Page 50 of Good Enough

MARCH 6TH

Kai

Kai stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around herself, and proceeded to finger-comb through her hair. The overall temperature might be in the seventies, but the storm and mud had left her with quite a chill, and the house always felt a little bit damp. With everyone showering right now, she was lucky the water was warm enough to take away the chill. Quickly, she applied lotion to her arms and legs, moisturizer to her face to help take out some of the sting from the wind burn, and then slid into her bra, panties, Dodgers hoodie, gray joggers, and a pair of matching Dodgers ankle socks.

Tossing her towels over the tub’s edge, she exited the bathroom, passed through her bedroom, and moved into the War Room, stopping just short of gasping. Waters was already there. He, too, was fresh from his shower. He wore a dark-gray tee and black track pants. Around his neck, he had a white hand towel, and his feet were bare. He had a coffee cup in one hand that he sipped from as he flipped through the storyboard renderings on her easel table.

So not fair. No man should look so edible.

He looked up at her and handed her another coffee cup. “Hope it’s right.” His gaze went back to the boards.

Kai cradled the ceramic mug between her hands, soaking up its warmth and inhaling the rich chocolate scent wafting up from the content’s surface. Cautiously, she sipped the heated liquid and couldn’t contain the moan of enjoyment.

Holy shit, he made me a Crankiness Bomb?

Through half-raised lids, she saw him intently watching her, a soft smile on his lips. “I’m guessing it’s right. Never seen a woman enjoy chocolate like that. I’ve heard for some of you it’s a sexual experience, but damn.”

Blushing, she moved to stand next to him at the table, dropping her eyes to what was on the papers. “We’ve already discussed my intense relationship with chocolate.” She lightly hip-checked him. “And yes, it’s perfect.” She took another sip. “What are you looking for?”

“I had a thought when I was in the shower.” He looked at her and saw the smirk. Now it was his turn to hip-check her, which he did a little harder than her effort had been. “Stop it. About the movie.”

“Uh-huh.” She sipped more of the minty sweetness from her cup. “Was it a ‘good’ thought?”

He snorted at her throwing their first breakfast morning in his face. “Not that good, I’m afraid. Was only a five-minute shower.”

“Wow. With your strong sense of control? Here I thought you would make it at least seven.”

“Saucy. Don’t tease. I’ll put you over my knee.”

“Pshh. Try it, and I’ll break you. I know a big, bad, former Navy SEAL who’s taught me some pretty freaky shit to put the hurt on men like you.”

He chuckled. “That’s my girl. Seriously, though. I was thinking about the wall. I think you should use that in the film. Use some of that with the cliff climb you had planned.” He had put his coffee mug down to the side and was flipping through pages, looking for what he was picturing. He found it and pulled the rendering clear. “Here. What you all did today was seamless. Natural. Especially afterward when Vixen turned her ankle. It would show their teamwork much better.”

Kai grabbed a clean sheet of sketching paper and a pencil. Noticing it was dulled down to a nub, she started looking around for a sharpener.

“Gimme.” He took the pencil from her and sharpened it. After he handed her the fresh pencil, he worked on sharpening several more as she stood and sketched.

Frame after frame poured out of the pencil tips. He disappeared at one point with her cup, came back with a fresh mug, and helped switch out the pages as she needed new ones. She was so focused that an hour of silence passed other than the grinding of the sharpener, the flipping of pages of storyboards, and the scratching of the pencil on paper. When she was done, she set the pencil down, reaching high to stretch out her back from being hunched over the table. A cramp moved through her knuckles, and she shook out her hand.

“Come here.” Waters grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the leather sofa in front of the fireplace. At some point, he must have gotten it going as she finally noticed that the room had lost some of its chill. He sat on the couch back, pulling her to sit on the cushion in front of him. Bundling her hair into a single ponytail, he moved it over her shoulder, then proceeded to work the knots out of her neck and shoulders from being hunched over the table.

“Oh, God. Don’t ever stop,” she begged.

Wow. That didn’t sound desperate at all.

There was a slight stutter to the rotations of his thumbs. He didn’t say anything, but he also didn’t stop. She wondered if she should be embarrassed by her near sex-moan over the massaging fingers on her body. Luckily, her face was turned away from him. Hopefully, only her face was burning scarlet and not her neck and ears, which he could see from his perch behind her.

He slid down behind her, his thighs now hugging hers on the cushion. “Hand,” he ordered. She tried to move from between his legs, but she was stalled by his knees squeezing her thighs and his repeated command of “hand.” She lifted her right hand from her lap. Two veiny forearms came around her from the back, hugging her close as he began massaging the palm, back, joints, and fingers. It was impossible to stop the moan that issued forward.

“Saucy,” he warned.

“Hey, it's your fault, not mine. I can’t help it that you have magic hands.”

“Magic, huh?” His question was a bit muffled by the forced proximity to her hair over her shoulder. She swore she heard him whisper into her hair, “If you only knew.”

He was hell on her equilibrium, and she would fall for him headfirst if he didn’t stop being so damn good at everything. She shivered, but it wasn’t because she was cold. At her movement, he slid out from behind her and grabbed the blanket that was at the end of the couch. “Under.”

She scooted to the corner of the couch, leaning into the oversized pillow there, and he spread the blanket over her. “Do you talk to all women in single-word commands?”

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