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—Banks—
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I woke later than usual the next morning to Simone groaning as she rolled in my arms. I’d roused her before the crack of dawn for her next dose of pain medication, then fallen asleep on my back with her tucked in my armpit, precisely where she belonged.
I smoothed my arm around her waist and anchored her close, kissing her bare shoulder in the process. She stirred but otherwise remained breathing steadily. Each breath rose and fell within my hold, and I soaked in the peace she brought to my soul.
I lifted my head when the bedroom door silently inched open. Pepin’s nose appeared, and I watched her slowly push into the room, then snickered quietly when she caught me looking and paused.
After pressing another kiss to Simone’s shoulder, I eased from the bed without disturbing her and led Pepin from the room. With the door softly closed behind us, I let Pep outside, then stood on the deck overlooking the lake. I stretched hard with my arms raised high.
The view never got old. This place was ingrained in my DNA, and while Scout and Fields had left Gatlin Falls for bigger and better things—the MLB and the military, respectively—I’d never felt compelled to leave permanently. I’d traveled, sure, but always found my way home after a few months abroad. I lived and breathed Gatlin Falls, and now that my heart was hung up on Simone, a small part of me feared she would grow tired of being here and crave the city again.
With my arms still raised, I leaned from one side to the other, then hinged at the waist into a forward fold to stretch out my back. I was a little stiff after sleeping in the spare bed, not that I was complaining. Hell, I’d be there again tonight without a single protest.
Leaving Pepin to do her morning perimeter sweep of the yard, I peeped in on Simone to find her still slumbering peacefully, tucked on her side, facing the edge of the bed.
I couldn’t help the smitten smile that formed on my mouth.
Content, I left her sleeping, raced upstairs to pull on a pair of shorts, then sat on the couch to tie my sneakers. As predicted, Pepin figured out the plan within seconds and paced while waiting for me, eager for her morning run. After sending Simone a text to read if she woke while we were out, I left my phone on the counter and led Pepin to the front door.
She trotted at my heel as we walked down the driveway, then ran across the road into the large, grassed park once I said, “Break.”
Nose-to-ground, she cased the park and pissed an ungodly amount of times as I jogged to the far end of the road. I “collected” her when I doubled back, then ran up the slope toward the start of the Falls track. Instead of continuing on the road into town, Pepin and I veered right and made our way along a forest loop track up past Leif’s place before heading home again. It was a tidy four miles, which I did slightly faster than usual out of concern over leaving Simone by herself. Ridiculous really. She was a grown-ass woman who didn’t need me constantly hovering.
The instant I returned home and found the spare room empty, all that women-empowerment talk went out the window. I became overridden by an all-consuming need to protect and serve, which triggered irritation as I rushed up the stairs. That irritation unjustifiably grew when I heard the shower in my en suite running.
I barged in without knocking. “The fuck you doing!”
“Showering,” Simone sassed as if she’d heard me coming.
“How’d you get up here, Simone?”
“The stairs.”
I let out a frustrated growl. “And what did I say about the damn stairs?”
She peeked around the shower wall and gave me a bug-eyed stare. “To not use crutches on them.”
“Exactly!”
Her smirk turned smug. “I didn’t.”
I glanced around for the crutches and cursed. They were nowhere to be seen and her boot sat with her clothes by the shower entrance.
Frustrated by her outsmarting me, I kicked off my shorts and underwear and stepped into the shower. “You should have let me help you.”
“Why? You weren’t here, so I did it myself.” She lifted her chin to give her more attitude than her five-foot-nothing stature otherwise possessed.
“Because I said.”
She scoffed. “Not a good enough reason, Banks. If I was missing a leg, then yes, I would have waited, but it’s still there.” She lifted said leg and wriggled her toes.
“Jesus Christ, just sit down before you slip.” I then noticed her shower products on the shower bench. I pointed at them. “How’d they get up here?”
Simone rolled her eyes so hard she probably strained those too. “Carried them. In my arms,” she added as she sat and reached for a bottle.
I frowned despite the amusement welling in my chest, then couldn’t help but finally crack a smile when she pumped foaming cleanser onto her hand, lathered her face, then leaned forward with her eyes closed.
“Water please?” came her sweet request.
“Sure, babe.” I lifted the shower head out of its cradle and aimed it directly at her face until her hands came up as a shield.
