Jonah was right. I needed a rest day. Or five.
What the hell was I going to do while the mess of skin healed, though? There were far more torn blisters than smooth skin. I had too much energy, and no way to expel it without my feet.
"What the fuck did you do?" There was a growl in Niall’s voice again as he prowled across the pool room like the panther form he favored, dragging the stiff towel over his barely-wet hair on his way.
I couldn't take my eyes off him.
Was he actually real? And here, next to me?
He kneeled at my side, spinning my ass on the tile beside the pool as he pulled my foot off the ground so he could check it out. "How did this happen?"
"I don’t think you’re in a position to be demanding answers from me." I struggled to keep myself upright with a palm braced against the tile as I fought to keep my other foot off the floor.
He carefully took my other foot too, his eyes narrowing as he saw similar wounds on the bottom. "Livvy."
"We’re not together anymore. You can’t just grab my feet." My words lacked any heat. Despite them, it felt stupidly nice to have him care about me. Knowing my fated mate wanted someone else had been affecting me more than I wanted to admit.
Niall looked up, his narrow-eyed gaze taking in the rest of me before he released one of my feet.
Just for a moment.
Long enough to reach over and grab the bikini strap that had slid down my arm at some point.
I looked down, and realized my boob was hanging out completely.
How long had it been fully on display?
Shit.
Niall pulled the strap back up until the swimsuit was covering my breast.
His hand returned to my ankle, carefully tipping my feet back as he took in the blisters. "Are these from running? You don’t run. You think it's torture."
"You can’t fix my clothes either," I said, dodging his question.
"You know your tits distract me."
The flush in my cheeks was almost as hot as the slickness I could suddenly feel between my thighs.
How many times had he teased me about how distracting my nipples were? How many times had he brought it up? Joked about it? Made me feel sexy without even trying?
How long had it been sinceanyonemade me feel that way?
Jonah certainly hadn’t.
The sex wasn't good, the few times it had happened. When I looked at Gwen afterward, I understood why. We were complete opposites personality-wise, and physically, too. She was all soft and quiet and sweet, and I was all thin, sharp edges.
It was absolutely unfair that Niall could turn me on so easily and want me so badly, while my fucking fated mate wasn't even interested in me.
"I took up running after we broke up," I finally said.
"You threw me out. I never agreed to a breakup. Is that why the towel smells so bad? Because you took up running?" He didn't look up from my foot as he casually dropped the fact that he… what?
Didn't consider us broken up?
How the fuck could he claim that?
"Yeah. It's been there since the last time you and I went swimming together."
