Page 4 of Just Between Us

“Any luck on the job front yet?” I asked, trying to distract myself from the fact she was making my jeans feel a little too tight at the front. I kept my back to her and talked to her like I did when she was younger, giving myself a verbal cold shower.

Christ, Rich. She’s too young for you. Get a grip.

“Not a bloody thing. I’m starting to think I’ll never get a job. Maybe I’ll have to find myself a sugar daddy.”

She laughed, and I felt it prickle over my skin. I swallowed, closed my eyes, and tried to calm my physical reaction to her. A sugar daddy, indeed. In my distraction, I let my wrist get a little too close to the pan I was cooking the chicken in.

“Shit!” I jumped, and in an instant, Lucy was beside me, grabbing my wrist.

“What did you do? Here, let me look.”

She blew over the burn on my skin and goosebumps rose all over my body. Gently, she pulled me to the sink and turned on the cold water, shoving my arm under the flow.

“Keep it there,” she instructed and went back to the cooker to turn down the hotplate under the pan and check the chicken wasn’t burning as well as me. She moved back beside me and touched my arm again, puling it back out of the water to check on it. “Have you still got that first aid kit?”

“It’s not that bad.”

She glared, and I admitted defeat. “Yeah, it’s in the same cupboard as always.”

She nodded and moved to the upper cabinet on the other side of the kitchen, ordering me to sit down. I did as I was told, letting her take care of my injury.

She moved against my knees as I sat on the stool and watched her play nurse with my scald.

“It’ll be fine, you know.” I winced as she covered it with an antiseptic spray.

“It will be once I’ve finished, yes,” she agreed.

I laughed and shook my head. Watching her bandage my arm, I tried not to think of her body brushing against my knees and how damn close she was. She ran her fingers over the bandage, lifted my wrist, and kissed it better with a little smirk. When her eyes made it to mine, I felt like I was being pulled towards her.

She licked her lips, and my gaze fell to her mouth. I knew where this would end up; I felt it in every inch of me. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to sample her taste. I could see her breathing quicken, and she moved ever so slightly towards me too.

Her phone rang. She pulled back and reached into her back pocket to answer it. I took the chance to escape and went back to the stove where the pan of chicken waited for me.

CHAPTER FIVE

LUCY

Fuck!

I almost kissed Rich, and not only that, but I got the impression he was going to kiss me too. That would make things interesting later when I thought of him as I played with my clit.

Instead, my phone rang. It was Annie.

“Hello, babe.” I grinned down the phone.

“Listen, I thought I was going to get this finished up by now, but they’re talking about us still having another few hours of work ahead. Do you want to hold off on heading over to mine?”

“Sure. If anything changes, will you give me a ring?” I felt like I’d been busted. Nervously, I looked over my shoulder to where Rich was standing with his back to me, finishing off the curry he had started earlier.

“Yeah, sweets. I’ll call if anything changes. Better go. Love you!”

“Love you too!” I replied, and she hung up. I turned to Rich. “Uh, that was Annie.”

He didn’t even look at me. “She’s going to be late?”

“Yeah.” I suddenly felt childlike and awkward.

“You’re welcome to stay and have curry with me if you like. I mean, you don’t have to rush off. Not if you don’t want to.”

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