Bad Things (Tristan & Danika #1)(56)

“You’re not taking advantage. I want you. All of you. Every inch of your c**k buried deep inside of me.”

He went glassy eyed, giving one last frustrated thrust against me before pulling away. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. I don’t trust either of us right now. In the meantime, I owe you a back rub, so turn over on your stomach.”

I rolled over, closing my eyes.

He worked on my back for several minutes with his gloriously strong hands, kneading deep into my muscles, taking his time, relaxing every inch of me. I was nearly asleep before he spoke into my ear.

“I forgot to tell you,” he rasped. “All of my massages have a happy ending.”

He surprised a giggle out of me, he was so outrageous, but the giggles quickly turned into gasps as he pushed his fingers into me, starting up a fast rhythm that took me over the edge yet again.

The last thing I remembered before drifting off was murmuring a soft, “Thank you,” and feeling him gently kiss the back of my head.

My first thought as I woke up was that I’d never had such peaceful sleep in my life.

I could have gone right back to sleep, but I was quickly distracted by the fact that it was dark outside. As I realized this, I scrambled to my feet and threw on the first clothes I could find, nearly running into the living room.

Jerry and Tristan were sitting on the couch. Their voices were pitched low, and there was no sign of the boys, which meant I’d slept through bedtime.

“I’m so sorry, Jerry,” I began. “I didn’t mean to sleep the day away.”

He waved me off with a smile, standing. “No worries, Danika. Tristan and I had it covered. Everyone needs a good nap every now and again.”

“Did Bev already go to bed?” I asked, glancing toward the kitchen.

“Hours ago. She works early. I’m heading to bed, too. It’s past midnight. Goodnight, kids.”

I smiled at him. Usually when someone in their forties referred to younger adults as kids, it was condescending, but never with Jerry. I knew that he meant it as a term of endearment.

“Night, Jerry,” I told him.

“G’night, old man,” Tristan said, a twinkle in his eye.

“You think you’re insulting me,” Jerry shot back as he strolled out of the room, “but I feel twice as old as you think I look, so it’s all the same to me.”

I sat down beside Tristan, watching his hands.

He was shuffling a deck of cards, as he often did, the ritual seeming to soothe him. I was always impressed by how deft his big hands were, how lightning quick. My admiration had reached new heights earlier, when I saw the other ways those hands could work magic.

“I just found out that my apartment’s ready,” he said.

I stiffened, shocked by the news. I shouldn’t have been. He had stayed longer than any of us had been expecting.

“Where’s it at?” I finally asked.

“Not far from here. It’s in Henderson, off Warm Springs, maybe fifteen minutes away.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“Do you have any roommates?”

“One. Dean.”

I tried not to make a rude face when I heard the name.

We shared a long, awkward silence. I didn’t think either of us knew what to say, or where to even begin. For better or worse, things had gotten complicated.

I watched his hands as he shuffled his deck of cards, again and again.

“Nothing’s changed, Danika. I’m still not ready to make you any promises.”

I knew it said a lot about me that all I heard in that sentence was that he might be ready, someday, and that was enough for me. I’d fallen so hard, and so fast.

“Are you okay?” His voice was whisper soft.

I nodded jerkily, thinking that one over. I thought I might be a touch numb, my mind only focusing on the fact that, now that we’d been intimate in certain ways, I just wanted to touch him. Not necessarily in a sexual way. It was more that it felt like I should have certain rights, and some of our reservations should have disappeared. I should be able to just walk up and hug him where he sat, since we’d done so much more than that just hours ago.

In fact, the longer we just sat there, trying to find the right words, the more I just wanted to just say f**k it and do as I pleased. Four mind blowing orgasms had messed up all of my priorities—those damned things had gone and made me lose my mind. Some part of my brain was still telling me, no, stop, this isn’t healthy.

Too bad for that part of my brain, I didn’t think I was capable of healthy just then; crazy was feeling too damn fine.

“It’s past midnight, which means it’s tomorrow,” I said quietly.

He sighed heavily, bending forward. He gripped the deck of cards at the ends, then filed them onto the coffee table with one neat cascade. He’d done it from a good foot away.

“How did you do that?” I asked, my eyes going to his hard muscled chest as he leaned back, folding his arms behind his head.

“Like I’ve been telling you, my hands are magic.”

We shared a brief, Troublesome smile. “I’m beginning to believe you.”

He sighed again, breaking eye contact. “You sure we want to rush into this conversation? I don’t see the harm in putting it off for a little longer.”