“A shower isn’t salacious,” I confirm to my half-unpacked, half-boxed-up living room. “It’s hygienic, and it conserves gas by saving him an extra trip.”
I jump when he looks back at the house. Then I make a run for it to the kitchen, where I search for the common sense I must have lost in the junk drawer.
Friends can eat raw fish without it being weird.
Chapter 9
Antonio
“Get your shit together, Knight.”
I angle my head under the steady spray. The polished chrome showerhead resembles a 1950s relic, but it funnels enough pressure to knead my tired muscles from today’s practice. Water drums over my head, running in rivulets down the nape of my neck to my back.
Bundled eucalyptus mixes with steam. My muscles aren’t screaming anymore, but nothing has worked to calm my dick. It’s ready to knock a hole through the tiles.
I’ve been hard since I froze my ass off on Miriam’s porch waiting for her to open the door. Aside from the good blood circulation, I’m not proud of it. Her black leggings, curved to the smooth lines of her hips and succulent thighs thick enough to crack watermelons, had all of me leaning forward.
Whether she’s a siren in a tight red dress looking for a one-night stand or in a loose sweatshirt with her hair pulled back into a curly puff like tonight, her existence demands a response.
One glance and a whiff of that rose oil is all it takes. Her scent invades the tight corners of the tiled shower behind asimple cream shower curtain. I soaped myself twice in Miriam’s shea butter body wash to keep from beating off in the smallest bathroom in Buffalo.
“Fuck.” I drop my head and widen my stance to welcome hard strokes.
Plump lips and wide eyes appear behind my eyelids. Miriam is the complete package.
Sweet.
Intelligent.
Full-bodied.
And you’re about to come in her bathroom.
“Shit!” The thought snaps me away from the woman who’s starred in my dreams for the last eighteen years. She’s under the same roof but still out of reach.
I’ve wanted her since I knew of her. She stayed on the fringes of our mutual circles for so long, I never pictured us being friends. I can’t help the physical response she excites by just breathing in my direction, but I can get a grip. One that doesn’t involve jerking off in her tiny-ass bathroom, fantasizing about something that will never happen.
“Pervert,” I mutter, and rinse out the wash rag.
Coming here wasn’t a big deal until it was. Masturbation in a porta-potty-sized shower wasn’t on the agenda, but neither were the nerves I felt seeing her in person for the second time since we decided to be friends.
I clammed up ringing the doorbell and clenched my ass, if I’m being honest. Tonight isn’t a date—I don’t date—but I found myself checking my breath and second-guessing the dinner I grabbed after practice.
The whiplash of my heartbeat and that prickle I feel down my spine whenever I’m near her will fade as we spend more time together. I don’t want to ruin what we have or the peace she brings to my life.
I turn off the water, exit the shower, and frown at the towel on the toilet. It’s the size of an oven mitt. She’ll get a show if I cough wrong.
My rugby bag, which has my clothes and a towel for people my height, is in the hall. This bathroom barely fits a toilet and tub, so I couldn’t keep it on the floor. I was tired of tripping over it, shuffling between the sink to brush my teeth and getting the shower ready. How Miriam fits in here with all that ass is a life hack.
Don’t think about her ass.
I peek outside the door to make sure the coast is clear. The hall is an empty space of white walls with molding and aged wood floors that creak beneath my tiptoe. I reach one of the zippers before I sprint toward a yelp.
“Doe!” I call out, my hand on the towel, inches from exposing my dick. The smart thing to do would’ve been to grab a pair of pants. But my feet took off faster than my common sense could catch up.
What I find when I enter what I assume is her room has me laughing to the point of tears.
She’s hanging from a shelf inside a narrow closet. A step stool is on its side on the ground as her feet flutter in the air to find it.
