sports bra when she made her way back.
She handed my water to me when she reached my side, and I reluctantly sat up, taking it from her.
I swallowed large gulps from my bottle before looking at her and realizing that her eyes were on me.
“What?” I asked, spilling the water slightly and feeling it run down the length of my chest.
She followed the length of the water, and then swallowed. “I was thinking we should probably turn off the lights to preserve the batteries since we’re probably not going to get power back anytime soon.”
She was right.
We were generally the last ones to get power since we were off the beaten path in the grand scheme of things.
Our town, though healthy and thriving, was also one of the smaller ones on the grid.
Fewer people equaled less urgency to get things rolling in the power department.
“Probably a smart thing to do,” I admitted. “But don’t you not do well in the dark?”
That had been why I’d turned on my phone instead of just leaving hers to light our way.
I knew that she had problems with the darkness, and I wanted to make it as comfortable for her as I could if I had the ability.
And I’d run out of phone battery all day long if it meant keeping her comfortable.
“Yes.” She paused. “Though, lately not with you.”
Something soared in my chest.
“Really?” I asked, feeling my throat rasp with the words.
She grinned and downed her bottle of water, getting up to throw the empty in the trash before coming back, with our phones this time, and watched as I turned my light off first before answering.
“I think that first time you helped me run outside in the dark, my mind associated you with nothing dangerous. As a protector more than a person I should be afraid of.” She paused. “I’ll tell you the why of the fear of darkness one of these days… just not today. Not in the dark.”
I grinned when she readjusted the shorts that she was wearing, which in turn made my cock hard. Again.
CHAPTER 11
I refuse to join a gym that would have me as a member.
-overheard conversation
FRAN
My heart was pounding, and I didn’t know why.
But there was something about being this close to Taos, listening to his rumbling voice in the darkness, that had my heart going wild.
And not in a bad way.
In a very, it hurts so good, way.
“One day you can tell me,” he agreed quietly.
I looked over at him just as I was in the process of turning off the light on my phone and saw the state of his shorts.
They were doing nothing to contain the bulging cock that he sported just before the entire room was plunged into darkness.
Now there was no light whatsoever surrounding us except for the red lights that spelled out “EXIT” above the front and back door, and the green lights that were on the security system and I wasn’t scared. I was quite the opposite.
I felt nerves pulse to life in my belly as I thought about how he’d looked right before I’d turned my light off.
What I’d been able to see.
And let me just tell you something, that cock of his was definitely something to see.
Taos by himself was the sexiest man I’d ever encountered in my life. But Taos with a hard cock?
I wanted to ride him like a horse.
In fact, if he wasn’t careful, I definitely would.
I was sex deprived.
I wasn’t a virgin.
But after the accident, and what had almost happened, I’d been reluctant to form relationships. I couldn’t get past the ‘what-if’ factor. What if the man I chose ended up being like that man in the park?
That man in the park had asked me out six separate times. Six times I’d smiled at him, laughed off his compliments, and said ‘thanks, but no thanks’ before I’d gone about my business.
What if I chose someone that was a bad person underneath that calm exterior?
A loud boom of thunder had me jumping, and just like that, I was practically pressed up against him without realizing that I’d done it.
“So is it the dark, the dark and the thunder, or just a little bit of everything?” he asked curiously, his wide, rough palm hitting the inside of my thigh as he pulled me in closer to his body.
I went willingly, only realizing how intimate the position he now had me in was as his hand settled even deeper between my legs.
He wasn’t touching me intimately.