Page 23 of Oath
Fairly certain I wasn’t limping only out of actual exhaustion rather than determination, I kept moving. Stopping might mean I didn’t make it. I had to have some pride. At least enough to get into the shower.
After that, I could sit under the pound of hot spray. Doing a mental handshake on that deal I just offered myself, I managed to not shuffle my steps until I reached the bedroom I’d claimed for myself. Dropping the shoes on the floor, I peeled the sports bra off on my way into the bathroom.
The gross stink of my own sweat assaulted me even as my muscles screamed their objections to trying to yank it off. The tile on the bathroom floor was deliciously cool against my aching feet. I stretched into the shower to twist the knob on to get the spray going.
I almost tipped sideways but caught myself with a ragged little laugh. Then I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Flushed cheeks, too bright eyes, and sweat gleaming off my skin even as my hair stuck as uncomfortably to me as my clothes.
Right, I needed to get the capris off and then into the shower. Leaning there, however, I wasn’t sure I could push myself straight. A shuffle of step in the doorway dragged my head up to find Bones in the doorway to the bathroom with Voodoo just a few steps behind him.
“Not now,” Bones said over his shoulder, then he shut the door in Voodoo’s face and locked it.
Surprise rippled through me at the storm of heat in Bones’ traditionally cool eyes. All my usual pithy comments seemed to vanish in the face of his steely gaze as it swept over me. I did manage a somewhat weak, “Hi.”
Definitely not my best effort.
“Hi.” He never had put his shirt back on and what immunity I’d developed during my emotional breakdown and subsequent self-defense “lesson” collapsed in the face of his rugged, muscular frame filling the bathroom to the brim.
Without another comment, he toed off his own shoes, then stripped the sweatpants and boxer briefs, revealing a body honed by years of physical training and combat. His muscles rippled with each movement, a testament to the hours spent in the gym and on the field.
I couldn't help but admire the way his body moved, fluid and powerful, like a predator ready to strike. His presence was overwhelming, a mix of raw strength and an almost primal energy that seemed to fill the room. It was a sight that was both intimidating and undeniably alluring, a perfect blend of power and grace that left me breathless.
“You need help?” The depth of his voice was a temptation all its own.
“Help?” I blinked slowly. Help with what? All the moisture in my mouth evaporated, however, as he closed the distance between us. The slow, deliberate pace of his steps was almost feline in intensity.
“With this,” he murmured, his voice a low, velvety purr that seemed to caress every inch of my skin. The words danced over my overheated flesh, igniting a trail of goosebumps that left my body tingling with anticipation.
I could feel the heat pooling in my core, my breath catching as both of my nipples peaked, aching for his touch. The air between us crackled with tension, a silent promise of what was to come, and I found myself yearning for his hands to explore every curve and contour of my body.
The “this” as it turned out were my capris. He rolled them—and the scrap of panties I’d been wearing—down over my hips and then dragged them down my legs as he knelt in front of me. Thoughts in turmoil, I tracked his path as his thumbs skimmed along my thighs and lower until he reached my ankles. Then, and only then, did he tilt his head up to meet my gaze.
“Lift your foot Dollface.”
I raised my right knee just enough that he could tug the fabric off that foot. Then I repeated the motion with my left knee. The steamier air in the bathroom offered little in the way of relief. Particularly not with the way he ate me up with his gaze.
He tossed the fabric behind him to join his sweats with a careless kind of gesture. The breath kept backing up in my lungs as he held me captive in his stare.
“How long do I have to enjoy this obedient side of you?” The edge of something devilish curled through me at his remark and I raised my eyebrows. His sudden, uncensored grin stunned me back to silence before my smart-ass remark escaped. “That long, huh?”
As he straightened, his chest brushed against mine until he reached his full height and I had to lift my chin to stare up at him. With one finger, he traced a line from my brow to my cheek, and then finally to my lips.
Torn between curiosity and need, I wet my lips even as I sucked his finger into my mouth. His pupils seemed to grow fatter as he watched me. Contact between us narrowed down to where he slowly thrust his index finger into my mouth. I ran my tongue in circles around the tip then stroked it along his finger as he pressed it all the way in.
His nostrils flared and my cunt clenched around emptiness as the idea of trading out his finger with its roughened calluses for the steel silk of his cock.
After swallowing once, I pulled off his finger to look down at him. It was the first time I’d really gotten toseehim. Not just part of him, but all of him. His cock seemed to hang heavy, thickened with need, and it was so red that it made me think it had to hurt.
And it would hurt. None of these guys were small men, but Bones seemed larger than most. Not for the first time was I glad I could stretch. When he would have lowered his hand, I caught his wrist in a gentle grasp and pulled his finger back to my lips.
Head tilted, he watched me through lowered lashes as I sucked against each of his fingers, one at a time, then pulled three into my mouth to test the stretch. Yeah, he would reach my throat without much effort and I didn’t think I’d be able to breathe around him.
Desire unfurled like a wild wind pushing the storm toward the shore. I couldn’t wait to find out how it would all feel. “Shower?” Finding my voice shouldn’t be so challenging that it came out husky.
“That was the plan,” he said, then slid an arm around my waist and lifted me almost effortlessly. His skin was so hot against mine that a groan pushed out of me.
As he carried me into the shower, the world seemed to blur around us, the only reality being the heat of his body and the strength of his arms. He set me down gently, his hands lingeringon my hips for a moment before he reached for the shower controls. It had already filled with steam, a thick, oppressive fog that clung to our skin and made everything feel even more intimate.
Bones stepped back, his eyes never leaving mine as he let the water cascade over him, the droplets clinging to his skin like a second layer of muscle. I watched, mesmerized, as the water traced paths down his chest, over his abs, and further south, highlighting the thick length of him. He was a vision, a perfect specimen of male perfection, that his scars only made that much more spectacular.
