"Come on."
She felt a strong solid arm encircling her waist. He tugged her along to his building, and hit the elevator button. She gripped the hand holding onto her and held on.
She felt like she was having a weird out-of-body experience, like she was floating above the clouds. She still felt weak, like she wanted to slide down the wall of the elevator and pass out.
Until the squeeze of Will's hand on hers brought her back to reality.
"Almost there," he said.
She barely registered his words as he led her from the elevator down the hall to his room. He slid the key card in and opened the door, then pulled her inside. She went inside, followed him to his room. He undid her parka, took off her beanie and gloves, then laid her on the bed.
He followed her there and pulled her into his arms.
She listened to the sound of Will's heartbeat. Strong and steady. That's what she needed. That and the way he smoothed his hand down her arms.
"It's okay," he said. "You're gonna be okay."
She wanted to believe that. She closed her eyes, willing everything to be okay.
She must have drifted off, because she woke up to the feel of strong hands stroking down her back. Not an unpleasant feeling at all. In fact, she felt much more relaxed than she had when Will had taken her to his apartment. She nestled into his chest, breathing in his male scent. There was something comforting and strong about the smell of a man, so potent and powerful, and one hell of a turn-on, too.
She lifted her head and looked up at him. "Thank you."
"You know, it's not a hardship to have a beautiful woman asleep in my bed."
Her lips curved. "A hot mess of a woman who fell apart and then passed out in your bed."
He shrugged, then sifted her hair through his fingers. "You had a bad day. Everyone's entitled to a bad day."
"That's an understatement. I totally wigged out about my mother."
"Feel better now?"
"I do. Thank you. I just needed to fall apart somewhere, I guess."
"Thanks for choosing me."
She rolled over onto her stomach. "Funny thing about that. I had another incident earlier today."
"You have had a bad day. Tell me about it."
"I was late for practice, so I didn't warm up. And then when I did my first jump, I felt a twinge in my hamstring. I couldn't even finish practice."
He sat up and frowned as he looked down at her. "No shit? Are you okay?"
She sat up as well, crossing her legs over each other. "I'm fine. My trainer massaged my leg after I got off the ice, and then I was allowed to run through my program. My leg is fine."
He swept his fingers over her hair. "Jesus, babe. I'm so sorry. I should have never suggested we spend the night down the mountain when you had an early practice. That's on me."
She felt better hearing him take responsibility, and hearing his concern was like a balm to her tortured senses. "Thank you. But I'm really okay. At least now I am. I totally freaked when I thought I wouldn't be able to perform. I actually--well, let's just say your name entered my mind, and I had all these thoughts about how I shouldn't be having fun--or sex--when competition is looming so close. I blamed myself and I blamed you. It wasn't a pretty thought process."
"I see. And then you had lunch with your mother, which just made things worse."
"Yes. She was upset, because I was late for practice. Oh, and that I have friends I've been hanging out with."
He frowned. "Having friends is bad?"
"To her it is. She told me I'll lose my edge." She looked down at her fingers, then back at him. "I didn't tell her about you."
"I don't think you have to tell your mother everything. But that's up to you, Amber."
She was glad he understood. "I didn't want you to think I was trying to hide anything, or that I was ashamed of what you and I have going on."
He leaned over and brushed his lips across hers. "You wanna know what I think?"
"Sure."
"I think you can choose to say or do whatever makes you happy. Being here and competing comes with enough stress. I'm not here to add to that."
Relief washed over her. "You know what?"
"What?"
"Despite my freak-out earlier, which was totally unwarranted, you are the person who is least likely to add to my stress level. Obviously the fact that you were the first person I texted when I was having a meltdown means that you're the one person here I know I can count on." She reached for his hand. "Which I hope doesn't cause you to have a meltdown, because I don't mean that in a 'Let's get married and have ten babies' kind of way."
He laughed. "I didn't take it that way. I'm glad you texted me."
She climbed onto his lap and wrapped her legs around his hips. "I feel the need to properly thank you."
He rubbed his hands over her thighs. "Totally unnecessary, but I feel I should tell you that I know many different ways to reduce stress."
"Is that right? Do tell."
"I'd rather show."
He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. It was a gentle kiss, and she knew he was going easy on her because she'd utterly fallen apart on him earlier. But she wasn't fragile and she needed him to know that, so she was the one to deepen the kiss, to slide her tongue between his teeth to search out his.
He groaned and wrapped his arms around her back, bringing her body more closely aligned with his. The contact of their bodies touching was electrifying, igniting a fire inside of her.
His lips burned a path down her neck and across her collarbone. She tilted her head back, wanting more. He gave her more by raising her shirt, his fingers blazing a hot trail along her back.
There was something about Will's touch on her skin that sent her libido into overdrive. Even the barest slide of his fingertip along her skin was like a lightning rod on her nerve endings.
He leaned back. "What do you do to your skin to make it feel like this?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Like sliding my hands through soft water, or melted butter."
She shuddered as he moved his hands upward, teasing her back with the barest strokes of his fingertips. It was warm in the room, but chill bumps broke out on her skin.
It wasn't like she'd never been touched before. She might have been a virgin before she'd had sex with Will, but she'd made out with guys. She'd never felt this undeniable zing of attraction like she did with Will. All he had to do was look at her and she felt his gaze like a caress all over her body.
Like now, when he raised her shirt over her head, then raked his gaze over her body. It wasn't like he was ogling her boobs or anything. He looked at her neck, leaning in to press a kiss at the hollow of her throat. She felt her blood pulsing against his lips, her heart pumping a fast beat so incongruent to the gentle licks he laid across her skin.
He drew her bra strap down, raking his teeth across her shoulder. He held her, sliding her off his lap and rolling her back onto the mattress, following her so he was above her. Then he moved down and kissed the swell of her breast before pulling the cup of her bra away to capture one of her nipples in his mouth.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, as if he had all the time in the world to explore her body. He sucked and licked her nipple until she felt each pull all the way to her pussy. She was panting, needy and ready to feel the length of him inside of her.
But Will seemed to have other ideas, because he left her like that and glided smoothly down her body, removing her pants and underwear.
"Which leg?" he asked.
She lifted her head. "What?"
"Which one did you hurt today?"
"Oh. The right one."
He lifted her leg and slowly massaged her foot, then made his way to her calf, taking his time to gently work each muscle. He laid her leg over his shoulder and started massaging her hamstring as if he knew what the hell he was doing. Not too hard, not too gently, but with authority.
It was kind of like ni
rvana, because while it was like getting an actual massage, she was naked, Will was a man she was having sex with, and it felt great to have that twingy muscle massaged, but it was also incredibly sensual.
"You don't have to do that."
His lips curved in a way that made her want to jump on his cock and rock against him until she stopped aching, until she came--hard.
"Relax, babe," he said. "Let me do this for you."
She lay back on the bed and closed her eyes, giving herself up to the magical sensations his touch evoked. She'd never realized how erogenous her hamstrings were.
In truth, her hamstrings were not erogenous zones at all. It was just that Will was touching her and he could probably massage her elbows and she'd want to have an orgasm.
She let her body go lax, every muscle completely relaxed. Until he moved from her hamstring to her inner thigh, using the same gentle motions. And as he inched closer to her pussy, she tensed, needing him to use his talented fingers to get her off.
She desperately wanted an orgasm.
"Relax," he said, rubbing her inner thigh with his fingers. "I'll get you there."
Then he cupped her and used the heel of his hand to glide over her sex. She lifted, driving her pussy against his ever-moving fingers.