He didn't say a word as he quickly washed his hair and poured body wash into his hand. But he was staring at me. Just his eyes on me made me want him all over again. It felt like my heart was beating out of my chest.
His eyes landed back on my breasts. He stepped back under the water and rinsed off all the soap suds.
"I'm looking forward to you punishing me properly." I held my breath. I hadn't meant to actually say that out loud.
His eyebrows lowered slightly. I watched his Adam's apple rise and fall.
"I really wish I didn't have to leave right now," he said.
The way he was looking at me made me feel like I was the only girl he had ever liked. I swallowed hard. I was in way deeper than I realized. If it was up to me I'd stay in bed with him all day, talking about stupid stuff and rolling around in his cinnamon scented sheets.
"When will you be back?" My voice sounded needy. What is wrong with me?
He ran his hand through his wet hair. "I have plans after work tonight. What time is the wedding on Saturday?"
I hoped he couldn't see the disappointment on my face. "The ceremony is at five. And it's about half an hour from here." It was weird having a conversation with a guy in a shower. Especially a naked guy who I was crushing on, who was starting to get another erection. I peeled my eyes away from his groin.
"Okay." He smiled at me. "In the meantime, you should think of all the different ways you think you deserve to be punished." He leaned forward. "And don't worry, I already have a few ideas of my own," he whispered in my ear. His warm breath and naughty words made me shiver.
I watched him and his perfect ass step out of the shower and close the curtain.
Chapter 27
"What's wrong?" Emily asked as she opened the door.
"Why do you always assume something is wrong when I visit you?"
She stepped aside to let me in. "Because whenever you show up unannounced, something is always wrong."
I sat down on her couch and tucked my feet beside me.
"Seriously, Keira, you're freaking me out. What's wrong?"
"Really, nothing. I just finished my last two articles for the How to Play with a Player series."
"What steps were those again?"
Emily seemed to love hearing about my risqué articles. "Step four was 'Turn up the Heat'. You know, being super sexy and all." And giving Rory head and pretending I was practicing for my date. Emily didn't need to know that though. Fortunately she already confessed that she never read my articles, so hopefully she just wanted to hear about it and wouldn't read it. It was actually really fun to remember all the crazy stuff I did to get Rory's attention. "And step five was 'Make Him Jealous'. It was just about going on a fake date. So I'm officially done now."
"Well, that's great. Now you can just put that behind you and hope that Rory never sees it."
My stomach churned. "Yeah, I know. The last one will come out in Sunday's paper and then hopefully the whole thing will just blow over. But..." I looked down at my hands in my lap. "It's just...when I was writing, I felt..." I sighed and put my face in my hands. "I've never felt this way before," I said into my hands.
"Keira, I can't even understand what you're saying."
"Even when I'm not with him, just thinking about him makes me...ugh, what am I going to do?"
"I seriously can't understand anything you're saying right now."
I lifted up my head. "I think I'm in love with him."
"Wait, what?"
"No, I know I'm in love with him. Because I thought I loved David. And it killed me when he dumped me. And I couldn't stop crying when he got engaged to the next girl he dated. But I never felt this way about him. I've never felt this way about anyone before."
Emily smiled.
"I'm completely addicted to him. Why are you smiling at me? Stop smiling like that. You look like you just murdered someone, you psychopath."
"Whoa! Calm down for one second. I'm smiling because I'm happy for you."
"You can't be happy for me! I wrote a whole series of articles about how I tricked him into sleeping with me. I'm a monster."
Emily laughed. "You're not a monster. Just think of all the things that he's probably done to get women into bed with him."
"I don't want to think about that. Besides, that's different. He didn't do any of that with me. When he finds out about my articles, he's going to hate me. His last girlfriend completely fucked him up when she cheated on him. That's why he acts like a slut and is afraid of commitment. He's going to think what I did was a huge betrayal."
"You don't know that."
"Wouldn't you?"
Emily paused for a second. "What made you write the articles in the first place? I've been reading along and all these things you've done...it's not like you."
Crap, Jim. "I just got some advice about how to make Rory want me again. And the article just kind of accidentally happened. I pitched a pretty different idea to my editor and she wanted it to be sexier."
"Who the heck gave you the advice to be more risqué instead of being yourself? That's terrible advice."
"Just another friend."
"Well don't listen to them anymore. They're the worst."
I couldn't help but laugh. It was pretty funny that she was making fun of her own husband. I sighed. "What do you think I should do?"
"Maybe you should just tell him about it. Laugh it off early. It's not a big deal."
"But we only just started dating, or whatever it is we're doing. We haven't even had that conversation yet."
"I think you should probably tell him. Especially if it's bothering you this much. When you hold things back you always act really weird."
I laughed. "Yeah, just when I hold things back."
She smiled and stood up. "I actually have to finish getting ready to go. I'm meeting Jim at that new Thai place downtown for dinner. And I'm already running late. Do I look okay?"
I hadn't even noticed how dressed up she was. More guilt was added to the pit already forming in my stomach. "You look amazing, Emily. What's the special occasion?"
Emily bit her lip. "Well...we actually are celebrating tonight."
"Right, I got that. But what are you celebrating?" Their anniversary wasn't for another couple months.
Emily smiled. "No one but Jim knows yet, and I'm not supposed to tell anyone else for a while, but I can't even stand it. I'm pregnant!"
"What?! Oh my God, Emily!" I stood up and hugged her. Pregnant? How could she be pregnant? I thought about Rory's housewarming party and the other day when I had come over and we had wine with lunch. No. She only had water at the party. And she had poured herself a glass of wine the other day, but she had never drank any of it. It had just sat there on the table. How could I have not noticed that? I suddenly felt like a terrible friend. I was always so concerned with my own problems that I didn't even realize all the signs pointing to my best friend being pregnant. "I'm so happy for you guys. You and Jim are going to be the most amazing parents."