“The balls feel different on my tongue,” Gennie continued, ignoring both of us. “But it tastes the same.”
I jabbed a finger toward Shay as she wheezed with laughter. So often, she was the one to keep a straight face but that was falling apart before my eyes. I kind of loved it. “Stop that.”
“I’m trying,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I am trying. I swear. I just—” She shot a sidelong glance at Gennie. “I can’t.”
“Now that I’ve tried it, I think I like the big balls,” Gennie said. “I can bite them!”
I caught Shay’s eye and we burst out laughing together.
* * *
Later that night,I leaned against the doorway into Shay’s room. “Hi.”
She looked up from her work at the desk with a smile. “Hey.”
She’d changed into a small pair of shorts and a slouchy sweater that always bared at least one shoulder in offering. No bra. I loved when she ditched the bra. Earrings too. The at-home version of Shay was one of my favorites. “Can I come in?”
We were still sorting out the rules of cohabitating while fake-married. We had no problem sneaking around and having sex in every semiprivate space we could find—pantry, barn, bathroom—but we hadn’t slept together since that night after the Harvest Festival. Though no one said it out loud, sharing a bed for the purposes of sleep was one step too far. It was too far for Shay because she had her eyes on a clean exit from this town and our marriage at the end of her year here. It was too far for me because I already knew I wouldn’t recover when she left. I didn’t need to add memories of holding her every night to that horror show.
So, we kept to our separate rooms and treated each other to a certain amount of polite distance. She checked in with me each morning to confirm whether Gennie was getting a ride home with her or taking the bus to hang out with Gail. I checked in each afternoon to ask if she wanted to eat dinner with me and Gennie. We were so fucking polite.
I knocked on her door every night to tell her Gennie was asleep. She knocked on my door in the morning to tell me when she was getting into the shower. I knew she did this so we didn’t end up competing with each other for hot water but I liked to torture myself and pretend she did it so I’d know exactly when she’d be naked.
There were moments when I thought this information served as an invitation to join her in there. Part of melovedthe idea of barging into the bathroom, throwing back the shower curtain, climbing in there with her, and twisting her wet hair around my palm while I fucked her against the tile wall. No questions, no conversation. The other part of me knew I’d never pull off a stunt like that. I’d talk myself out of it before opening the door.
Unless Shay made it very clear that she wanted my companionship in the shower. Especially companionship of the barging-in, hair-pulling variety.
“Of course you can come in,” Shay said, waving me forward.
Thank god she didn’t know I was half hard and fully obsessed with her.
“Thanks.” I shut the door behind me and flopped onto her bed, burying my face in the duvet. It smelled like her and now I was more than half hard. “Gen had a million things to talk about tonight. Question after question. So much to talk about. Her head is like a beehive.”
“What’s on her mind?”
I dug a thumb into the back of my neck to loosen the tension there. “Nothing. Everything.”
“What is this about?” Shay pushed to her feet and moved toward the bed. “You’re always grabbing at your neck. What’s going on?”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s obviously not.” She batted my hand away and ran the backs of her fingers over my shoulders and along my neck. “You are wound tight enough to form your own diamonds, Noah.”
“It’s not that bad,” I grumbled.
“Ha.” She opened a few drawers before saying, “Take your shirt off.”
I did not have to be asked twice.
“Okay, tough guy,” she said, dropping her phone on the bed beside me. “I’m going to work on your knots. Is that all right?”
“You’re welcome to them.”
She climbed up and settled low on my back, her calves tight against my flanks. “I’m going to use some lotion. It smells a little bit like honey and almond though it’s not an overpowering scent. No one is going to think you fell in a bucket of perfume. Does that work? I’m sure I can find something more neutral if you really hate it.”
Honey and almond.Fucking finally.I’d only driven myself crazy trying to place those scents. “I don’t mind,” I said. “It’ll wash off in the shower tomorrow morning.”
Murmuring in agreement, Shay worked the lotion into my upper back, shoulders, and neck. It felt otherworldly. Her hands were strong and relentless, and I loved the way she touched me. Even better, the tension seemed a little looser.
