AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Careful, Mariam. Don’t break your ass on the stairs,” he laughs, running up behind me.
Oh. This little shit is going to get it.
“Try to keep up without wheezing, old man!”
I’m sprinting toward the pier, knowing full well the gazebo is a dead end. But I am enjoying this game.
So, I step it up a notch, pretending to fall on the grass in agony. I shriek, roll to one side and clasp my ankle.
“Mariam! Are you hurt?”
I respond with a whimper and a whine, and soon enough, Jesse hovers over me, out of breath. He falls to his knees, his hair falling forward over his face, his face a mask of worry.
I wince dramatically and make an unintelligible noise.
“What? What hurts.”
Jesse brackets his hands on either side of me, and I roll onto my back.
“My…my…c…”
“What?”
“Come closer,” I wheeze.
When he does, when his face is so close to mine I can pick up the scent of his sweat, I moan, “My coccyx. Will you massage it for me?”
Jesse looks confused at first, and I bat my lashes and smile at him.
His eyes wild, he laughs ruefully, then cups my chin. “Oh, you’re gonna get it, baby girl.”
Jesse plants an angry kiss against my laughing mouth. I drink it in until I’m panting from need and from the wild game of chase.
“Out here? You gonna give it to me out here? What if your staff sees you?”
“Mariam.”
“Jesse.”
He stands and holds out his hand, gesturing for me to stand up.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere more private.”
My stomach does a somersault, and I take his hand.
“Lead the way.”
ChapterThirteen
Jesse
“When you said more private, I thought you meant indoors,” Mariam says, snuggling into my side.
“Oh no, I meant private as in darkness.”
It’s early fall, and the sun is setting later every evening. Tonight, the big sky to the west of where we sit together in the gazebo on the pond is blazing red, orange, and pink.
