One Dirty Night

I moved before my mind stopped whirling.

Dashing out of bed, I groaned as I left the warm cocoon, snatched my pink satin robe from the back of my door, and darted down the corridor.

The storm raged outside, making me doubly glad the heating was at a cosy temperature, and Nick had started the gas fire.

Yet another little kindness.

Another thoughtful gesture.

Damn…I’ve been so blind.

All this time, I thought he hated me. Every scornful look and chilly sneer when I pushed for him to cook with me or share a meal in the lab’s staffroom. To begin with, I’d wanted to hang out with him to get to know the guy the company had added to my rental agreement, but by the end…I just wanted to know him. I needed to know him because I already felt so drawn to him.

I supposed a part of me that noticed his gestures wanted to pay him back, only to find the exact opposite of the generous man who did such sweet things.

All that disinterest and aloofness. Now I saw it for what it truly was…fierce, feral restraint.

My fingers shook as I twisted the bathroom doorknob.

Not locked.

Was that a sign?

Did he want me to go to him or did he not lock the door normally?

The glass shower door billowed with steam, obscuring him. His silhouette bowed, his forehead touching the tiles as water streamed over his head.

My heart tripped with so much want and need and…love.

I wanted to share my epiphany.

I wanted to tell him it was far too late to keep me at a distance.

I’d fallen for him last night in a haze of drunken sex.

But now…now I realised I’d been falling for months, confused by his curtness, shaken by his animosity but never able to put my finger on why.

My heart thundered as loudly as the storm outside as I slipped out of my robe and let it tumble to the floor. My little black dress remained on the bathmat where Nick had stripped me last night. It represented everything we’d done and gave me hope.

Swift, savage hope that he wouldn’t push me away.

Not today.

Not now.

Here, in our home, there was no Hunter.

No sharing or jealousy or circuses.

Just us as I stepped toward the shower door and cracked it open.

My legs locked as my eyes drank in the most delicious sight.

My core clenched as Nicholas worked himself. With his eyes closed and head under the pouring stream, he didn’t hear me as his stomach tensed and his fist pumped his cock.

He stroked himself painfully hard, jerking up and down with punishing speed. Thighs spread wide, back rippling with energy as he stroked himself to a release.

Oh God.