She traced her fingers along his brow. “That sounds amazing. But first you need to ice your back.” She lifted her chin toward his pillow. “Come on. Lie down.”
Chase sighed, stood, and casually dropped the wet towel from his waist to the floor.
She gasped at the sight of all those rippling muscles, the scars on his legs she hadn’t seen, and tried not to stare too hard at his impressive, even when not fully erect, penis.
“You’re blushing.”
She heard the smile in his voice and tore her gaze from his crotch to his wide and equally impressive chest. “You’re naked.”
He chuckled, drew back the covers, and slid onto the mattress on his stomach, bare ass up for her to admire. “You’ve seen me naked up close and personal, honey.I’ve got nothing to hide, and all of it is for you if you want it.” He slid one arm under the pillow, the other over it, and laid his head down. Eyes closed, he settled into the bed without pulling the covers over him.
She suspected he couldn’t move enough to do so, but also knew he didn’t care if she looked her fill at his buck-ass naked body. Lean. Lined with defined muscles. Crisscrossed with scars and puckered burn marks. All of it drew her to him and made her want to touch him.
“Come to bed, honey. I want to feel you next to me.” The soft words rumbled out of him, filled with desire and a deep need for closeness she felt echo through her heart.
“What if I just want to look at you?”
“That’s fine, but touching me is better.”
So tempting. So right. “I remember.” She remembered exactly how he looked and tasted. How his hands molded her body to his. The way he moved in and out of her. Over her. Beneath her.
Most of all she remembered how lying next to his big body felt like it was the only place she wanted to be.
He needed that from her tonight.
She pulled the blankets over his hips and the sheet up his back, then placed the ice packs along his spine.
He grumbled about the cold, but didn’t move.
She went to the bedroom door and flipped off the light, then toed off her shoes at the end of the bed, placed her socks, leggings, and the bra she slipped off through the sleeves of her comfy T-shirt on the end of the bed, then slid under the covers. She lay on her side next to him, feeling his body heat, listening to Chase breathe beside her, wanting so badly to feel his hands on her.
“Closer,” Chase whispered.
She scooted toward him, her breasts brushing against his ribs as he breathed, her legs touching his.
“You’re still too far away,” he grumbled. “I want to feel you against me. Then I’ll be able to sleep.”
She wondered if he added that last part to get her to comply, but it didn’t really matter because they both wanted the same thing. She wriggled a bit closer, one arm under her head, the other down her side.
“Better, but not close enough.”
“I don’t want to hurt your back.”
“You won’t.”
She took that to mean, he didn’t care, and draped her bare leg over his, tucking her knee between his two legs. She draped her arm over his waist below the ice packs and spread her fingers wide over his hip. She found his hand with hers at the top of the bed, pressed her palm to the back of his hand, and laced her fingers through his. She settled her cheek on his shoulder and snuggled in against him.
“Except for the fucking cold ice... Perfect.”
She hugged him. “I’ve got you. Now go to sleep.”
He answered by squeezing her hand and letting out a soft, satisfied sigh.
She was wide awake, taking him in, listening to him breathe as he drifted off. Her mind spun dreams of them together every night like this, only making love before they went to sleep. She thought about Chase being content enough to let everything go and finally sleep through the night without being haunted by his past.
She wanted that for him. She wanted it for them.
And as the quiet night surrounded them, she whispered something she’d wanted to say to him for a longtime. “I want you back.” She pressed her lips to his skin and kissed his arm, then drifted off to sleep, perfectly content wrapped around him . . . until sometime in the night he jerked in his sleep and startled her. He went quiet again and she settled against him, until his big body bucked again. The thawed ice packs dropped to the floor with four thuds.