Taylor laughs from her perch, and I cut her a look, playfully. “What did you think would happen, dummy? You turned it all the way to hot.”
“It only works if it’s super hot.”
“Are you planning to burn my skin off?”
“So much sass.” I dump the bubbles in next, the lavender aroma instantly filling the air. Once the tub is halfway filled, I turn on the cold water so it will mix nicely and cool down the water without making it too cold.
“Do you need me to get you anything?” I ask her. She shakes her head. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”
It takes all my willpower to walk out the door and leave her. All I can think about is her undressing and sinking beneath the bubbles. The sounds that will come out of her mouth when the warmth seeps into her skin. The sight of her covered in nothing but suds.
“Grant,” she calls to me when I cross the threshold back intoher bedroom. Turning, I take in her soft smile and weary eyes from the pain, “Thank you.”
“Anything for you, Stella. Take your time.”
To distract myself from the desire coursing in my veins, I make quick work of freshening up the common area. I drop the coffee cup in the sink, wipe down the counter, and put away the remnants of breakfast. Moving back to the living room, I unplug the heating pad and fold it on top of the coffee table. The blanket gets folded and tossed over the back of the couch the way Taylor likes it.
Looking around, I take in all the small changes that she’s made to the space. The candles in the center of the table. The flowers in the kitchen. The books stacked up on the shelf in the corner. Her shoes in the entryway and her bag hanging on the hook.
It’s all the things I’ve missed. The combination of us.
A phone chimes from the couch, and I find her phone tucked between the cushions. She likes to listen to music or a book when she takes a bath, so before I can talk myself out of it, I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and move back to her room.
I’m playing with fire. I know it, and yet, I can’t stop. Knocking on the doorframe, I wait until she says I can come in. When I do, the error of my ways is staring me straight in the face—holding a vibrator.
“I was wondering if you’d come back,” she taunts me with a smug grin.
Holding up her phone, I try to keep my eyes on hers and not on the barely covered parts of her body I’m dying to look at, as I say, “You left your phone in the living room. I thought you might need it?”
“Why? So I can watch porn?”
I choke at the image those words conjure up.
“Music,” I cough out, trying to clear the fog in my head.
She waves the small waterproof bullet vibrator. “Care to tell me what this is?”
“Orgasms help with period pain.”
“I know that.” She points the vibrator at her chest and then points it back at me. “How do you know that?”
“I told you, I did some research.” Orgasms are proven to relax the muscles and soothe cramps in some women. I wish I knew whether it was a proven method to help Taylor, but I wouldn’t mind testing the theory.
She swirls her hands through the bubbles, lifting a brow at me. “And you, what, thought you’d help me out?” Her eyes rake slowly down my body.
I shift uncomfortably, unsure how to respond to that and urging my dick to calm down when her penetrating gaze reaches my crotch. I’d love nothing more than to help her with it. As much as I’d like to claim her, to make her mine again, we’re skirting around the edge of what this all means, and I can’t allow myself to go there until I know it’s real. Until I know I won’t lose her again. Because if I let myself give her everything and she changes her mind, I won’t survive it.
When I still haven’t answered her first question, she meets my eyes again and continues, “What happened to ‘the only one who makes you orgasm is me’ rule?” She deepens her voice to imitate me.
Who am I kidding? It won’t make a damn bit of difference if I fuck her or not. My heart is already involved. That last barrier won’t change anything.
“I can make an exception. Unless you’d rather not.”
Her eyes heat me from the inside out. Again, She drags them from my head to my feet, intentionally stopping on the bulge in the front of my joggers. “What if we made it a mutually beneficial arrangement?”
“What do you propose?” My cock is already hardening at the swell of her boobs peeking out above the bubbles. Each intake ofbreath pushes them higher, almost giving me the view I want but teasing me instead.
“You do you, and I do me.” She shrugs like she didn’t just suggest we masturbate together.
