I told my conscience to fuck off and leave me alone for the day.
"You're amazing, Winter Blackstone." It was the truth.
"I am?" She appeared genuinely surprised.
"Oh yes, you are."
"How am I amazing, James?" The corner of her mouth lifted in a tiny smile.
Mostly you're amazing because you love me. "Well, for you to be so happy and caring of others after the night you had is damn amazing," I told her. "You've never complained, not one time. You let me take care of you last night, and you're coming with me today so I can keep an eye on you. And you're doing it willingly." And you love me. I picked up her bandaged hand carefully and brought it to my lips for a gentle kiss. "I rest my case."
She blushed at the praise, which only served to bring my cock to full attention. Again, not a surprise, but it helped me understand something about Winter that I'd suspected all those years ago on the day of her fifteenth birthday party.
She wasn't acting.
There was no artifice or deceit in her behavior.
Winter was simply unaware of how beautiful she was.
And she loves me.
Holding on to any shred of self-control became my one and only goal when she needed help to get ready.
"This is making you uncomfortable, isn't it?" she asked in a small voice.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" I managed through gritted teeth as I did the hooks on the back of her bra.
When she'd called me into her bedroom, I really didn't know what I expected. I guess I wasn't thinking much at all beyond getting to have her with me today.
It shouldn't have surprised me, though. I'd showed her the surgical gloves she had to wear on her hand when she showered, because her cut needed to remain dry in order to heal. I knew her hand was sore, and her range of motion limited, so twisting fingers behind her back to fasten tiny hooks tightly into corresponding loops wasn't possible for her to manage alone. It wasn't rocket science to figure out her need for assistance was real, but my dumbass brain practically shorted out when I walked in there and got a good look at her in some sexy-as-fuck black lingerie.
Her silky hair flowed down her back and shoulders in soft waves, taking my line of sight directly to her legs in black thigh-high stockings topped with some kind of high-waist garment that did amazing things to her already amazing ass. She shyly looked over her shoulder at me and asked if I would fasten the hooks of her bra for her.
I was fairly sure I groaned out loud.
I could do this.
Yeah, asshole, keep telling yourself that.
Easier said than done when all that stood between my hands and her beautiful body was…nothing. I could smell her orangey scent again and fought the urge to put my lips to her shoulder and have a taste. I'd never be able to stop if I went that far, so I pushed those thoughts aside as best I could.
"I can just tell," she said. "I'm monopolizing your time, and now you're having to help me with everything and even watch over me at Thanksgiving, on a day when you should be with your own family." She sounded sad. What the hell?
"Hey"—I finished the last hook and turned her around to face me—"let's make one thing crystal clear right now. When I'm with you my time is never monopolized. I'm glad I was the one to help you last night. I want you with me today for Thanksgiving with my family. You know how things are between my dad and me, and this year will be a lot less torturous having you there to help defuse him." I smiled at her. "I might even be looking forward to today a lot more than I was yesterday."
She smiled back. "Really, James?"
"Really, Winter." If she only knew how true it was.
"Okay then," she said with another shy smile.
I should've walked out right then.
I should've done a lot of things differently in my life.
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Instead, I looked her over from head to toe and tried to freeze-frame the image of her in my head. So fucking beautiful and sweet, standing serenely for me in sexy black silk and lace…