“I’m uh… yes. I was looking for you because I wanted to let you know I was about to shower myself.”
“Is it that late already? I’m so sorry. Um… give me some-”
“I’m the one who should be sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude,” I said. “I’ll be in my room waiting for you.”
“Of course. Give me five minutes to… um…”
“Yes, of course. Whatever you need.”
I chanced a peek of her body and found her blushing, and it tugged at my gut. Her chest was flushed and her cheeks were tinted pink, and it lended a beautiful color to the frame of her body. Grace was really a deliciously attractive woman, and I felt the veins of my groin beginning to throb with life. The towel was wrapped tightly around her and the slip slipped right up her thigh. All the way to her hip bone before the dip in her waist disappeared beneath the shadows of the fabric.
I cursed that fabric.
“Five minutes,” Grace said.
Her voice pulled me from my trance and I began to wheel away.
“Five minutes,” I said.
I made my way back to my room and closed the door behind me. I sighed and closed my eyes, allowing my mind to conjure her again. Fuck this wheelchair. Fuck that moment we shared. At any other point in time, I would’ve walked over to her, grabbed fistfuls of her ass, hoisted her onto the bathroom counter, and made her beg for more of me. But I couldn’t do any of that. I couldn’t give her anything a woman like her deserved.
Wanted.
Desired.
I was a pathetic excuse of a man, and I had no right to think of such a strong woman in such a sinful way.
Not now anyway.
“Mr. Lowell?”
A knock came at my door and I sighed.
“I’m ready whenever you are.”
“On second thought, I’m getting pretty tired,” I said. “Mind if we leave the shower for the morning?”
There was a beat of silence before I heard her sigh behind the door.
“Do you need help getting into bed?” she asked.
“No,” I said as I hoisted myself from my wheelchair. “I’ve got it.”
“If I hear you fall-”
“I said I’ve got it, Grace.”
That statement was angrier than I wanted it to be and I cursed myself. I heard her sigh again before her light feet padded away. I was an idiot. An idiot with a beautiful woman in his home. I fell into bed and wiggled myself underneath the covers, relegating myself to a night of pain. I didn’t want to exert the energy to take my pain medication and I wasn’t willing to call on Grace to get it for me.
Not after seeing her like that.
Not after being faced with what I could have had I been paying more attention.
Not been on my fucking phone.
Been more aware of my damn surroundings.
“Fuck,” I said with a grunt.