Page 61 of Glitz & Goals

“Shibari can mess with your circulation,” he says. “Are you feeling okay?”

I nod. “I’m good. But that feels nice, so don’t stop.”

Grady laughs. Shit, I’m supposed to be escaping, aren’t I? His hands are so gentle, though. It really does feel amazing.

He massages my legs, too. When he sees that I keep drifting off, he laughs to himself. “I’ll let you finish washing up, okay? Unless…”

I am not going to ask him to help me wash my hoo-ha, and I should pee. I wave him away, and he grabs one of the giant fluffy towels he pulled out for us before kissing my forehead, just like I kissed his the other night, and leaving me to finish up.

I take my time getting ready, still planning my exit strategy. Only I’m not sure what I’m running away from. Would it really be so bad if this sweet, sexy older guy fell for me?

Yes, yes, it would. But I don’t feel it in my chest. Instead, I feel happy. Is that a side-effect of shibari? Am I in some kind of weird post-kink headspace? Is that a thing?

I chug the rest of my bottle of water and decide that, yes, I’m definitely leaving.

In the bedroom, Grady has stripped down the bed and replaced the sheets. “In case you want to stay,” he says, looking so hopeful that only a monster would say no.

“That sounds nice,” says my mouth.What the hell, mouth?

Grady lies down and opens his arms. I could say that I changed my mind. I could leave without an explanation. Hell, I could make something up.

But all that sounds like a lot of effort. Why bother when I could just climb between those fresh sheets and let Grady hold me the way he so clearly wants to?

The way I want him to?

I put a pin in my personal crisis and do exactly that. Tomorrow I’ll worry about what all this means.

* * *

“What’s wrong?” Mia asks the next morning, about three seconds after I walk into work.

I hunch my shoulders to my ears. “Nothing.”

She elbows me in the ribs. “Liar. Jaime? Hey, Jaime? Get over here, we have a Defcon One, and we all need to talk.”

I’m pretty sure Jaime isn’t here yet, but I guess he’s a fucking genie, because he appears at her side as if summoned from thin air. “You rang?”

I flinch away from him and look around to see if he came through a trapdoor or something. “How did you do that?”

“Skills,” he says. “So, where’s the fire? And why do you look like you haven’t slept in two weeks when I saw you yesterday and you were fine?”

I lower my arms and sigh. There’s no escaping these two. It’ll be easier to come clean. “Grady told me that he loves me.”

Mia makes the face most people reserve for when they see extra-cute puppies. “Aww!”

I rub my temples. “No, it’s not aww. It’s too soon!”

Jaime looks at Mia. Mia shrugs.

“What?” I glare at both of them.

“He’s really into you,” Jaime says. “Just because it’s too soon foryoudoesn’t mean he’s jumping the gun. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who runs around declaring himself all the time just for shits and giggles.”

“Maybe not, but he also said he wishes he’d been married to me back when he was in the NHL. And don’t you dareawwagain, I was a teenager back then!” I jab a finger in Mia’s face.

She waves me away. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that. More like he wishes it had beenyouinstead of his ex when his career ended. He didn’t give me the ick, and trust me, I get it all the time.” She waves to her tiny frame. “I’ve met guys who are into the fact that I look super young, and Grady isn’t one of them. When he came to the opening, he only had eyes for you.”

“I’m still failing to see the problem,” Jaime adds. “You’re into him, too, right? Maybe not enough to drop the L-word yet, but this is the first time I’ve seen you take this much interest in a guy. Normally, after a few trips to Bang Town, you’re running for the hills while checking off all the reasons why.”

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