don’t want to — or even understand why she’s pulling back. When she eventually turns back around, I reach out and finger the feather hanging from her ear. “At the risk of sounding like a cliché poster found in a school counsellor’s office, don’t let anyone dull your sparkle. I can guess you’re not used to receiving compliments, but that’s not going to stop me from telling you how much I respect you, and how much I enjoy spending time with you.”
Her mouth flaps open and shut like a fish, and with one finger and a gentle smile I push her chin up to close it. Then I pull down my joggers, revealing the shorts underneath, turn and climb up on the table, and stretch out. We need to move things back to normal, and I’m willing to do that — for now.
After just a brief pause, Lily snaps out of whatever hesitation she’s got going on. She grabs the bottle of oil, pours some into her hands, and rubs them together. Of course, despite my earlier shower session, the second her hands land on my thigh, my dick jumps.
“Ignore that. Can’t help it around you,” I mutter, lacing my hands and putting them behind my head.
Lily makes a strange noise, and I cast my gaze down from the ceiling to see her fighting back a smirk.
“What?”
Her eyes fly to mine and that smirk breaks free, into a mischievous smile. “Oh, nothing.” But her hand drifts up, higher than she normally goes and definitely higher than would be considered appropriate. The back of her hand grazes my dick and I let out a low rumble.
“You’re playing dirty, sunshine.”
Immediately, her hand travels down toward my knee, and I have to convince myself not to grab it and place it right back where I want it.
But Lily’s all business now. She gets to work with her usual torture, digging into my muscles and breaking down the tension and scar tissue. It’s nowhere near as painful as it was in the beginning, but it’s uncomfortable enough to kill any desire I was feeling earlier.
After a few minutes of her working in silence, her hands slow. “Should we be doing this?” she asks, the words barely above a whisper.
I know what she’s referring to. But I’ll be damned if I want to be the one to answer. Because I would say resoundinglyyes, we should be, but that’s selfish. I don’t want to lose how good she makes me feel.
“Can we truly add sex into an already weird situation and not have it get even more complicated?”
I lift up on my elbows to see her gnawing on her lip with worry. Running my thumb over it to free it, I tug her down to meet me for a kiss.
The instant our lips touch, she melts. And that’s all the answer I need.
“It might complicate things, but I don’t give a fuck. Because now that I’ve had a taste, there’s no chance I’ll be able to resist coming back for more. The only thing that will make me back off is if you tell me right here, right now, that you don’t want this.”
I hold my breath, waiting to see what she’ll do. It would be a complete lie if I said there’s no feelings involved and no chance of getting hurt if she refuses me. There’s no avoiding the truth for me. I like Lily, a lot. And I would be more than a little upset if she wanted to walk away. Even if she never wants anything real with me, I’m not ready to lose what we have going on.
“I want this.”
Three words. Said so softly, I almost miss them. But there’s no mistaking the smile breaking free on her face. I go to kiss her again, but I’m stopped by her hand on my chest.
