I didn’t even have to think about it before I answered. “Yeah. I loved it. It’s not as much of an adrenaline rush as the real thing, but it was still so much fun.”
“That’s all that matters.”
A smile tugged at my cheeks with his words, backed up by his actions. He didn’t need to come with me today. And once he knew my plan, he could have turned it down. He could have stood back and not participated. But he didn’t. He was with me through it the entire time, holding my hand as manufactured wind held us in place above the ground.
Luke Wilder was a good man.
“Can I get you anything else?”
“A massage,” he huffed.
My face flushed, but Luke still had his head smushed into the mattress, luckily, so he didn’t notice. I let my eyes trail over his broad shoulders, muscular back, ripped biceps, and firm butt. Luke wasn’t just a good man. He was a remarkably good-looking man. We were friends. Friends helped eachother. And if what Luke needed was a massage, then I was more than capable of assisting.
And the thought of me roaming my hands over his body was too enticing to deny.
I shifted on the bed and straddled his butt, placing my hands on the tops of his shoulders by his neck.
Luke stiffened beneath my touch. “Letty,” his measured voice called. “I was just kidding. You don’t have to do that.”
“I know. I want to,” I told him quietly. “But if you don’t want me to…” I moved to get off him.
“No,” he said quickly. “Stay. If you want. I just meant that you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
Was he breathing faster? I knew I was.
I settled back on his butt again and reached out for his trap muscles. They were so tight and knotted beneath my fingers. I dug my thumbs in deep, rotating in a circular pattern. The sound he made was part growl and part moan. It was the sexiest thing I had ever heard. I dug in again, pushing the muscles away from his neck.
“That feels so good,” he mumbled.
“Do you want me to keep going?”
“Shit, Letty. I don’t ever want you to stop.”
I bit my cheek, trying to keep the smile off my face.
After a few minutes on his traps, I moved my hands down to his mid-back. I rolled my fingers into his skin, pulling at his shirt every other pass to straighten it out.
“You can take it off. If you want. I mean, if it’s in the way,” Luke said.
“Well, considering we were playing a strip card game not two nights ago, I don’t see any reason to get shy now,” I said with a lot more confidence than I actually felt. Seeing Luke’sbare chest the other night had sent a flurry of butterflies through my belly. I could only imagine what touching him was going to do.
I slid my hands up Luke’s back, gathering his shirt as I continued to trail higher and higher, until finally I pulled it over his head. I let the shirt hit the floor and took a moment to admire him. His back was as well-defined as his chest had been. Each muscle looked like it had been outlined and contoured for maximum effect. The broadness of his shoulders slowly tapered off to slim hips, where his joggers were sitting low.
“You okay? If you’re uncomfortable, Scarlett…”
“No. Sorry, I was just…” I trailed off for a second, trying to figure out where that sentence was going. “Honestly, I was just looking at you. You have a really nice physique, Luke.”
“You think my muscles are attractive,” he joked.
Screw it. Honesty is the best policy, right? There was nothing wrong with saying that he looked nice. It was the truth, and he deserved to hear it.
“Yeah, I do.”
My hands roamed his back. I pushed the heel of my palms into the muscles on either side of his spine. My fingers traced his sides, wrapping around his back and dragging across his skin back to the center.
“You can’t say things like that when you have your hands all over me. It isn’t fair.” His voice was low, almost rumble-sounding. It sent a shot of heat to my center.
“What isn’t fair about it?” I asked. My heart was already beating faster. The more time I spent with Luke, the more this tension between us seemed to grow. Lines that we had never once come close to were being crossed more and more.
