Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 97882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
That desire hadn’t ebbed, not even as my intelligence took over and reminded me all the reasons nothing between us could ever happen. It didn’t stop me from storming up to my shower that night, running it hot, and stroking myself to the thought of taking her. It didn’t stop me from daydreaming every time I’d seen her since. It didn’t stop me from fantasizing about how she would respond if I broke loose of the constraints I’d tied myself up with and said fuck it all, pushing her against the nearest wall and hiking her thigh up, skating my fingers between her legs…
“Roll over,” she commanded, and I did so as those words drifted to me through a fog only a massage could bring on.
I kept my eyes closed, sighing contently as I rolled onto my back and waited for her to start working on the front part of my shoulder.
Instead, a soft laugh floated into the shell of my ear.
I creaked one eye open and then the next, Julep framed in a halo from the fluorescent light above her. She wore an amused smile, and through my exhausted, sated massage haze, she almost looked like an angel.
“What’s so funny?” I mused with a smirk of my own.
“Oh, nothing,” she said, folding one arm over her chest and balancing the elbow of the opposite on top of it. She rested her chin on her knuckles, rolling her lips together before she released them with a pop. She pointed at my crotch at the same time. “Just saying hello to my new friend, that’s all.”
I frowned, following the direction of her finger.
And then cursed.
I had a raging fucking hard-on, my cock at full attention, straining against my shorts.
I sat up, adjusting myself as Julep laughed and laughed. My cheeks flamed with embarrassment, but the longer I watched her laughing, the longer I heard that rare, fucking perfect sound coming from her, the less I cared.
I smiled, too, and leaned back on my hands, shaking my head. “It amuses you, does it?”
“Oh, very much so,” she managed between her laughs. She was holding her side now, tears flooding her eyes.
“Who’s the twelve-year-old now?” I teased.
She just howled more.
I couldn’t help but watch her, and even though she was laughing at my expense, I felt some sort of pride in getting that sound out of her at all. I waited until she calmed, and she rested one hand on the edge of the table, the other still holding her side as her eyes found mine.
Silence fell over us like a warm blanket, shielding us from the outside world. Her face evened out as her breath shallowed, and I held her weighted gaze as long as I could before she shook me free and stood straight again.
“Well, I have a boner killer,” she announced, and she actually had the decency to look a little apologetic as she wiped a tear from her eye. “Holden… you’re going to be out again this game.”
All joy left me with those words.
I flopped back on the table, sighing. “Perfect.”
Julep didn’t try to comfort me, didn’t try to assure me everything would be okay and I’d be out there soon. I appreciated that, that she didn’t lie, didn’t make any promises she couldn’t keep. She was calling the shots as she saw them in that moment, not a future one.
Right now, I couldn’t play.
It was as simple and awful as that.
After a moment, she leaned against the edge of the table, half-seated, as she said, “We’re making progress. Your strength has improved ten-fold.”
Both true.
Neither enough to soothe the burning in my chest.
I nodded, sitting up again. “Well, I guess I can look forward to another game of me showing up bright and early like always, except instead of having purpose, I just look like a lost puppy now.”
Julep offered a sympathetic smile. “Why do you show up early if you don’t need to?”
I shrugged. “Because I always have.”
She nodded, considering, and then said, “What if we changed it up a bit, did something before the game to take your mind off things?”
Surprise made me sit up more. “You want to hang out with me, Polerina?”
“Never mind,” she said instantly, lips flat.
“No, no,” I said, reaching for her as she stood up and started to walk away. I didn’t touch her though, just ran a hand back through my hair. “It’s just… it’s an early game,” I reminded her. “Kick off is at noon. I may not need to get here early, but what could we possibly do before official team report time at ten?”
Something in her eyes told me she regretted making the suggestion, but still, her lips curled into a smile. “I have an idea.”
Julep
“A yard sale?”
Holden made a face, blinking at the hand-written sign with balloons that had an arrow pointing down a narrow street before he turned to look at me. I just smiled and hit the blinker, heading toward our first stop.