Page 25 of Turn Me On
Her head tipped to the side to rest against the wall, and she bit her bottom lip. “You’re the sweetest man on the planet. You know that?”
“I do now,” I answered, swiping the conditioner from the recessed shelf and carefully squeezing out a dollar-sized amount to work through her long mane.
Beckoning her forward with my finger, she came to stand in front of me, and I applied the conditioner to the bottom half of her hair first before working toward the top.The water made her strands so dark, they almost looked brown instead of bright auburn.
“So, you’ll take us home for the night?” she asked.
“Oh. Right. Yeah.” I grasped her shoulders and shifted her under the water. “We can go home. I could conk out for a few hours under our own sheets.”
“Thanks, babe,” she said, a cheeky smile on her lips as she rinsed out the conditioner. “I’ll quickly do my nighttime routine here before we go so we can just crawl into bed when we walk through the door.”
“Do you want me to grab your bag from the dressing room?”
“No, that’s alright,” she said, stepping out of the shower and wrapping a plush, white towel around her body. “You finish up here and I’ll run down. I told Lilah and Liv to meet me there when they finish up anyway.”
“Sounds good. I’ll pack up the camera equipment for you. Oh—don’t forget your witch hazel.” I pointed to the washroom counter where I’d left the bottle and a stack of disposable cotton rounds.
When we started messing around with impact play, I researched every possibleremedy to help with the welts and marks. If it was an intense session, we used ice right away to help reduce blood flow to the areas where she was struck. Witch hazel also turned out to be something I found that worked for her. Cooled her off and reduced inflammation. Win-win. Maybe I’d try some on my welts, too.
She ducked back into the shower, stood on her tip-toes, and kissed me full on the lips. “Thank you for taking care of me. You’re the best.”
I slapped her ass lightly as she scurried out of the shower. She threw on a terry cloth robe, her slippers, and winked at me before grabbing the tincture and scampering out the door.
Yup.
Fucking lucky.
epilogue
Charlie
I ranmy lotion-covered fingers over my face as I sat at one of the vanities in the dressing room. The bags under my eyes were dark, but that was no surprise given the night I’d had. Sometimes on late nights like these, I slept over, but I wanted nothing more than to crawl into my own bed with Rider. Even if it was only for a few hours.
Lilah plopped down in one of the cushy loveseats in the back dressing room. “I am completely and utterly spent.”
“You look like you’ve been through the wringer,” I said, a knowing smile on my lips. Adam must’ve punished her well and good tonight. Perhaps the extra adrenaline fromtheBrad Situationspurred him on a little more than usual.
She stuck out her tongue as our gazes connected in the mirror and laughed. “I could say the same for you. Good crowd?”
I bobbed my head up and down. “Great crowd. I didn’t see you in the viewing area. Though I did see Brad. That was a whole thing.”
Lilah sat straight up. “What the hell?”
I held a hand out to calm her. “Rider sorted it out. Don’t worry. We can debrief tomorrow. Tell me more about your night.”
Brad was more of a breakfast topic. I didn’t need any more time wasted spouting off about him tonight. I pumped a handful of lotion onto my palms and began working it into my arms.
She squinted her eyes at me. “If you say so…Adam kept me plenty busy. I can’t remember the last time he shared me around that much,” she said wistfully. “Not only did I earn the right to call himdaddy, but he kind of proposed to me, too.”
I gasped and clapped my hands together, careful not to splatter the remaining lotion in my palm. “Holy shit! That’s amazing! But Ithought you hated marriage and tradition and all that jazz?”
She kicked her feet and wiggled her eyebrows at me. “It’s a bit of a story. I’ll explain when the sun comes up, but just know I’m fucking ecstatic about it.”
A knock sounded from the dressing room door, followed by Olivia’s voice saying, “Can I come in?”
Lilah shook her head. “She’s never going to just barge in here, is she?”
I giggled while applying cream to my legs. “Nope. Not her style.”
