“Let go, baby, you know you want to.” I bite her shoulder, and like I promised, she comes, shaking and groaning. “So sexy,” I murmur in her ear as her body goes lax and she melts against me.
“Holy crap.” Her head lolls and she nuzzles into my neck. I kiss her cheek and back down to her mouth, and she opens for me, tongue stroking in slow, leisurely sweeps for long minutes before we finally part. I could keep going, but the water is growing tepid, so I turn off the shower and grab her a towel.
For a moment I worry that things are going to suddenly become awkward and uncomfortable, but she smiles up at me. “Thank you, I feel so much better.”
“Absolutely my pleasure.” I lean in and kiss her quickly on the lips, lingering for a second. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” she calls after me.
“To get your chair.”
She scoffs. “I can manage getting from here to my dresser, I just need your help getting out of the tub.”
I nab a towel to wrap around my own hips, and hopefully conceal the issue I’m currently rocking below the waist. “Most of the time I might agree with you, but you’re looking pretty boneless right now, so let’s not kill your afterglow with too much exertion.”
She sighs but doesn’t argue, maybe seeing my point.
I bring her chair into the bathroom and help her out of the tub, wheeling her to her bedroom.
“I can help you get dressed.” I grab the panties and bra set neatly on the edge of the vanity and bring them to her.
“I can manage on my own.”
“Let me rephrase. I’d like to help you get dressed.”
“You don’t have to worry about me getting all sketchy on you, Declan,” she says softly.
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
“But you are worried about something,” she presses.
There’s a shift in the energy between us. The atmosphere is heavier now, laden down with new knowledge. There’s chemistry between us, the kind that’s going to be impossible to ignore moving forward, because judging by what happened in the shower, sex with Avery would be mind-blowing. But I have no idea how far we’re going to take this, or even how far we should. So I deflect with humor.
“I’m worried about you falling on your face while you’re trying to put these on and breaking your perfect nose.” I drop to my knee in front of her and slide the underwear carefully up her casted leg.
Getting underwear on is a bit of a feat with a broken leg and a cast that ends mid-thigh. It’s not a problem getting it over her foot and her shin, even her knee isn’t too bad, but Avery is an athlete and an avid soccer player, so she’s got some serious thigh muscles and that means it takes some work getting them over the last six inches. Normally this is when I’d leave Avery to manage on her own.
But this time I don’t.
15
NOT WHAT I EXPECTED, BUT I LIKE IT
AVERY
Everything and nothing has changed.
The energy around us is charged and electric as his hands disappear under the towel, along with my panties. My horrible, ugly granny panties. Which, based on what’s happening inside Declan’s swim shorts, he doesn’t seem to mind.
He takes my hand and places it on his shoulder. “Lift for me.” His voice is low and husky, and his tongue sweeps out to wet his bottom lip.
It makes me wonder what it would feel like to have his mouth where his fingers were not that long ago. It also makes me wonder if that’s likely to happen in the near future. And whether it’s a good idea to continue down this path.
I plant my foot on the floor and brace my hand on his shoulder, tilting my hips so he can pull my underpants up. I expect him to back out of my personal space as soon as my rear hits the chair again, but that’s not what happens.
Declan’s fingertips trail up my sides, causing my skin to pebble in a wave. He pauses when he reaches my breast, eyes lifting to meet mine. “May I?”
I glance at the clock on the nightstand. I have lots of time before Harley is supposed to be here. I suppress a grin. “Sure, go ahead.”
He cups my breasts in his palms, thumbs brushing over the already taut nipples and leans in, nuzzling between them before he turns his head and bites the swell. His dark hair tickles my skin, a stark contrast to the way his stubbled chin chafes against my breast. “Hi there,” he murmurs into my chest.
I laugh, because what other response is there? “Obviously you’re a boob man.”
“I’m an everything man, but yours are particularly glorious, and I didn’t get a chance to properly appreciate them in the shower, so I figured I could do that now, before I finish helping you get dressed.” He kisses his way over the swell, circling my nipple with the tip of his nose before his lips brush over it. “If that’s okay with you.”