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—Simone—
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“I feel like I’m putting you out,” I complained as Banks lowered me onto my bed at the cottage.
He righted himself and tugged his shirt back into place. “You’re not at all. Tell me what you need, and I’ll pack for you.”
I got to my feet—well, one foot—and held onto the edge of the bed. “I need to brush my teeth.”
Banks rushed to my side and lifted me into his arms. “Next stop, bathroom. Keep your legs in, babe, we’ll end up moored on the doorframe if you don’t.”
I laughed close to his ear and hugged tight. “Just don’t drop me.”
He scoffed. “There’s no chance of that; even Pepin weighs more than you. You’re pint-sized.”
“I sometimes wish I was taller,” I admitted. “Especially the times I get mistaken for a kid.”
Banks puffed out a laugh. “Can’t say I have that problem. Down you go...” He gently sat me on the side of the bath, then applied toothpaste to my toothbrush without asking.
Impressed, I accepted it and eyed him while brushing.
He bobbed down in front of me. “Do you know what I’m most looking forward to?”
My eyes narrowed. “What?” I asked through the suds.
“Being near you day and night.” Warmth from his palm spread across my skin as he smoothed his hand over my knee. “And taking care of you.”
I hummed and pointed at the sink. He helped me stand and held my waist for balance as I spat out a mouthful of toothpaste bubbles.
My gaze found his through the mirror. “You’ll be sick of me within a few days.”
“Doubt it, but okay.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help cracking a smile when he smirked. Confidence rolled from his entire demeanor; from his cocky lopsided grin to the strength of his fingers steadying my waist.
“We’ll see,” I mumbled.
“Yeah... we will.”
While standing at the sink after brushing, I opened the vanity drawers and plucked out my toiletry bag, then collected all the personal items and medication I’d need for a few days at his house.
“Okay, I think that’s everything from in here.”
“To the bedroom?” Banks asked, making me snicker.
“Yes, to the bedroom.”
I held my toiletry bag while he boosted me into his arms and carried me to the bedroom.
He carefully put me on the bed, then took a couple of steps back. “Okay, what else, babe?”
“Uhhh...” Realizing what time of the month it almost was, I cursed under my breath, then glanced at Banks.
His eyes narrowed as he set his hands on his hips. “What?”
“Awkward question...”
He straightened and threw up his hand. “I love awkward questions! Hit me.”
I cursed the blush spreading across my cheeks. “Can you get my lady products from the bathroom, please? They’re on the toilet, and I forgot to grab them.”
He cleared this throat. “Yeah, sure. Will you be okay for a moment?”
I arched a brow at him. “I’ve got a stupid-ass boot on my foot, not missing an entire leg. Not to mention sitting down. Yes, I’ll be fine.”
“The sass of it!” he exclaimed, inching away but keeping a close eye on me as if I was about to topple.
“Banks, I promise I’m fine!”
He was poised to bolt. “I’ll be super quick.”
Then he was gone, running through the tiny cottage and thundering across the aged floorboards.
He arrived back in the bedroom barely five seconds later, panting. “Told you I’d be quick.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You run like a psychopath!”
“Creepy?”
“No, loud!”
“Meh...” He tossed the colored box of tampons into my toiletry bag, then smirked devilishly. “It’s not the only thing I do loud, new girl.”
Heat hit my cheeks. “I wasn’t talking about sex.”
His loud laughter filled the bedroom, fanning the inferno on my cheeks. “Who’s talking about sex? I was referring to yawning!” he guffawed.
“You were not!” I laugh-yelled above his racket. “You were implying sex!”
Banks set his large palm on the bedside table and doubled over, holding his stomach, wheezing and completely losing his shit.
“I bet you're one of those creepy people who have completely silent sex,” I huffed, folding my arms.
Banks’s head snapped up, and despite the smile and residual snickering, his eyes burned with heat. “When I fuck you, you won’t be left wondering what I’m thinkin’, new girl.”
My gaze refused to tear away from his. No matter how much I wanted to glance away, I couldn’t.
“Too much chat isn’t a good thing, Banks,” I eventually stammered.
His smirk twitched, then he entered my orbit, hands landing on the mattress on either side of my hips, caging me.
“I have just the right amount of chat, new girl,” he breathed out, flicking his attention from my eyes to my mouth. “But I think right now there’s too much.”
