My runningshoes pound the paved trail as I try to time my breaths to the metered beats of my fast footfalls. Aleksander and I pass a few people who are also out enjoying a morning run through the park. I’ve brought Fénix out here a few times in his carriage stroller to walk around the loop that circles the pond, or with Constantine to enjoy a picnic under the shade of the old maple that grows near the south bank where the ducks like to gather.
Stealing a side glance at Aleksander, I mentally growl at the fact that he looks fresh as a daisy, as Alana used to say, whereas I’m a panting, sweaty mess after only running three miles. Three long miles filled with awkward-as-hell silence that I’m done with. I was hoping he would say something first, but it’s clear that he’s not going to.
“I think we should talk about?—”
“No, we shouldn’t,” he replies, increasing his speed.
Damn his long, muscled legs.
Tapping into my rapidly depleting energy reserves, my calves burn as I sprint after him. I shouldn’t have eaten all those donuts. The quick sugar infusion left me at mile one.
“Clearly, we should,” I reply through labored breaths when I catch up to him. “I’m sorry that?—”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“I know it must have been embarrassing?—”
“It wasn’t.”
“—to walk in and see me and?—”
“You walked in on me in the shower. Call it even.”
Not even close. And why did he have to bring that up? Not like I’d ever forget because…stop picturing his dick.
“I don’t want you to feel?—”
“I don’t.”
“And I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable?—”
“You didn’t.”
“There’s no excuse for my behavior, and?—”
“You don’t need to keep apologizing.”
For fuck’s sake.
Irritated with the constant cutoffs, I leap onto his back, and he stumbles forward. “Stop interrupting me! We’re going to talk about what happened whether you want to or not.”
His large hands curve under my ass to support my weight, and he carries me piggyback down the trail. “I’d rather not.”
Hoping to sweep it under a figurative rug, I reply, “We shouldn’t make it a bigger deal than it was.”
His hands suddenly let go, and I drop to my feet. The warmth he’d been radiating is quickly replaced with the frosty chill of the air.
My breath catches when he pivots around and advances forward, backing me up until my spine hits the trunk of a tree. The wild emotion behind his pewter eyes sends my heart galloping to dangerous levels.
“It is a big deal,” he says, taking a step closer, so close I can smell the soap he used, and the natural masculine musk ofhim. Can a man smell delicious?
And dear god, all I want to do is lick his inked skin from head to toe just to see what he tastes like.
“People see each other naked all the time. At the gym. Nude beaches. Strip clubs.” I know I’m grasping at the absurd to make my point.
“You aren’t just some guy I stand next to in the shower room at the gym or a random girl giving me a lap dance whose face I’d forget the second the music stopped. You’re…” He slides a fingertip down my cheek, his touch seductive as it traces the contour of my bottom lip.
“I’m what?” My voice comes out breathless, and it has nothing to do with the triple miles I just ran.
