I was ready too.
“I care about you. Your safety,” he said simply.
I, in fact, had clearlynotbeen entirely ready, given the way my eyes closed and my skin prickled.
“Good,” I rasped quietly. With my eyes still shut, I lowered my shoulder just enough for the jacket to slip off my arm. “Very good, Dezi. Another.”
“I’m starting school again in May,” he said in a rush.
I smiled but pointedly remained frozen save for my controlled, measured breaths.
Cody huffed, and I opened my eyes to find him looking almost angry, his gaze growing hotter on me by the second. He searched my face for clues, but then recognition crossed his expression.
“I… work hard at school,” he finally whispered, and my heart soared.
And my jacket dropped.
Cody licked his lips hungrily, catching onto the nuance.
“I used to, umm….” He stopped mid-sentence and closed his eyes. “I used to volunteer at the casino daycare on my days off, or after shifts.” He opened his eyes as a sad smile formed on his face. “To play with the kids who were left there all day by their parents.”
I smiled warmly at him. “You’re kind, Cody,” I affirmed as I slowly pulled my tank top over my head, then tossed it aside on the blanket. “And you’re doing so well.”
His eyes drank my bare chest in, and the tip of his tongue peeked out between his lips. I slowly angled the camera down my chest, stopping right before the waistband of my dark jeans.
A choked sound flooded my earpiece, and I tipped the phone back up, raising an eyebrow at Cody again, repeating my question from earlier. “All right, there, Dezi?”
He cursed again and then accidentally turned the tables on me when I got a glimpse of his broad chest.
His narrow waist.
His large hand gripping himself over the fabric of his shorts.
Oh.Notan accident.
I bit my lip hard and squirmed, feeling hot despite the gusts of night air from the Gulf, and pushed my whipping hair out of the way behind my ear.
Once his hazel eyes were back on-screen, I stroked a path down my chest with my hand, imagining it was his instead, making sure he could see it.
Then I stopped at my waistband again and teased a finger over the circular metal button.
“Show me,” Cody begged in my ear, and I stroked the cold metal again, almost giving in.
“Tell me first,” I said breathily, squirming as I grew impossibly harder behind my zipper. “Then I’ll show you.”
“I’m getting stronger,” he said desperately. “I’m trying.”
I rose up on my knees, slipping the cold metal button through the opening and letting out a relieved breath at the slight space it afforded me.
“Can you do one more for me?” The question came out as barely more than a rasp.
“I’m going to be good for you.”
The certainty in his voice matched my own in my heart, and I pulled down my zipper, freeing myself.
I clicked the screen and changed the camera to back-facing, then adjusted the angle so he was seeing from my point of view. Then I took myself in hand and squeezed firmly. A soft whimper escaped my lips, followed immediately by another when I looked at the screen and saw Cody’s awestruck expression.
“Oh fuck,” Cody cursed again. “Your hand. Ohfuck,your hand, Ti Bet,” he panted, the tempo of his short breaths matching my own. “And you…,” he trailed off as he stared at the screen intently. “You are so fucking beautiful.”
