Page 28 of The Friend Zone
Omar applied gentle pressure with his thumbs and slowly rubbed the top of Dana’s foot before moving lower to massage the arch. Her feet were soft and her nails painted bright orange. He’d never had such an overwhelming urge to kiss a woman’s feet but resisted the impulse.
Dana bit her lip and released a tiny sound of pleasure, which hit him in the gut.
Arching an eyebrow, he said, “I guess I don’t have to ask how the foot rub feels.”
“Real good,” she confirmed in a dreamy voice, which encouraged him to continue.
Omar gripped her foot and applied pressure. “Repeat after me. ‘Thank you, Magic Hands.’”
She laughed. “I’m not saying that.”
“Say it or I’ll stop.” He stopped.
“Thank you, Magic Hands!” Dana hollered.
“Better.”
He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
Omar turned his attention to her toes, gently squeezing and tugging them one by one.
Dana sipped her drink and then set it on a coaster on the table. “I have some news.”
“Tell me.”
“I’ve decided to attend the two-week writing workshop in Colorado—the one I told you about before. There’s no reason why I can’t go, and like you said, I should attend for me, because it’s something I really want to do. I filled out the application and paid the deposit.”
As far as he was concerned, she didn’t need a class, but Dana was a perfectionist. He wasn’t the least bit surprised she dived into writing with the same tenacity she approached her academic pursuits years ago.
He would have covered the cost for her, but for some ridiculous reason her pride never let her take money from him. Her independent streak was extremely annoying, but he understood the need to handle her own finances. She grew up in a household where money was always tight, so she was not only careful with her own spending, she never wanted to come across as if she were taking advantage of anyone else.
“You have your ticket already?”
“I didn’t want to buy it until I was certain I would be attending. I received the confirmation so I’ll buy my ticket in the next day or two.”
Omar switched to the other foot and started at the top again. “Still good?” he asked.
“Mhmm,” she replied, sounding lethargic.
Holding her foot in one hand, he pressed his fist into the sole, and she let out another involuntary sound of pleasure. Omar smiled to himself and moved his hand to behind her ankle, squeezing for several moments before rotating her foot in a circular motion. Then he slipped his hand higher under her pants leg and squeezed her calf, his movements slowed as he savored the softness of her skin. How far would she let him go?
He glanced up at her, and their gazes crashed into each other. “Still good?”
Dana swallowed and seemed incapable of speaking. Her mouth opened and closed twice, like a fish pulling in water, and then she said weakly, “Enough.”
She tried to tug away her foot, but his hand tightened on her ankle. “Why?”
Maybe the drinks he consumed earlier had affected his thinking. Or maybe he simply no longer cared to fight what he wanted and needed to show Dana he was the man she should be with. Forget any others.
“Just… stop.”
She yanked again, and he let go. She inched backward until her lower back wedged hard against the arm of the sofa, and she refused to look at him, but tension thickened the air.
When she finally lifted her gaze, everything he wanted to see was right there in her eyes. The wanting, the desire. But he also detected uncertainty.
Neither of them spoke. The air became heavier and thicker as the seconds ticked by, and the accumulated want, increasing for who knew how long, expanded in the room. How long had this undercurrent existed between them and been ignored? Years, probably, for him at least. But during the past few hours, the longing and hunger reached peak levels as they grinded on and touched each other at Hot Vinyl with an unusual disregard for propriety.
The next thing Omar knew, he vaulted across the space between them, and his mouth was on hers. A moan escaped her lips as he came down on top of her. No more waiting. No more seesawing back and forth as he wondered if he should make a move or not.
