forward until he’s pressed against me, slinging one hand around my back and the other into my hair, keeping me in place as he gazes down at me.
“I won’t touch you unless you beg me to, Cherry,” he whispers against my lips.
“You’re in for a long wait then because I won’t beg. Ever.”
“I want to see you,” he urges, his lust riding him hard, and I’d be a fucking hypocrite if the thought didn’t leave me dripping.
I frown at him, ready to shut this shit down, but there is something about him, something in his tone making me pause, an almost desperation. What the fuck happened to him tonight?
“You don’t touch me while I’m naked. The second you break that rule, I will walk out of this apartment and I won’t look back.” My heart beats in a rapid staccato, trying to deal with the shock I just gave it agreeing to this.
It’s not so much him seeing me naked; it’s him being so close to me when I’m vulnerable—that’s not something I ever do.
Pulling away, I turn my back on him, lowering the zipper at the side of my dress. When the fabric loosens, I slip my arms free and slide the material down over my hips, revealing what I’m wearing underneath—black lace bra with matching panties and lace-top thigh highs.
“Holy fucking shit,” he hisses.
Kicking my shoes into the corner, I let the dress fall the rest of the way to the floor before kicking it over to my shoes. I sit on the edge of the toilet seat and begin the slowly seductive task of rolling down my thigh highs.
He doesn’t move, doesn’t make a single sound until the stockings are off, leaving me in the black lace underwear set.
“I’m a stupid fuck,” he mumbles to himself, and in this regard, he’s correct. It’s like being an alcoholic with a glass of whiskey in front of you, oh so very tempting but not worth the headache it will leave in its wake if we succumb to the lure of temptation. I don’t know what Reid is to me. I’m not brave enough to admit I feel more for him than I should, but to him, I’m just an addiction that will either burn out or blow up in our faces.
“You can always walk away,” I whisper, giving him an out, but we both know he won’t take it. He can’t break this never-ending cycle of want and need any more than I can.
“Take them off,” he growls.
I don’t object to his words, finding I quite like the idea of doing his bidding, in the bedroom at least. Being in control all the time can be exhausting. Sometimes it would be nice to hand the reins over to someone else for a little while. Right here, right now, I’m not Gemini and he’s not Aries. We’re just two people who want what we can’t have, which makes this all the more illicit.
I slip the straps of my bra down my arms before reaching back to undo it, tossing it toward my dress. Hooking my fingers in the edge of my panties, I slide those down my legs.
Stepping out of them, I leave my panties on the floor before climbing into the warm shower.
I feign indifference and dip under the warm water, pretending I can’t feel his eyes on me, but I freeze briefly when I see Reid out of the corner of my eye bend down and snag my panties off the floor. Bringing the lace to his nose, he inhales deeply. As if sensing my gaze on him, his eyes snap to mine.
The raw, unfiltered need in them makes my legs tremble so much I have to reach out and use the wall to steady myself.
I stand completely unable to move as he pulls his T-shirt over his head in that one-handed way guys do, without even flinching when I know his ribs must be screaming at him.
“Reid,” I warn, tensing to see what his next move is.
“Not gonna touch you, Cherry, but that doesn’t mean we can’t touch ourselves,” he growls, popping open the button of his fly and slowly lowering the zipper.
I step back from the spray and watch him through the clear glass as he reaches inside his jeans and pulls out his erect cock.
Lifting his other hand to his face, I notice he still has my discarded panties in his grip. He inhales deeply once more before slowly stroking his cock up and down,