“Trained medical professional, yet your bedside manner could use major work.” Nevertheless, she did as I asked and shifted positions so she lay on her back.
“I’ve never had any complaints before.” I sat next to her on the bed and placed the pillow to the side. I nodded toward the hem of her shirt. “May I?”
Wariness etched onto Jules’s face, but she acquiesced with a short nod.
I lifted her shirt, baring her stomach, before I uncapped the oil and warmed a few drops in my hands. It was made for baths, but it’d serve as a massage oil in a pinch.
I swept my palms over her abdomen and rubbed gentle circles before easing into more targeted kneading. I wasn’t a licensed massage therapist, but I’d picked up on the basics and a few tricks over the years.
Jules’s muscles tensed at my initial touch, but as the minutes passed, they gradually relaxed.
“That’s it,” I murmured. “Deep breaths. How do you feel?”
“Better.” Her eyes fluttered shut. “You’re good at this.” It came out equal parts grudging and admiring.
“I’m good at everything.” A smile ghosted my mouth at her scoff.
We fell into a comfortable silence as I continued my massage. Jules’s skin was soft and warm beneath my touch, and her breathing evened out into a steady rhythm.
I stole a glance at her face. Her eyes were still closed, so I allowed myself to linger on the sweep of the dark lashes against her cheeks, the lush curve of her bottom lip, and the silken fan of her coppery hair splayed out on her pillow. Her brow was no longer scrunched with pain, and the knot in my chest loosened.
It was my first time seeing Jules so unguarded. It was…unnerving. I was so used to our bickering I’d never given much thought to what she was like behind all the fire and brashness.
How do you know I haven’t already?
My family wasn’t big on skiing. We didn’t have the money for it even if we were.
Jules has really…painful periods. Beyond regular cramps.
I’d known Jules for years, yet I knew so little about her. Her family, her history, her secrets, and her demons. What was she hiding beneath that fiery exterior? Something told me it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
I shifted my attention back to the task at hand and tried to reign in my wandering thoughts. “Feel better?” The words came out strangely husky.
“Mmhmm.” Jules’s drowsy affirmation elicited another smile.
My gaze drifted upward again, and heat curled low in my stomach when I saw her staring at me with a lazy, slumberous expression.
Her lips parted slightly as our eyes locked. Held. Burned.
Electricity charged the previously tranquil air and danced over my skin, which suddenly stretched too tight over my bones and thundering heartbeat.
Jules’s breathing turned erratic again. Not only could I hear her rapid inhales and exhales, I could feel them beneath my hands, and they matched the uneven rhythm of my own breaths.
She licked her lips, and God himself wouldn’t have been able to stop the X-rated images flooding my brain. Those full, pouty lips wrapped around the head of my cock, that delicate pink tongue licking up and down my length while she stared up at me with her big hazel eyes…
My hands stilled and curled into loose fists. There was no use pretending I was still giving her a massage. The only thing I could focus on was the erection straining against my zipper and hiding said erection from Jules.
It was so fucked up. She was in pain, and here I was, hard as a rock. Proof that the body and mind were incompatible more often than not.
But Jules didn’t quite look like she was in pain anymore. Instead, she was looking at me like…
Don’t go there.
“You should be good for now.” I cleared my throat of its rasp before speaking again. “I’ll bring out a warm compress so you can use it through the night.”
I stood and walked into the bathroom before she could respond, angling my body so she couldn’t see the severely ill-timed tent in my pants. By the time I came back out with the towel compress, Jules was already fast asleep.
Relief and disappointment coursed through me in equal measure.
I placed the folded towel gently on her stomach and moved her hands on top of it to prevent it from sliding off. I pulled the comforter up, turned off the lamp, and stepped into the bathroom once again, where I turned the water on full blast and let it pound the tension out of my muscles.
I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to make sense of the events of the past fourteen hours.
That morning, Jules and I had traded insults like normal, but over the course of the day, I’d willingly taught her how to ski, worried over her well-being, and given her a fucking aromatherapy massage. Not to mention, I was still harder than a steel pipe.
What the hell is happening to me?
Instead of giving in to the urge to take care of my situation downstairs, I finished my shower and changed into sweatpants.
I couldn’t jerk off to Jules, not when she was sleeping in the other room and I didn’t even like her. Then again, lust and like weren’t always a package deal.
I climbed into bed, making sure to stay as far away from her as I could, and tried to fall asleep, but my damn brain wouldn’t shut off.
Jules. Alex. Michael’s letters. Jules. My fucking erection that won’t fucking go away. Jules.
My cock pulsed harder, and a low groan rose in my throat.
This was going to be a long night.
14
JULES
I woke up to the faint scent of lavender and the heavy weight of a muscled arm draped over my waist. I couldn’t remember the last time I woke up with a guy in my bed. I usually didn’t do sleepovers.
The arm was nice, though. Strong, solid, and comforting, like it could protect me from anything, and it belonged to someone who smelled amazing.
I issued a soft sigh of contentment and snuggled closer to the owner of the arm. I kept my eyes closed. I wasn’t quite ready to leave my comfy nest and face reality yet.
The arm tightened around my waist and pulled me closer to him until my back pressed flush against his torso. My lips curved of their own accord when he let out a drowsy masculine rumble and buried his face in my neck. Meanwhile, heat bloomed low in my stomach at the way the hard, sculpted lines of his body molded against my softer ones.
Who was he? Did we have sex last night?
My brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders yet, and sifting through my memories of the past twenty-four hours seemed too daunting of a task this early in the morning.
I stretched and grazed something soft and fluffy. I cracked one eye open out of curiosity and spotted a folded hand towel on the bed next to me.
What was I doing with a towel in—
Vermont. Room mix-up. Ski lessons. Period. Josh. Massage.
My brain finally woke up, and the highlights from yesterday bombarded me at breakneck speed.
My eyes fully popped open. If Josh and I had to share a room, that meant the arm…
“Aaaah!” I threw him off and scrambled out of bed, banging my shin against the nightstand in my haste.
One day, I would look back and wince at my undignified scream, but all I could focus on right now was the fact that I’d slept with Josh Chen. Only literally, thank God, but still.