As I’m walking around just to familiarize myself, every corner of this gym looks like it was so well thought out, downto the feminine products available to take in the women’s bathroom.
I spend an hour rotating between some of the weights and cardio machines, taking my time as I have the entire place to myself.
The sauna is tempting as I walk by it on the way out. It’s a small room behind a wooden door and I swear just standing outside of it you can feel how hot it is in there. When I open the door, the wave of heat hits me in the face and it takes me a second to adjust to how the air in here feels. There’s a small bench that runs along the wall across from the door and then an even smaller one near the side, slightly hidden from the window in the door.
Taking a seat in the smaller area, I instantly feel the sweat start to double from what it was just from the workout. I can see the appeal though for these things. It’s quiet here—calm and relaxing. The intensity of this heat feels great on my skin, too.
Leaning my head back against the wall, I let my eyes close and my body relax. I’m still not over the kiss with Chase and every time my mind settles, the memory of his lips on mine push through and invade my thoughts. It was perfect.Hewas perfect.
Sitting here alone, I let my thoughts get carried away. I let the memory of Chase’s body against me work its way through my mind. I imagine how things might have progressed if we kept going. If his morals didn’t pop out at the most inopportune time. I can feel the ache between my legs and I press my body down against the wooden bench as I arch myself forward.
There’s a sound near the door causing my eyes to shoot open and I’m met with the man of the hour himself. Chase strides in quietly, adjusting the string on his shorts. I stare at his bare chest as he pulls his headphones from his ears.
“Oh, I can come back if you want some privacy.” He returns the look, staring at my chest that’s covered in sweat.
My eyes linger on his body for a moment before we meet each other at eye level and I smile as if I wasn’t just picturing him on his knees for me. “You can stay.”
He reaches for a knob on the wall, lowering the temperature before he takes a seat on the other side of the bench. I shouldn’t be paying so much attention to every move he makes, but I’ve noticed it’s not just me paying attention to him anymore. His eyes are on me just as much as mine are on him. A new development I’m beginning to love.
“Is Abby still with CeCe?” I ask.
He nods, running his hand over his shorts. “Yeah, she took her to the Rec Center for some arts and crafts event.”
After this week, Chase’s mom will be in town for a while and she’ll be helping with CeCe a lot too.
“Oh, okay. This is my first time here, just so you know. It’s not like I’m making it a habit coming to your apartment building all the time.”
“I gave you the key card and expected you’d use it. No need to justify it.”
I nod.
The way he looks right now is downright criminal. Beads of sweat are forming on every part of his body and I have this insatiable urge to just touch him.
“This thing is definitely not built for a crowd.” I stretch my legs out in front of me, glancing around at the walls around us.
“No.” His tongue coats his lips. “It isn’t.” His stomach flexes as he sits himself up more, pulling at the waistband of his shorts and all I want to do is run my tongue over his skin. His thigh tattoo peeks out—again only giving me a small glimpse of it as I stare at him. I can feel his eyes on me, too.
The warmth continues to build as we sit in silence for what feels like forever, but it’s also a nice change of pace. Most of the time I feel like I need to fill silence with conversation, but rightnow sitting here and hearing each other simply breathe feels like enough as our eyes keep finding one another’s from across the sauna.
The golden flecks in his eyes are consuming and my fingers long to skim against his chiseled jawline. “You’re staring, Kincaid.” The low rasp of his voice gets my heart pumping faster.
I can feel heat building in every crevice of my body as I settle myself against the bench. “So are you.” My words are a whisper.
Like a challenge neither of us want to back down from, we hold our eye contact until he slowly stands and walks closer to me. He’s a tall man, thick and built, and as I’m seated here, he’s towering over me, trapping me in his bubble and I never want to leave. His knee knocks into mine, spreading my legs apart as he gets close enough to touch and my skin wants to burst into flames.
“You have to stop,” he warns, leaning down and tilting my chin up at him with his thumb and index finger.
“You first.”
His hand releases my chin and he leans even closer, taking his palm and cupping the side of my neck into his grip. It feels possessive, yet I’ve never felt safer or more willing than I feel right now.
It’s hard to think straight with his hands on me and even harder when I glance at his shorts and see that he’s just as turned on as I am right now.
He slides his hand from my neck to my shoulder and skims my collarbone, lighting my body up with goosebumps as he does. I feel the pressure from his fingers as he rubs them over my skin and my chest pumps up and down as a whimper leaves my lips—begging him to keep his hands on me, to keep touching me. But he pulls away.
“You can keep touching me, Chase.”
He takes a fallen piece of my hair from my face and tucks it behind my ear.
