I bit my lip and groaned deep in my throat as my hips unsubtly pressed into the mattress beneath me.
He had no idea of the power of his words.
“All right, there, Dezi?” Liem asked with a wicked smirk, pulling another deep sound from the depths of my being.
Okay, maybe he did,the devilish angel.
“LL,” I said huskily, a warning in my voice. “I’m not fucking okay.” I pushed into the mattress again, the borderline pain of it clearing the fog enough for me to grit out, “Now tell me about your day.”
27
Liem
I didn’t considermyself an anxious being.
Bouts of worry and concern found me at times, and on rare occasions, they even overwhelmed me. Like when Dad would fall to the ground or into a mood. When Vinh’s eyes would go distant as he absentmindedly rubbed at his burn scars and then snapped out of it, muttering mantras to himself under his breath.
But those situations, while intense, were not wholly unexpected.
So, when I woke before dawn in the same position that I’d fallen asleep in—with Cody’s bare skin and steady heartbeat beneath me—the anxiety that had infiltrated my mind was quite an unwelcome surprise.
It was almost like Cody’s fears had trickled into me through our extended contact, but when they reformed in my psyche, they were no longer shaped like his.
I had never been more attracted to someone’s entire being than I was to Cody Desmond’s.
His doubts were as beautiful to me as his body because even though they came from his beautiful mind, they stemmed from his heart.
And what a gorgeous heart it was, even as he shielded it from the world.
I wanted to protect it, too, and I knew if we woke up together like that—in my bed after such an intimacy as sharing space and breath—things would escalate.
Boundaries might be unwittingly crossed before he was ready.
In short, my two options were to get out of town or roll on top of Cody and, well…
Perhaps make the best decision of my life.
But that tiny, newfound anxiety had made itself known, and I did not ignore my feelings. I trusted them implicitly, even as they hurt.
Which brought me to now, many hours later, sitting on a dimly lit, abandoned stretch of beach and on a video call with a visibly distressed and horny Cody.
“Now tell me about your day,” he’d just about growled, and even with the sound muffled by the phone’s speakers, my body went on high alert.
But I kept my head, counting breaths as I pulled out a wireless earbud and popped it into my ear, reducing the background noise dramatically before I answered him.
“It was lovely, Dezi,” I managed to say with utmost calm. “I woke up comfortable and warm, enjoyed the sunrise, and taught some classes at the Locc. Thank you for asking. And yours?”
His beautiful hazel eyes narrowed on the screen, trying to puzzle me out. “It was good.”
I cocked an eyebrow at the screen. “Do you think you could give me more?”
“I absolutely could give you more,” he responded without hesitation, his voice husky, and his gaze intense.
I sucked in a sharp breath but then let it out slowly, smiling as I internally held on for dear life. “I look forward to it,” I said simply. “Tell me something good about your day.”
Cody shifted, the video briefly showing more of the bedroom at the houseboat until he adjusted it. “I went shopping with Cher. We got deck furniture.”
I didn’t fill the silence, hoping he’d expound. After only a few seconds, his expression turned somber as he did just that, asking, “She told you about hospice?”
