“You tempt me,” she said with a cute sparkle in her eyes. “Actually, I have some real lotion in the bathroom, and now that you mention it, my skin does feel really warm. Maybe it’ll help cool me down for the night.”
“Consider me your personal masseuse tonight. Get undressed and get ready for these hands and fingers to make you moan in pleasure.”
She giggled. “That sounds so dirty.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Ms. Bennett,” he said with a grin as he reached for the front of her shorts and unfastened the top button, then lowered the zipper, letting them drop to the floor. “It’s a massage, nothing more . . . unless you beg. Begging will get you just about anything you want, as you already know.”
A sultry smile touched her lips. “Mmm. Yes, I do know that very well.”
“Take off your bathing suit and make yourself comfortable on your stomach on the bed with the sheet up to your waist,” he ordered gently. “I’ll be right back with the lotion.”
He left her alone for a few minutes, because he already knew if he watched her strip naked or saw her perfect bare ass, a massage would be secondary to fucking Evie because he wouldn’t be able to resist her. At least with her half-covered, he’d hopefully have a fighting chance of not getting too distracted.
When he returned with the bottle of vanilla-scented lotion, she was in the position he’d requested, the covers in place, and her arms raised so that she could tuck her hands beneath her cheek. His eyes traced the slope of her back to the base of her spine, then over the lush curve of her ass beneath the sheet, making him remember how he’d taken her from behind that morning, and just like that, his dick was hard for her.
He shucked off his own clothes until he was in his boxer briefs, and ignoring the stiffy in his underwear, he moved onto the bed and straddled her hips from behind, making sure to keep his erection from riding the crease of her ass. He poured lotion into his hands, rubbing it between his palms to warm it before leaning over her and smoothing it across her slightly sunburned shoulders and along her arms.
He massaged her neck and across the taut tendons down the center of her back, then up again. Jesus, just touching her platonically turned him on. Or maybe it was the low, sexy, breathy groans she made as his fingers kneaded her muscles that made his stomach twist with desire and need. He reminded himself that this was about her, not him.
“You’re spoiling me,” she said on a soft, relaxed sigh. “This is the best boyfriend experience ever. I might have to hire you again just for your incredible masseuse skills.”
He heard the teasing note in her increasingly lethargic voice as he continued to rub and soothe her upper body. She still thought he’d deliberately signed himself up for the Boyfriend Experience app as a side job, and he seriously thought about telling her the truth right then, because he wanted and needed to set things straight with her, but he didn’t for two reasons. One, he didn’t want to kill the mood for a serious conversation that required an explanation that would be more than one sentence, and two . . . her soft, barely perceptible snores told him that she was already out cold.
He smiled to himself, and after a few more light touches, he moved off of her to his side of the bed. And then he did something incredibly stupid . . . he watched her sleep. He stared at her beautiful, serene face. He thought about how perfectly she fit into his life and how happy and content he was when he was with her.
He felt a discernible shift inside of him, something he’d never experienced before with a woman, but it was quickly obliterated by fear. Whatever was happening inside him when it came to Evie, it scared the ever-loving shit out of him. So many emotions, so many feelings he couldn’t and didn’t want to handle or confront. So he did what he’d spent the past thirteen years perfecting . . . he pushed them deep down inside that dark place where they belonged. He couldn’t give Evie everything she needed and deserved, so why even try?
He glanced away from her and reached for the cell phone on the nightstand that he’d left charging all day because he hadn’t wanted to risk getting it wet or losing it. He’d never disconnected like that, and he honestly hadn’t missed being attached to emails, texts, or social media.
Punching in his passcode, he saw that he had a text from Leo.
Just checking in. Everything is good here. Hope you’re having a great time. Leo followed that up with a smirky smiley face. Don’t forget we have that two p.m. meeting Monday afternoon, so I’ll see you in the office when you get back into town.