“Stop,” she laughed. “Give you an inch and you take a fucking mile!”
I flicked the spray over her a few more times, fueling the reaction that sang to my soul. “You get what you ask for, new girl. Take it, baby.”
“Waterboarding should not be associated with sex-talk, you psycho!”
Laughing my ass off, I sat the shower head back in the cradle while Simone coughed and spluttered dramatically.
“When I’m fully mobile again, I’m gonna whoop your ass.”
I eyed her tiny form. “Aww, you’re really not, babe. Not even while I sleep.”
Silence came, accompanied by both of Simone’s middle fingers raised. “I like that you underestimate me: means I’ll fuck you up without you realizing I’ve done it until it’s too late.”
I tilted my head and thought about that for a second. “I don’t think I’ve underestimated you at all. Not for strength reasons, at least.”
And the fucking me up? That was entirely possible if she ended up breaking my heart.
I stared until she grew restless under the weight of my gaze.
“What?” she snapped.
“Nothin’, sweetheart. Do you need more water?”
She barked a single laugh. “Ha! Not from you, thanks. And stop looking at me like that!”
“Like what?” I asked hoarsely, knowing full-well what she meant.
Her eyes dropped to my hardening dick, rendering me even more powerless to stop the growing arousal.
“Like you’re possessed.”
A low chuckle knotted in my throat as I prowled toward her. She had me all shades of damned from her sweet mouth to her sassy words. I was utterly and wholly under her spell.
“I am possessed when it comes to you. Christ, you make me crazy,” I hissed, reaching for her and boosting her high in my arms.
She tipped her head back when my lips latched onto her neck. “Good or bad crazy?”
I hummed against her wet skin. “Both. I wanna fuck you, new girl.”
“So do it,” she breathed out.
Desire in her blue eyes turned them darker, and her eyelids grew heavy with need as I lined myself up at her entrance.
My fingers bit into her hips as I worked into her while being mindful of her injured ankle. The friction had us both groaning and casting aside inhibitions.
I kissed along her jawline until I met her mouth. She kissed me with fervor, matching the urgency of my lashing tongue. The moment I adjusted my stance, she cried out.
“Oh, there! That’s the spot.”
I thrust in again. “There?”
“Yes. Oh yes!”
Each thrust pushed her pitch higher, and me closer to the breaking point. The instant her pussy tightened around my shaft, I knew it was game over for me.
“That’s it, baby,” I hissed.
“I’m so fucking close!” she cried desperately. “Keep going!”
Gritting my teeth and calling on my last shred of control, I barely managed to hold off long enough to push her over the edge before I followed. Her orgasm milked mine for every last drop until we were both spent and breathless.
My heart hammered within my ribcage, matching the rapid rhythm pulsing through Simone’s exterior jugular vein.
“Wanna have breakfast with me?” I panted and smiled.
Breathy laughter bounced off the shower tiles. “Well, it would be rude not to, right?”
“So rude,” I chuckled.
Simone stayed in my arms as I walked us under the shower spray to rinse off, then, once wrapped in towels and her boot refitted, I piggy-backed her downstairs while issuing another warning about the hazards of stairs and limited mobility.
Unsurprisingly, she appeared to ignore every last word.
“Are we going to argue over breakfast again like yesterday?” she sassed. “Because if we are, I’m not here for it.”
“Babe, we’re not arguing over breakfast again, and you’re so fucking here for it you gotta stop kidding yourself.”
She reached over my shoulder and tweaked my nipple—hard—making me flinch.
“I’m only here for Pepin,” she joked.
I deposited Simone on the guest bed, then flipped around to cage her between my barred arms. “I’m calling bullshit on all the levels this morning, new girl.”
Her eyeroll had my grin forming. “I’m hardly the new girl anymore.”
“New or not, you’re my girl,” I stated.
The sassy arch of her eyebrows got me hot under the collar. “We’ll see.”
I pushed away and backed up. “Yeah, we will. Over breakfast. So get dressed and meet me in the kitchen.”
“You can’t tell me what to do,” she called at my departing back.
“Just did,” I shot over my shoulder as I exited her room, flicking the door closed as I passed through it. “See you out there, babe!”
The closed door muffled her growl and it had me snickering to myself as I ran up the stairs to get dressed. I’d never been so damn excited for breakfast.
