A heavy sigh escaped his lips, and all I wanted to do was assure him everything was going to be fine, but I didn’t want to lie to him. Honestly, I had no idea when or if Trevor would come around to the idea of me and Jackson. Or for that matter, what the rest of his team would think.
“We should get going.” I swung my legs over the bed, but before I could stand, he pushed me onto my back.
“Can we just stay right here for the rest of the day?” He trailed his finger over my breast, my nipple pebbling with excitement. The way he looked at me made me want to throw my arms around him and give him anything he desired, but I had to be smart.Wehad to be smart.
My lips hovered near his. “I’d love to, but I have a job to do, and you’re getting in the way of that.” I pecked his mouth and smirked when he rolled his eyes.
He rubbed his nose against mine. “Fine.” When he stood, he held out his hand to me to help me up. “You better put some damn clothes on before I change my mind.” A swift swat to my bare ass had me squealing in surprise.
“I’m gonna rinse off quick. I’ll meet you down there,” he said as he walked out of his bedroom.
I threw on my clothes from last night and left his apartment, stopping by my place to shower and change into something appropriate.
Ten minutes later, I entered the back room of the gym, but Jackson wasn’t waiting in there for me like I suspected. I peeked my head into the main area, but instead of finding the man I needed to stretch, I saw Trevor talking to Lance in the corner. Their attention swung my way, and based on their matching frowns, Trevor had informed Lance about me and their friend.
“What are you doing?” Jackson asked, walking up behind me, and startling me.
“I was looking for you.” I closed the door to give us privacy. “I thought you were already down here.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to take long, but the hot water felt so good on my shoulder.” He rested his hand over the area and winced.
I pointed toward the chair. “Sit.” He did as instructed, smiling the entire time. “What’s that look for?” I asked, grinning right along with him as I stepped behind him. His skin was still warm, and the second I touched him, memories of last night infiltrated. Before I got myself too worked up to do my job properly, I pushed the images aside and focused on him. “I’m confused on how you’re going to fight in a couple months if you’re having this level of soreness with your shoulder still.”
“It’s not that bad. I just like when you rub me.”
“Liar.”
The sound of his amusement was the best sound I’d heard in a while. Well,oneof the best sounds.
I poured a small amount of oil into my palms and rubbed my hands together before I massaged the elixir into his shoulder.
“Fuck,” he moaned, dropping his head. He was going to make my job impossible because every groan he uttered, every smile he threw my way, every touch he gifted me would remind me of the way he worked my body last night. And the last thing I wanted to do was give him or his team reason to doubt my ability to keep my professional and personal lives separate.
I moved to stand in front of him to obtain a different angle, straddling his leg like I’d done before. Only this time, we reacted differently. The sexual chemistry was stronger than ever, but the awkwardness of the closeness had disappeared.
Jackson grabbed my ass and squeezed. “I love that I can do this now without fear you’re going to smack me.”
I wanted to demand he do other things to me, but instead, I stepped back until his arms fell to his sides.
“I reserve the right to smack you,” I teased. “And no touching.”
“Why?” He genuinely sounded baffled.
“Because while I’m working, we’re not going to be messing around. We need to keep things professional between us.”
“And when I’m done training for the day?”
“Then we can do whatever you want.” I stepped behind him once more, working on the tension in his shoulder before moving down his arm. I leaned closer to his ear and whispered, “And I do mean anything.”
A shiver rocked his body seconds before he twisted in his seat and seized my wrist. “If you don’t want me touching you while you’re working, then don’t tease me, Sophie.” His eyes briefly dropped to my mouth. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself.”
The lust dancing across his face set my body on fire, but now wasn’t the time to succumb to desire.
“You’re right. I won’t tease you.”
He released me and faced forward. “Thank you.”
Before we’d slept together, whenever I touched him, I imagined us tangled up in each other, wondering what his kiss tasted like and how lost I’d allow myself to become while wrapped in his arms. And now that I didn’t have to imagine any longer, I was oddly overcome with a sense of dread. The thought of whatever this was between us vanishing scared me, and for as irrational of a feeling as that was, I experienced it just the same.
