Page 99 of Not Safe For Work
He exhaled and leaned against me, and I just held on to him, stroking his hair and breathing slowly, steadily, in hopes that he’d subconsciously match my breathing pattern.
Movement turned my head, and I looked up as Master Greg leaned in through the door.
He raised his eyebrows, mouthing, Everything okay?
I gave him a thumbs-up and nodded.
He returned the thumbs-up, then slipped back into the hallway.
After several minutes, Rick’s breathing had, in fact, fallen into sync with mine. When he reached up to brush some sweat from his temple, his hand wasn’t shaking this time.
“Doing better?”
He nodded. “I think so. Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t…” He shook his head. “Just got a little overwhelmed, I guess.”
“It’s okay. It happens.” I kissed his forehead. “Hell, I’ve had to safe-word out of a scene because I dropped a spreader bar on my foot and couldn’t focus.”
A quiet laugh burst out of him, and he met my gaze. “Seriously?”
“Yep. My own damn fault for being barefoot, but…”
“Something tells me ‘red’ wasn’t the most colorful thing you said when that happened.”
“No, definitely not.” I rolled my eyes. “My partner thought it was hilarious.”
Rick grimaced. “Considering how you punished me after I snickered at you during a meeting…”
“Trust me—she didn’t do it again.”
“I don’t doubt that.” He closed his eyes for a moment, and then met mine. “Is that why you wear steel-toed boots when you scene?”
“It’s…part of it.” I glanced down at them. “That, and I just like them.”
“I can see why. You look hot in them.”
He grinned, and my muscles relaxed a little. His sense of humor was coming back, and he was smiling, so we were out of the woods as far as freaking out or having a panic attack.
“Feeling better now?” I asked.
“Yeah. I… Thank you. Maybe I did need to stop after all.” His cheeks colored.
“It’s okay. This stuff happens some—”
“I’d like to try again.”
“We will. But tonight, we should—”
“No. Tonight.” He met my gaze, his eyes pleading. “I need this, Jon. Especially tonight.”
I hesitated, but then cupped his cheek. “Listen, I don’t want to push you too hard, but I don’t want tonight to end on a sour note either. So why don’t we go back to my place? Where it’s just us, and it’s quiet.”
He sighed, shoulders still slumped, and nodded again. “Okay.”
“Trust me.”
“I do.”
I kissed him once more and then helped him to his feet. He was steady, but I wrapped my arm around his waist anyway. “Your extra shirt is in the backpack. Get dressed, and I’ll pack everything else up. Then we’ll head home.”
“Okay.”
