I slowly turned to face him in all my naked glory. “I am.”
His hands settled on his hips, and his jaw tensed as his eyes traveled over every inch of me before they narrowed slightly when meeting my gaze. “Why are you naked?”
“I’mtryingto seduce you.”
He crossed his arms over his bare chest. “No strenuous–”
“Shhh, don’t say it.”
He suppressed a laugh. “Not saying it doesn’t make it any less true. No strenuous activity for two weeks, until your doctor clears you.”
“It’s been almost two weeks.”
“And your follow-up appointment is in a few days. Until then–”
“I’m standing here naked, offering myself up on a silver platter, and you’re going to deny me sex over a few measly days? Andyou’rea doctor.Youcan ‘clear’ me…in more ways than one.”
He laughed, pinching the bridge of his nose, letting out asigh mixed with a groan before dropping his hand back to his side. “You’re killing me.”
I rested my hands on the counter behind me and leaned back, making my chest jut out slightly. “I could besatisfyingyou, if you’d just take my bait. And also, you have no room to talk, considering you’re walking around shirtless in grey sweatpantsanda backward hat. That’s basically a man’s version of slutty lingerie.”
He snorted with laughter and walked forward, stopping directly in front of me. His hands reached out and curled around my waist. “It’s just a few more days.” I sighed in defeat—Ireallythought this would work. He chuckled softly, leaned down, and brushed his lips against mine. “It’s for your own good. I promise, I’ll make the wait worth it.” He pressed a kiss to my lips. “Now, go get that sexy ass of yours dressed.” His hand slid around, giving my backside a gentle swat.
I groaned and walked back down the hall toward his room, keenly aware of the weight of his gaze on me. I glanced over my shoulder, and sure enough, there he was, enjoying the view of my ass with a playful smirk until I disappeared inside his room.
It’d been nearly three weeks since my accident, almost two since I left the hospital. I’d been making progress, but these restrictions chafed at every part of me. The hope of getting the all clear at my follow-up appointment was the only thing keeping me sane. This “no strenuous activity” bullshit wasnotfor the faint of heart,especiallywhen sleeping beside a man like Blake Pierson.
And Blake wouldnotbudge, no matter how hard I tried, even when his body told me hewantedto. And believe me,I tried. Pathetically so.
I flirted.
I teased relentlessly.
Hell, I just stood in front of him bare-ass naked. But the man had the self-restraint of a goddamn saint. He had his urges on lockdown and wouldnotgive in.
Each time I tried, he reminded me of the “no strenuous activity” instructions on my discharge papers, saying he didn’t want me to chance it and hinder my recovery, that I would have to wait until my doctor gave me the okay. I tried not to take it to heart, knowing he was only looking out for me. And I equated his worry and concern to what he’d gone through, not only with me and my accident, but his past as well.
He finally felt comfortable enough leaving me alone for an hour while he went to therapy the other day. I had to work a little to convince him, but he finally relented. I wasn’t the only one healing from something, and I wanted him to keep going to see Nate, especially since it helped him.
By the time Friday rolled around, I was more than ready for my appointment—more so for it to be over. Blake took me that afternoon, and when we arrived at the office, the first thing they did was a chest X-ray. Afterward, I was taken to the room, and we waited for the doctor.
When she came in, she had my X-ray films and put them up so we could both see—my lungs, specifically the right one, looked great.
Box one,checked.
She then checked my incision where the tube had been—there was no redness or signs of infection, and she was happy with how it looked.
Box two,checked.
Then we talked about how I’d been doing. I explained I’d been up and walking at least twice a day, now going as far as theend of Blake’s street and back, that I hadn’t been on the prescription pain meds all week, only using over-the-counter meds as needed, and I’d been eating and drinking fine.
“Well, I’m pleased with your progress. And everything looks great. I’d still like you to take another two weeks off from work to give yourself that extra time, but you can resume normal activity as tolerated. Still no heavy lifting, not for another couple of weeks. We want those muscles to heal properly.”
Lucky box number three,checked.
Out of my peripheral, I could see Blake rubbing his mouth over his hand to hide his smile. I was fighting for my life not to make eye contact with him as I nodded along to what the doctor was saying.
When we finally left the office, I was waiting for him to say something about it, but he didn’t. He was playing it off—ortryingto—but I knew he was thinking about it.
