I moved to the sink to fill the carafe with water, looked outside and saw Damian. I thought the sight of him preparing for the shower was hot. He was all sweaty—I was guessing from a run. He wore running pants and sneakers. His bare back, and that tattoo I wanted to study up close, was facing me. I didn’t know when he had done it, but there was a pole between two trees and he was doing pull ups so every muscle that I could see flexed. The man was strong. I had firsthand knowledge of this from the scene in that alley, but seeing all that power as his muscles bunched and corded was seriously sexy.
I needed to make a pie, needed to keep myself distracted because what I wanted to do was walk outside and climb that man like a tree. I got the coffee on and then started pulling what I’d need for the pie from the pantry and refrigerator.
I was in the middle of making the crust when he entered from the back door. My greeting was a little too bright due to lust because while I prepared the crust I was thinking about squeezing his buns, rubbing my naked body against his, riding his cock until we both passed out from the pleasure.
“What are you making?”
“Pumpkin pie. Two actually since the crust recipe makes two crusts and pumpkin pie only needs one.” I was rambling. “Did you go for a run?”
He walked to the coffee. “Yeah.”
“Is it as nice a morning as it looks?”
“Yes.”
“Do you take the same route every morning?”
“No.”
I wanted to pull my hair out. I was growing tired of the one word answers, particularly since he had slipped a few times while here and forgot to be a cyborg. “No one is breaking through the door, I’m not going to throw myself at you. You can talk to me and not fear you will morph into a lust monster.”
“Lust monster?”
“You remind me of the Hulk with your belief that there is a trigger that turns you from all disciplined to reckless in a heartbeat.”
“There is a trigger. You.”
My body throbbed. “Are you feeling reckless now?”
That earned me a hot glance from over his shoulder. And it was a really nice shoulder, bare, wide and it so beautifully blended into the muscles of his biceps and triceps. I yanked my eyes from his exquisite arms to find his were on me.
“I understand what is motivating you, but it has been difficult with the wall you’ve put up to keep me out. Maybe if we could define what I do that is considered a triggerable offense, we could spend time together without you shifting into a horny caveman. Though I would like to say I am all for you turning into a horny caveman. And by that look, I’m guessing me saying that is a trigger.”
“Fucking hell.”
“I’ll take that as a yes. Okay, well I can’t believe watching a movie with me would trigger your inner beast.”
“You curled up against me, your hands on me, your breath teasing the skin at my neck. Big fucking trigger.”
They were all the reasons I really liked watching movies with him. Okay so movie watching was out. “What about me joining you for a run? Not that I’m thrilled with that plan because I don’t believe in running as a rule, feel it should only be done when being chased. But if it gets me time with you, I would consider it.”
“You dressed in a sports bra and shorts. Trigger.”
“Baking?”
He eyed the pumpkin mixture I was whisking. “I want to dribble whatever the fuck that shit is on your breasts, down your stomach to your pussy and take my time licking it off.”
I stopped whisking, needed to brace myself on the counter because I just had a mini orgasm at the thought.
He then added, “Smelling your arousal is a definite fucking trigger.”
“Then you should leave the room because I’m so hot right now I’m going to combust.”
And yet he stayed where he was, across the kitchen leaning against the counter sipping his coffee like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“How do you do that? Look so calm.”
“Years of military training.”
“Talking has to be safe. What harm is there in talking? What are your thoughts on the expression lipstick on a pig? I find it insulting to pigs, but it doesn’t really make sense because pigs are adorable. Now if it was say, lipstick on a cockroach I get that, but the visual is a nasty one not to mention who the hell would want to be that close to a cockroach to put lipstick on it?”
His mug was halfway to his mouth when he answered. “I don’t have a thought on lipstick on a pig, however lipstick on your lips and those lips around my cock. That’s another trigger.”
“Everything is a trigger.”
“No shit. Why do you think I’ve been avoiding you?”