Page 86
“I have this,” Cain clarified as he reached down, grabbed one of the fallen mattresses, and tossed it back on the bed frame.
I was pretty sure all three of us stared at the way his biceps bulged as he did that.
“You can sit your pretty ass here and bark out instructions.”
“Well,” Jill said, giving me a saucy little smile. “It seems you have it all handled. We will get out of your hair.”
“Thanks again, you two. Really.”
“It was literally nothing,” Janet assured me. “Let us know if you need anything.”
“I will. I can’t wait for the new episode.”
Cain walked them out and I could hear them talking in low voices outside. Which meant it was about me. But instead of feeling that familiar belly clench I normally would when people talked about me—something they did frequently in Perry’s circle of friends—I felt my lips curving up. Because I trusted all three of them. The sisters were most likely lecturing Cain about keeping me safe and comfortable. And Cain was, without a doubt, assuring them that I was in good hands.
He came back a moment later and started gathering one of the sheet sets and setting it on the bed before grabbing my hips and pushing me down on it.
“I meant what I said. You get to play the CEO and boss me around.”
“That is not a role I am good at.”
“Practice,” he said, already working on the next bed.
I took the chance to lean forward and grab some fallen things from the floor and put them back on the nightstand.
When Cain shot me a raised brow, I shrugged. “I’m still seated. That was the instruction.”
“I’m gonna need to get clearer with you,” he said, coming around the bed, planting his fists on either side of my legs, his face just a whisper away from mine. “I am cleaning up this room. You aren’t lifting a finger.” I pressed my lips together. “What?” he asked, head cocking.
“You’re kind of hot when you’re bossy.”
It wasn’t something I ever foresaw myself thinking, let alone saying, after years living with a partner who did nothing but boss me around and bark demands. That said, Cain wasn’t Perry.
“Oh, yeah?” Cain asked, his tone going deeper, his eyes going devilish.
“Mmhmm.”
“How hot?”
“Almost as hot as it was when you tossed that mattress onto the bed frame.”
That little rumble I’d come to adore so much escaped him for the shortest of seconds before his lips were on mine, kissing me long and deep.
It wasn’t a kiss meant to excite, but my body had been on the brink of distraction with desire for days.
So it was me who grew hungrier, needier.
My teeth nipped his lower lip.
My tongue teased the seam then slid inside.
My hands moved out, sliding over those strong arms I’d really begun to be fond of, following them down until I could run them over his ribs, hips, then down.
I grabbed the material of his shirt and tugged until he had no choice but to stand, breaking the kiss, then reaching back to pull it off.
There was no stopping the needy sound that escaped me at the sight before my eyes. The muscles I wanted to trace with my fingertips and tongue. The strength that was so evident, but I knew would never be used against me.
My hands moved out again, sliding up his thighs until they met the bare skin of his stomach, feeling the muscles tense and tremble beneath my touch.