I leaned into his touch when one palm wrapped around the back of my neck. My spine arched of its own accord, thrusting my chest into his.
The pause between his breath and mine drew out. I swallowed. Anticipation pushed higher. Banks remained rooted well within my personal space, but far enough away that confusion licked beneath the surface.
After a final roll of his tongue across his lower lip, he erased the small distance and claimed my mouth.
We inhaled deeply in unison before melting into the kiss with a long, satisfied hum. Banks’s fingers flexed on the back of my neck, then dropped to pull me closer. His tongue teased and danced across mine as if I was the sweetest addiction.
I lost myself in kissing him as my hands smoothed up the arch of his neck and pulled him closer. He stood with ease, holding me to his chest, then angled my chin with the gentlest demand of his fingers.
Need shivered across my skin while heat trickled through every internal cell, making them scream for more. Desire filtered over my tight, tingling nipples, through the butterflies whirling in my stomach, before converging as weighted heat between my legs. Arousal came too easy. It pulsed and ached, making me want to rub myself on Banks’s growing erection until I fell apart like last time.
As if reading my thoughts, Banks murmured, “I need to stop,” against my lips.
Reluctantly, and against my body’s approval, I agreed with a subtle nod and cleared my throat. “Help me finish packing?”
His voice came thick and gritty. “Sure, babe.”
After gently setting me down again, he adjusted himself within his jeans while smirking, then crossed the room to the drawers. “What do you need?”
“A couple of pairs of everything, please. But more underwear, naturally.”
I pursed my lips at his scoff. Banks picked through my drawers for comfortable items, then glanced over his shoulder when it came to the underwear. “Do I...?”
“Umm, I can do it if—” I stood up and gasped. My ass met the bed again as hot pain shot through my ankle.
Banks was at my side in a blink. “Shit. Are you okay? You gotta take it easy, Simone!”
My expression remained scrunched with agony. “I forgot!”
“Dammit, woman. Stay there. I’ll get your underwear.”
He strode back to the drawers without giving me an option and blindly threw handfuls of cotton and lace into my bag. Once done, he dumped my toiletry bag into my overnight bag, zipped it up, then declared we were packed.
A steady finger pointed my way. “Stay there, Simone.”
When my eyebrows lifted and my jaw jutted, he changed his mind.
“Actually, on second thought, I’m taking you first.”
He unceremoniously dropped my bag by his feet, then came for me. He gathered me into his arms far too easily, and I clung to his chest like a baby monkey.
“This is fun,” I teased.
His chuckle came low beside my ear. “If you say so.”
“I do.” I looked up from under my lashes and smiled, quickly rendered breathless by the warmth of his returned grin.
God, he was beautiful. All sparkling hazel eyes flanked by laugh-lines that told a lifetime of stories, and hand-mussed light-brown hair. My gaze dropped to his perfect smile, skipped over the five o’clock shadow, then along the bridge of his pointed nose before I met his striking gaze again.
Banks’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed thickly. “Don’t look at me like that, new girl.”
“Like what?” I whispered.
We paused by the front door, eyes locked and breath paused.
“Like I actually mean something to you.”
His words took me aback, sending my heart into an erratic cadence.
“What happens if you do?” I asked quietly around the squeeze in my throat.
He lifted his chin and studied me down his nose. “We continue as we are and see where it takes us. And that includes getting you back to my place before other ideas take priority.”
A wicked grin lifted one corner of my mouth. “Like what?”
“Like me fucking you,” he murmured against my lips.
Instantly turned on, I couldn’t help the shudder that shot through me.
“Dammit, Simone.” A growl wove through his clenched teeth, then Banks strode from the cottage and picked his way down the front steps. “I need to get you off me. I can’t be doing what I want to do to you when you’re fresh out of the hospital. You’ve suffered a concussion for fuck’s sake.”
He opened the passenger door of his truck and carefully put me onto the seat. “I’ll be back in a second.”
After receiving a quick yet heavy kiss, I pressed my fingertips to my just-kissed grin and watched him jog back inside.
I hadn’t felt worthy of another man’s love until now, let alone allowed my own happiness to bloom. My heart and soul felt safe with Banks, to the point where I was okay with leaving my little knife where it lay hidden.
Optimism allowed me to hope my cutting days were behind me.
Oh, how I was wrong.
