Page 49 of Forever Fighting
“Ah! I don’t know. Hurry up. Because it’s totally burning me now too.”
“Shit. You go first.”
Her hands wave frantically through the air. “No. Just do it fast.”
“That’s the first time a woman has ever said that to me.”
She laughs, but it’s pained. “Not funny.”
I start the water to cold instead of hot. “Get in the shower with me.”
“But…”
“I won’t look. I’ll keep my eyes closed. But we have to get this salt off us now.”
She screeches, and I hear her moving, but I drop the towel and get my ass in the shower. Immediately, I start to rub the scrub off, pumping copious amounts of bodywash onto my hands and lathering it everywhere I can.
“Wash your body, kid. It’s helping.”
The shower door bangs behind her, and then she’s pushing into one of the streams.
“Oh my god! I thought this was supposed to be pleasurable. It’s horrible.”
I stand with my back to her, refusing to move from the cold water of my stream. Lucky for me, between the burning on my skin and the ice water dumping down on me, I’m not exactly thinking about her being naked.
“Are you okay? Is your skin burned or anything?” I ask, peeking open my eyes to take in my chest, which shockingly isn’t even red.
“No.” Then she laughs incredulously. “Actually, it’s softer than a baby’s ass. Feel.”
“Is that meant to be a joke?”
More giggling. “I meant feel your skin.” Then her hand is on my back, and what the actual fuck is she trying to do to me? “Oh, yours is too. Maybe we just didn’t move fast enough into the shower.”
I feel my arms and abs, and yeah, they’re soft and there’s no burning or even redness. It’s like magic but magic I don’t want to ever have done to me again.
“I’ll get out first,” she offers. “There are heated towels on the rack right beside the shower. I’ll cover the girls and my ass, and once I’m back on the table, I’ll call out for you.”
“I don’t want him touching you.” My eyes close. I don’t know why I said that, but now that my skin isn’t on fire anymore, I don’t want to spend the next hour on a bed where I’m subjected to another man touching her.
She’s silent for a minute, and when she speaks, her voice is soft and apologetic. “Do you want to skip the massage and go hang out by the pool instead?”
I inwardly sigh and press my forehead into the wall as I shut off the cold water. “No. You want the massage. I’m just…” Being childish, I guess. A caveman.
I want to pick her up and drag her back to my lair and keep her there, where no man can ever see her or touch her again. Not exactly rational. She’s not mine, and who knows if she’ll ever be, and it’s not the first time I’ve had to stand on the sidelines with her and watch her with another man. I’ve done it throughout her entire relationship with Adam.
I get out of the shower and wrap a towel around my waist. “You know what? I think I’ll go to the gym and burn off some of this energy. I’ll meet you at the pool after. Enjoy your massage.”
“But—”
“No, really. Please, stay and relax and enjoy it. You deserve it. I’m going to go for a run or hit a bag or something.”
Her hands plant onto my shoulder blades, and I shudder. “Are you okay?”
No. And I don’t know why. I love being here with her, and I love this time together, but I’m starting to struggle in ways I never have before, and it’s pissing me off. I want her to have the best time, and I’m being moody.
“I just need to get my shit back in line, and I think a run or something will help.”
“Your shit back in line?”
