“What is it you want, Kendra?”
“Kiss me?”
“Are you going to be satisfied with just a kiss tonight?”
I whined in response. “If I have to be.”
And then he closed the distance, his mouth all over mine. He sucked on my lower lip, my mouth opened as his tongue thrust in, meeting mine with an urgency I hadn’t expected. He didn’t hold back.
My clothes weighed heavily as I struggled to move against him. He rocked into me, giving me just enough to drive me crazy, but not enough for me to get off. When I moved to untuck his shirt, he grabbed my hand and tore his mouth from mine. His forehead rested on mine as we both took long, hard breaths.
“Not tonight.” His voice was husky, and I could feel the strain as he tried to hold on to his conviction. My body chilled when he stood up I immediately missed the contact of him against me.
I rolled my eyes and pulled myself up to stand next to him.
“Did you want to stay tonight? Or should I have my driver bring you home?”
“I need to go home. Tomorrow is leg day, and I need toget my gym clothes. But I can Uber. I don’t need you to have your driver bring me.”
He shrugged and grabbed his phone, sending a text. Within seconds he had a response.
“He’ll be out front in five minutes. I’ll walk you down.”
When we reached the entrance of his building, he pulled me into him, kissing me softly. “Goodnight. Sleep well,” he said.
TWENTY-TWO
hawk
I hadn’t plannedto work out this morning, but the thought of Kendra in her tight workout clothes pushing through leg day was enough to pull me out of bed.
Following her around like a lovesick puppy hadn’t been my plan, but that’s what happened. Thank God we were the only ones in the gym.
She’d planned the workout, and while I was pretty comfortable with my fitness level and general athletic ability, her routine was far more strenuous than mine. The post-workout sauna would be the only way I would get through the day without popping Ibuprofen.
I leaned back against the sauna wall and closed my eyes. I would be lying if I said that Kendra’s trauma history hadn’t given me pause. On the surface, she was ambitious and assertive, traits that I was drawn to. But I doubted she ever relaxed. If she wasn’t at work, doing everything to get ahead, she was running fucking marathons and tossing barbells around like they were made of styrofoam.
Was that a trauma response? I wasn’t sure, but I thoughttoo highly of her not to do my best to respect her history. Man, it had been tough sending her home last night.
I jumped when I heard the sauna door open.
“Oh, hi,” Kendra said. “I didn’t know anyone would be in here. Do you want me to leave?”
Fuck me. She was naked under that towel.
“Come in and lock the door behind you.”
She sat directly across from me, and I wished I had worn my bathing suit. But she’d never taken a sauna before, so I thought I would have the place to myself.
“Any reason why you’re starting a sauna routine?”
She looked away, her face flushed in embarrassment. “I went a little too hard at the gym trying to impress some boy.”
I felt my mouth turn up into a smile. “You don’t have to try so hard. Everything you do impresses me.”
A bead of sweat formed on her forehead, and I watched it slip down her face. My sweat broke out, and I was now dripping. The towel tied at my waist was doing very little to absorb what was now pouring out of me.
“How about this?” She dropped her towel, and my eyes crawled over her body. Her perspiration only added to her absolutely perfectly sculpted, athletic build.
