A blaze lit in their wake.
A painful taunt.
Only she didn’t stop.
She dragged them all the way down to the button of my jeans. She gave a little tug.
My cock raged, and a rush of lightheadedness made it difficult to see.
I was so close to breaking. So close to stepping over a line. Hell, there was no question I’d already hurtled over it just having her like this.
“Not going there,” I gritted.
“Cash, I…”
“Not going there, Daisy.”
My hands fisted at my sides, and she chewed at the inside of her cheek the way she always did when she was upset or nervous before she slowly slid off the edge of the counter. She landed on her feet.
The brightest fucking light.
The morning.
The sun.
That bolt of bright color in the middle of the bleak.
She brushed her hand down my chest again. “You take a shower in here and get cleaned up. I’ll get you some fresh clothes and leave them on the bed. I’m going to sleep on the couch.”
“You don’t have to?—”
“Just…please,” she muttered.
Then she dipped down and grabbed her leggings from the floor, turned to walk away, though she stopped at the doorway.
Her gaze filled with the type of understanding I couldn’t fathom. “You don’t have to hide from me, Cash. I already know who you are.”
Then she turned and slipped out the door.
My hands shot to the counter, and I bent in two as I struggled to draw the oxygen back into my lungs. Trying to pull my shit together when the only thing I wanted to do was chase after her.
But I couldn’t do that. I had no right.
Breaths shuddering, I forced myself to straighten. I shucked out of my jeans and underwear, barely noticing the pain of the injuries.
I wasn’t lying when I told her I walked through life mostly numb, though right then, I was feeling all the things I shouldn’t feel.
I lumbered to the shower and turned it on. It took only a second for the water to heat, and a misty fog filtered out into the bathroom. As disorienting as I felt.
I stepped into the spray.
Hot water pelted my flesh, and the warmth rushed over me, though I found no comfort in it. It was just the tormenting remnants of her touch and her words and her taste written all over me. I reached out and pressed my palm to the wall, propping myself up as the spray pounded my head and shoulders.
My cock throbbed to the point of agony.
My insides a toil of knots and lust and a desperation unlike anything I’d ever felt.
Fisting myself, I gave a hard stroke.
