“I-I only meant that I can pull my weight around here, too,” I said weakly, and his face softened.
“You can’t even stand on your weight,” he teased, and I blushed.
“You know what I mean.”
He gave me a shot of Demerol, but he didn’t rise from my side and again, I was struck by his attractiveness.
It was surreal, these men, this handsome bunch of strangers whose lives I’d chanced upon. I wanted to know them, know what went on in their heads, feel their skin, hear their secrets.
He moved his eyes toward my injury, slowly slipping off the bandage to peer at the wound. Slowly, he cleaned it with alcohol and nodded curtly. “It’s not infected. I think it’s going to heal well.”
“Dan…” I murmured. “Look at me.”
His dark eyes met mine, and he sighed.
“I’m just stressed about work,” he confessed unexpectedly. “Bills are piling up, and it always seems to be on me to take care of things financially.”
I cocked my head to the side, the pain in my leg already beginning to subside.
“Surely someone else can help you with things,” I said. “I mean, you all seem so close and smart. Can’t someone else help you with the workload?”
He waved a hand dismissively and offered me a tight smile. “Sasha, just focus on you and getting better,” he said again. “Our stresses will always be here.”
I felt like he was challenging me somehow, or maybe it was the Demerol taking effect, making me bolder. “You know what I’ve heard,” I murmured, leaning in close like I was going to tell him a secret.
He looked at me warily, but I saw the gleam in his eyes that I had been seeking. “What’s that?”
“There’s a very natural way to combat both pain and stress.”
He swallowed visibly, but the glint in his coffee-colored irises became a bright light, and he locked into me with deep intensity. I didn’t move my face away.
“There is?” he asked quietly, and I could feel his heart rate quicken. “What’s that?”
“I think you know, what, with your medical training,” I breathed, my face barely inches from his. I willed him to kiss me, and I could see he was struggling with the impulse. “What could possibly release enough endorphins to overcome pain and anxiety?”
My lips brushed teasingly against his chin, and I knew that the past days of endless ups and downs were finally bringing me to the brink. I wanted Dan, wanted him to take me and sate the building pressure inside me.
“Hmm…” he said, pretending to think as I darted my tongue out to sample his lips.
Instantly, a shiver flowed through me, and I knew I had him.
He turned fully to toward me, a hardened look on his face, and he brought his mouth down on mine, causing me to gasp as he did. The feel of his hard body against me was everything I wanted, and I fell back, yanking him over me like a shroud.
“You’re a temptress,” he breathed, his teeth sinking into my lower lip and heat surged through me in a rush.
In seconds, it seemed, I was naked below him, and he raised his powerful frame to stare at my nude body, his jaw twitching. He looked like he was about to devour me whole, and the mere look was enough to send tremors through me.
My hands were in his, pinned above my head as his face began the exploration of my lithe figure, slowly, deliberately.
The scruff of his beard was delicious, rough around my most tender spots, but with each scrape he made, his hot mouth followed through with intensely heated kisses. My wrists began to throb under his tightening grip, and I struggled against him slightly, only to encourage him to hold me more firmly.
When he reached my taut nipples, my back arched upward, and a low sigh escaped my lips, urging him to be more forceful. He seemed to sense my desire, and as he suctioned his mouth along the tender skin, one hand released mine to slide along the curve of my body, making its way to the sopping cleft between my legs.
I moaned loudly, so excited that someone had finally touched my swollen nub when I’d been nothing but teased since my arrival. I was glad it was Dan who was giving me what I so desperately needed, his teeth biting into me and gently tugging at the skin before snaking its way across my belly to sample all my secret spots.
My fingers slid into his hair, my crotch rising to meet his fingers and mouth. “Fuck,” I hissed when his index and middle finger entered me, but nothing prepared me for the velvety softness of his tongue, the combination of his rough beard and sweet mouth.
He slowly pushed my legs apart, and I couldn’t help but cry out loud when his tongue dragged over my pussy, teasing my opening before sliding up to swirl over my clit.