Page 44 of Caught in the Middle

The right side of his mouth lifted. “I didn’t say that was a bad thing.”

She rolled her eyes as she laid back down.

“Where at?” He squirted some lotion on his hand and then rubbed both together.

“Everywhere.”

He could’ve sworn he heard victory in her voice. Cam began rubbing the lotion on her back, making circular motions with his hands until he realized he’d put on too much and began kneading it outward toward the sides. “I’m going to lift your strap,” he warned and waited until she nodded her head before he slid his palm underneath to spread the lotion further.

He squeezed a little more out of the bottle and onto her upper back.

Emma gasped at the sudden chill, which earned her a chuckle and a not-so-apologetic sorry.

Cam began working the lotion into her already tan skin, thinking maybe her sunscreen wasn’t so effective after all. “Do you work out?” he found himself asking as his hands found her shoulders.

She leaned into the touch as much as one could from a lying position. It felt more like a massage and damn if she didn’t carry a lot of her stress in her shoulders. “Yeah. Do you?”

“How often?”

“That’s not an answer,” she replied.

He dug his thumbs into her shoulders and she let out a light groan at how good it felt.

“You first,” he said.

She rolled her eyes but wasn’t going to fight him on it when his hands were working magic on her right now. “I do some sort of movement daily.”

“Like what?”

She let out a sigh as he kneaded her neck. “I like to go for walks and hikes when I have time for it, and I live near a reformer pilates studio that I attend a few times a week. Sometimes I meet up with friends at a rock climbing gym, but we just do it for fun. I jog when I’m in the mood for it, hit the gym for weights if I feel like I’m getting cabin fever or staying in a hotel, and I like to do yoga occasionally.” His left hand found a knot and she let out a moan. “It hurts so good,” she sighed.

He chuckled. “So you like a bit of everything,” he said in response to her exercise regimen.

“You could say I like to mix it up.” When his hands left her upper back, she tried not to sound too disappointed. That wasn’t an issue any longer when she felt those strong fingers cascade over one of her calves. “What about you?” she asked, trying not to get lost in how good his hands felt on her body. She was beginning to think her plan was backfiring because if he kept this up, he’d have her eating out of the palm of his hand.

“My apartment has a gym with the basics, but that’s all I need. Besides that, I play basketball with my friends a lot for fun. Whenever we travel as a group we like to rent bikes and normally if I’m staying somewhere with a pool, I’ll swim laps for the hell of it. I like to stay moving.” But the exercise he wouldn’t mind partaking in right now included throwing these long legs of hers over his shoulders all night.

“I think we might have a lot in common.”

“Why do you say it like it’s a bad thing?”

Emma frowned. She hadn’t realized she’d said it out loud.

Cam poured more lotion into his hands and then began working on her other leg, staying well below her knees for as long as he could. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to walk to the water without the world knowing what was on his mind the moment he touched that sweet backside of hers.

“It’s not. It’s just surprising, I guess.”

“Why’s it surprising?” he asked, continuing the massage. He was well aware that rubbing lotion on could’ve been a quick job, but he wasn’t sure if he was avoiding putting it on her ass or relishing every moment he got to touch her.

He waited as she thought of her next words. “Of all the people I could have trapped into this vacation,” she started. “I found the one person who they would actually believe I could like.”

Cam grabbed the bottle again but paused to think about what she’d said. “Better than hating each other’s guts.”

“Maybe,” she muttered more to herself than to him.

“It’s going to be cold,” he warned.

Emma took a deep breath and held it, waiting for the chill to hit her skin. She still gasped when the lotion landed on one butt cheek and then the other. “You could’ve warmed it up a little,” she protested.

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