Page 29 of Catch
“Lox?” I said again, my voice lowered this time, hoarse from the dryness in my throat. She didn’t hear me, but when I stepped behind her, I saw her jump slightly when she noticed my reflection in the mirror.
“Hey!” She grinned, pulling the headphones off. “What do you think?”
How the hell do I tell her she looked incredible without sounding like a complete mess? She was already breathtaking before—dangerous, even—but now? God, the words in my head weren’t even fitting. “You look like you’re happy,” I finally managed, feeling a little more sure of myself. “And happy is an incredible look on you, Lox.”
“It’s not too dark or too much of a change?”
“No.” I shook my head more adamantly than I probably needed to. “You look like this is who you really are,” I said, swallowing hard, trying to keep myself from reaching out to touch the strands that fell from the ponytail and framed her face.
“I feel so good,” she moaned, practically bouncing with excitement as she grabbed onto my bicep. “I’d never done it myself before, and I was so nervous... but I love it so much that I can’t stop dancing around!”
“Fuck,” I whispered, stepping back a little. I had just talked myself intonotfalling for Loxley, telling myself it was fine as long as I knew where I stood.But now?What the hell was I supposed to do with these feelings?
“What’s wrong?” she asked, noticing my sudden retreat. Her brow furrowed with concern, and it only made everything worse. It was then I realized I’d spoken the word aloud.
“Nothing,” I said, quickly flashing her a wink to cover my tracks. “You’re beautiful no matter what color your hair is, you know that?”
“Well thank you, Mr. Officer.” She winked back, walking past me toward the hallway. “Now, go get changed. I’ve got another surprise for you.”
“Is it a felony?” I grinned, watching her disappear down the hall.
“No!” she laughed over her shoulder. “Go change out of that uniform and meet me in the kitchen!”
She was gone before I had time to even react. I walked into my bedroom and shut the door behind me, trying to calm the pounding in my chest. The first thing I did was walk straight to my gun safe, using my thumbprint to open it and unholster my weapon. Then, I unclipped my duty belt and hung it up, taking a deep breath as I worked on stripping out of my uniform.
I pulled my shirt out of my pants, letting it fall to the floor, and toed my boots off while I unbuttoned my pants, letting them hang open while I looked for something to put on. Normally, I would’ve just thrown on gym shorts and a t-shirt, but now... now, I was overthinking everything. Before I could settle on anything, there was a knock at the door.
Without thinking, I opened it, expecting to see Loxley on the other side. “You okay?” I asked, a little too quickly.
“Um…” she backed up, her eyes raking up and down my chest, one hand still in the air as if she was going to knock again and the other searching for the wall behind her. “I…”
It wasn’t the first time she had reacted to me that way. I wasn’t an idiot, and knew I worked hard at having all my nooks and crannies in all the right places. That was what the home gym was for. But just like before, I liked the way she lost focus the same way I had with her. It felt like for just a minute, I hadthe upper hand. That it didn’t matter that she was THE Loxley Adams.
“What’s up?” I asked, nodding my head and biting my lip, hoping it kept me from saying anything else.
“I just… I need to take a shower. So I was going to let you know that I left the surprise in the oven. I’m cooking tonight.”
“You’re cooking me dinner?”
“Yeah,” she ran a few fingers across her forehead, taking the shorter pieces of hair that always fell there and tucked them behind her ear. “It doesn’t take long to cook so I’m gonna jump in the shower so I can get the smell off of me.”
From where I was, she smelled like that new floral scent that had taken over my house since the day she showed up. It was the smell I wanted all over the place, and I didn’t see any need for her to wash it all away.
“I need a shower too,” I shrugged. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen in twenty.”
“Deal,” she smiled, then turned quickly and made her way to her room.
I shut my door again, leaning against it and tilting my head back. For two single people that were obviously attracted to one another, and were grown ass adults, we sure were idiots. Maybe our endless flirting was a shitty idea. Maybe what we really needed was to…
“Don’t go there,” I scolded myself. Flirting and attraction was one thing. Feeling her fall apart beneath me may end up being something I wouldn’t recover from when she left.
As I climbed into the shower, I realized the shower in the other bedroom backed up to mine. I could hear the water running and Loxley singing lightly through the wall. It was too faint to hear the words, but I recognized the melody was one of her songs.
Even as I tilted my head back in the warm water, I could hear her and pictured her doing the same thing I was. Naked, dripping wet, her head held back and the day washing away.
My cock started to harden and I gritted my teeth, unsure how wrong it’d be to stroke myself as she sang on the other side of the wall. The only person I’d hurt was myself, though. And in the long run, I’d be able to tamp down the sudden yearning I had for her and get back to being friendly and flirty.
Deciding I had a fucking point, I grabbed my cock, squeezing and stroking as I listened to her sing about being the woman in her, needing the lover in me. Turning to face the wall, I rested my hand below the shower head, holding myself up and letting the water run down my back. With my other hand, I began stroking harder, anxious to let go so I could work on forgiving myself for being so damn weak.
