What I saw in hers had my fingers digging tighter into her hips—a simple flex I hadn't meant to make, but one that let her know just how much my body liked having hers on top of it this way.
I swallowed. Hard. Which didn't go unnoticed as Phoebe's tongue came out to run over her bottom lip as though her thoughts were running in the same direction as mine.
I’d never felt chemistry like it in my life. No one had ever felt like such a good fit on top of me before. I’d wanted to dislike her and keep her at a distance, but right here, right now, all I could think about was lifting my mouth closer to hers and losing myself in a cotton-candy kiss.
Her eyes searched mine. “You…erm, okay?” she asked, snapping me out of my desire.
“Yep. All good,” I strained. “You?”
“Good.”
“Cool.”
She sighed softly. “Yeah.”
I shuffled beneath her, desperate to remove her thigh from being too close to my dick, which had perked up, sensing something of interest close by. Something he could sink himself into for a while.
“You got the win,” I croaked.
“Thanks to you.”
“Thanks to us,” I said, unable to get that two-letter word out of my head now.
“Henry, I?—”
“Jesus Christ, you two. Talk about taking the competitive streak too far!” Rhea dropped to her knees beside us, breaking the moment between Phoebe and me completely.
What the hell had Phoebe been about to say?
“Any broken bones?” Rhea started feeling Phoebe's arms, making Phoebe eventually push herself off me as carefully as she could before she waved Rhea off and told her to stop fussing.
“We're fine. Champions don't break,” Phoebe said, rising to a stand above me, while I just laid there on my back, staring up at her golden hair falling over her face as she looked down at me and held out her hand. “Isn't that right… partner?”
With a groan, I took her hand, and allowed her to think she was helping me up as I began to stand, doing my best to ignore the shooting pain that struck up my coccyx.
“Well, I'll be damned,” Jace said, coming to a stop in front of us as he dusted off his hands. “Who knew all it would take was a bit of inappropriate groping and a clusterfuck of a fall to make you two become besties, huh?”
“Shut it, Jace,” Phoebe and I said in unison, which only made us turn to look at each other once more, and for the first timesince meeting her, we shared an easy smile without a sarcastic or nasty comment to be made.
That single moment changed everything.
Chapter Fifteen
Phoebe
Icould still feel him against my body. His hands on my hips, fingers digging into my skin. His breaths stuttering in and out of him as we stared into each other's eyes.
This wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't what I needed. It was the exact opposite of what I'd dreamed this holiday would be. But I couldn't deny the way Henry Cohen made me feel any longer. Even if nothing were to happen between us, the way he looked at me lit me up, and it had been a hell of a long time since someone had had the ability to make me feel that way.
Like I was someone to be desired, not discarded.
The damage Rob had done to my self-esteem and any ego I may have had was immeasurable, and nothing spoke of that louder than my 'no men' rule on this holiday. A rule Henry now threatened to compromise.
I had to be stronger than that, but it was hard as hell to keep my eyes off him as he and Jace laid on their sides in the sand, propped up on their elbows, talking to one another as though the whole incident between Henry and me had never even happened.
“He’s looking at you again,” Rhea said beside me, her voice low as she sat there with her legs crossed while she lifted sand into her hands, then let it fall through her fingers. Her eyes were hooded as she glared at me, a small smirk on her lips.
Without thinking, I glanced Henry's way, only to catch him eyeing me before he quickly looked down and focused back on the sand he was currently running his hand over.
