Page 34 of Drawn Together

“What do you want?” he asked, patiently observing me as he leaned against the doorframe.

“I tried to put lotion on my tattoo, but I can’t reach. Can you help me?”

Sebastian looked at the lotion I had in my hand and sighed. “Come into the bathroom,” he ordered, turning his back to me.

We crossed into what was now his bathroom, where he showered, shaved, got undressed… Seeing his products caused butterflies in my stomach.

My God, how pathetic. What had this man done to my neurons?

Since I was wearing a backless leotard, there was no need to take off anything except for the loose cardigan I’d slipped on. I stood in front of the mirror with my back to him, waiting with anticipation.

He proceeded to wash his hands, wet a washcloth, and lather it with glycerin soap. “Tell me if it hurts,” he whispered, almost as delicately as his touch.

I don’t know if I was the only one who felt it, but suddenly the four walls seemed to close in on us; the space became smaller, filled with his presence, his scent, which flooded every corner. I had goose bumps, chilled from the cold water and his fingertips on my bare skin, which caused an instant, involuntary reaction in my body. I blushed as Sebastian’s eyes wandered down to the reflection of my breasts in the mirror. To my embarrassment, my nipples were clearly visible under my leotard.

I cursed silently and flinched as he brushed a sore spot.

“Sorry,” he said, touching me more gently. He rinsed his hands after washing the tattoo and wet the tip of a towel to remove the soapy residue. “Hand me the lotion,” he said in a very calm tone. Too calm, considering I was dying inside.

After handing him the ointment, he squeezed some onto his fingertips and carefully rubbed it into my back. This time the feel of his skin against mine almost caused a short circuit in my brain. I was unavoidably turned on as I felt his body so close to mine.

Time seemed to stop as he ran his hands over my tattoo for what seemed like longer than necessary for one as small as mine. Maybe I was imagining things, which was highly likely.

My eyes met his in our reflection and, to my surprise, his gaze was as intense as mine. To make matters worse, my legs nearly gave out beneath me as he slid his fingers down to the lower part of my spine.

I closed my eyes, suppressing a sigh.

“You shouldn’t have done it,” he whispered very close to my ear, tightly gripping my side with his free hand. “Your skin is too pretty to mark it up with ink.”

“You think so?” I asked, looking at him in the mirror. I could see a conflict being waged behind his eyes. The way his fingers gripped my waist so tightly made me think that, like me, he wanted to take things further… much further.

He didn’t answer, and the silence stretched out for a few seconds.

Not being able to take his lack of an answer much longer, I raised a hand and pulled down the sleeve of my leotard to expose my shoulder and the upper part of my breast. I knew one of two things could happen: either he would undress me, which I doubted, or he would lift my sleeve back into place.

“Don’t do that,” he said, responding the way I’d expected.

His fingers grazed my arm as he pulled my leotard up. Once again, his touch gave me goose bumps, and he paused for a second, his eyes fixed on my pale skin, before he ran his fingers quickly back down my arm.

I thought I would melt into a puddle right then and there, until I felt him step back.

“All done. You should go back to studying.”

My eyes met his in the mirror. “I should, but I don’t want to,” I replied, now facing him.

“Am I going to have to drag you out?”

I pretended to consider it. “Would that mean you put your hands on me again? Because if so, go ahead. You have my permission.”

Sebastian took another step back. I hadn’t realized how close we’d still been until he was right in front of me. “Be careful what you wish for, Marfil, it might be more than you can handle.”

His response only inspired my perverted mind, which he must’ve seen in my eyes because before I could give a clever response, he squeezed my cheeks with one of his hands, impeding me from speaking.

“Please, don’t say anything,” he said, staring intently at my pursed lips.

“I think I can handle…” I started to say, but he leaned down and pressed his lips against my ear.

“It’s not going to happen, Elephant. I’ll never put this job in jeopardy, no matter how breathtaking you are.”