“You’re beautiful,” she whispered, and I cracked my eyes open to find her watching me.
“Nah,” I said, still trying to catch my breath. Sweat trickled down my chest, but all I needed was another moment, and then it was so her turn. “You’re the beautiful one in this relationship.”
“You’re beautiful when you let go and trust me,” she corrected. “And I had the best view in the house.”
Chuckling, I dragged her back up carefully and kissed her. Sweeping my tongue into her mouth, I half-tasted myself still on her tongue, and if that wasn’t the sexiest fucking thing, I didn’t know what was. “I beg to differ, babe.” Then I scooped her up, and she let out a shriek of laughter as I stood.
Oh yeah, my legs were still wobbling a little.
“The best view is the one I’m about to have,” I informed her as I carried her toward her bedroom.
“What about our homework?” Playful tease licked each word.
“It’ll still be there.”
Five minutes later, I had her naked and sprawled in front of me. Like I said, best view in the house.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Love Bites
Jake
“Hey, Baby Girl, you ready?” I called as I let myself in. Football practice had run late. Coach ripped into all of us. Fine by me. I was about ready to put Barry Jenkins out with a permanent injury. I had zero doubt who was behind sabotaging Bubba’s bike. He might not be the only guy behind it, but he was definitely in on it.
“Yeah,” she answered, coming out of the hall to her room. The tank top and sweats look was really working for her. “It’s colder, isn’t it?”
The temperature outside had dropped into the fifties, and the sun was already on its way down. The cold front sweeping in promised a chilly Halloween. “Yep. Need help with a sweatshirt?”
We both looked at her cast.
“I bet I can cut one of mine for you.” It was a suggestion, but she made a face. “And I can braid your hair,” I offered. “If you want.”
She laughed. “I managed to brush it today.”
“I know, I still like doing your hair.” I caught her fingers and tugged her back to the bedroom. “How was your ‘me’ time?” After school, Coop had taken her home, and she’d said she wanted a couple of hours just to herself. Coop texted that he wasn’t gonna run deliveries so he could be close by, and I headed over as soon as practice ended.
“I liked it,” she said. “I even went and checked my own mail.”
In her bedroom, she perched on the end while I went through the clean clothes stacked on my duffle. It looked like Jeremy had swung by. The man popped by two or three times a week, and always did something around the apartment. It was tidier each time. Even Frankie had noticed, and she always got this little exasperated look on her face.
It would be amusing, except the fact that she had limited mobility was making her crazy, so I did my best to refrain from teasing her. I found one of my football shirts, it just had the team logo on it. I think we all got these back in junior year. Didn’t matter. I only wore it to work out or run on really cold mornings.
“Scissors?”
She pointed to her desk. “You don’t have to cut up your clothes for me.”
“Come on, Baby Girl, do you know how sexy it is when you wear my stuff?” She rolled her eyes, but there was a pleased little smile on her face. “Besides, we’re going to get our Halloween costumes tonight.”
“Yeah, about that…”
I pulled the scissors out and then cut the cuff off so we didn’t have to squeeze it over the cast. “You decide to be Catwoman after all?” Archie painted an excellent picture of Frankie in leather. I could definitely get behind this idea.
“No,” she muttered, and thumped me when I reached her. “You guys all have sex on the brain.”
“You in leather?” I snorted. “No, that’s us all havingyouon the brain.”
That snagged me another smile, but it faded too quickly. I pulled the sweatshirt over her head. The thing dwarfed her, but it worked to cover her arms, and I tugged it down. “What’s going on, Baby Girl?”