hand beside her hip on the counter and put his mouth near her ear so no one else could hear. “I think teasing you until you’re begging and need me more than anything, keeping you right there, knowing that I have total control over everything you’re feeling, would give me plenty of endorphins.” He slid his hand to her hip and squeezed. “And there are lots of ways for me to have all kinds of fun while you’re frustrated and on edge.”
He would just use her for his own pleasure? What would that be like?
“You don’t seem like the selfish type,” she told him softly, nearly panting. In fact, he seemed the exact opposite of the selfish type. He seemed very concerned with her and how she was feeling and her being happy as a matter of fact.
“But you don’t know me very well,” he said gruffly.
Then he nipped her earlobe.
Lust shot through her and she gasped.
“Okay, okay, okay,” Zoe said.
She hadn’t needed to have heard all of that to get a pretty clear idea of what they’d been talking about with the way Grant was leaning in. And the way Josie was nearly melting into a puddle.
“No endorphins on my bakery countertop,” Zoe said.
Josie knew her cheeks were pink but not because she was embarrassed. She was just plain hot. She leaned around Grant to grin at her friend again. “Oh, like you and Aiden have never gotten endorphins on these counters.”
“Not these,” Zoe said, shaking her head. “Too many windows.” Then she winked. “Get out of here and ‘nurse your shoulder.’” She added air quotes when she said those last three words.
“Gladly,” Grant said gruffly as he helped Josie off the counter.
She had a feeling he meant them literally, though, as well as metaphorically. She might get some “endorphins” from him, but she was also going to get a big, hot, protective nursemaid.
Which didn’t sound at all like a hardship.
“Are you okay to drive?” he asked as she collected her stuff from the kitchen and pulled her keys from her purse.
“Yes.” She smiled up at him. “I’ll take any excuse to get you over to my house again. But I’m fine to get there, I promise.”
“You don’t need an excuse,” he said. “You just have to ask.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“But you’re not thrilled about the… effect I have on you?”
“I’m getting more thrilled with it,” he said.
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” He did that thing where he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear again. “You have a way about you.”
She smiled, happiness bubbling up in her chest. “Thank you. I’m pretty thrilled that you’re getting more thrilled.”
He gave her a slow smile. “I really want to take care of your shoulder tonight. For real.”
She nodded. “I know. And I want you to.”
“Yeah? You like being bossed around?”
“Definitely not.”
“Then why do I get an invite to play doctor tonight?”
“Because I like your hands on me.”
His eyes flickered with heat. “Well, then we’re going to get along just fine because I’d very much like to have my hands all over you.”
“Meet you there.”
Josie had already let herself into her house through the back kitchen door by the time Grant pulled in behind her car. He’d just been here last night, and yet he felt like he’d been waiting to have her again for weeks. Maybe months.
This woman was getting to him. He should truly want to be anywhere but here. She was distracting him. And not just with thoughts of last night flashing through his mind at inopportune times during the day or with her flirtatious, dirty cupcakes. But now he was feeling protective and worried.
He fucking hated worrying. He wanted everyone in his life to just make good choices, make the right decisions based on data and knowledge and calm, rational thought. He didn’t expect them to be perfect and to always have all the answers, but he did expect them to listen to him. When he gave advice, he knew what he was talking about. If he didn’t, he found out before he gave advice.
But now the woman who had rocked his world with cake batter—both by its use during sex as well as when she actually baked it into cupcakes—was making him worry. And she wasn’t listening to him.
She had an injury. He had no idea how serious or mild. But she wasn’t taking care of it. She was shrugging it off. She wasn’t even making an actual appointment at a medical clinic to discuss it with a professional. Okay, maybe she