By the time Dex hung up, Joel was starting to pack up his camera equipment.
“You’re all done?” Dex asked.
“I think I have more than enough. You’ll be very happy with the results.”
Dex nodded, then looked at me. “Do me a favor, Joel? Take one more. I’d like a photo with Ms. George.”
“Of course.”
Dex extended his hand toward me, and I felt foolish making a stink over a silly picture, so I went to stand next to him. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close. Joel snapped some shots and then Bandit decided to get in on the action. He jumped up between us, one paw landing on each of my and Dexter’s chests. We laughed while Joel took a few more.
There was an awkwardness when Joel was finished gathering his things and packing his camera up. Well, at least, I felt it. Joel extended his hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Truitt. I’ll have these photos to your office within two weeks.”
Dex nodded. “Thank you.”
“Are you heading uptown?” Joel turned to me. “Perhaps we can split a cab?”
Before I could answer, Dex cut in. “Actually. I need to go over some last minute things about the article, Bianca. Do you think you can stay for a few minutes?”
It wasn’t smart for me to be alone with him. “I’d love to, but I have an appointment I need to get to.”
Dex was not going to make it easy. “Two minutes. I’ll have my driver take you wherever you need to go after we’re done so you don’t have to waste time grabbing a cab.”
He walked Joel to the door before I could answer. When he came back to the living room, I was sitting on the couch rubbing my neck. It was really starting to hurt.
“Your neck is still bothering you?”
I nodded. “It’s muscular. Nothing a warm bath or a heating pad won’t take care of.”
“Scoot up.”
“What?”
Dex motioned for me to sit on the edge of the couch cushion. “These fingers can’t whittle for shit, but they can rub a mean massage. Let me at least help you with that.”
Again, he didn’t wait for my answer. Instead, he slipped off his shoes, stood up on the couch, and swung one leg over to the other side of me. Then, he settled in behind me, enveloping me between his parted thighs.
I was about to object, when his fingers pressed into my neck. God, that feels good. Two minutes won’t hurt.
Dex wasn’t lying; he could definitely give a mean massage. His thumbs rubbed up and down either side of my spine, and he applied firm pressure, kneading a circular motion to relieve the tension in my muscles. Loosening up, my head dropped until my chin was practically resting on my chest. I lost track of time as he quietly rubbed and pressed in all the right places. At one point, he guided my head to the left side and focused on an area on the right at the top of my shoulder blade. A little mewl escaped my lips before I could catch it. After that, even though my neck was relaxed, I started to feel other things tensing up. Dex was getting aroused, and since I was sitting between his legs, I could literally feel his erection swelling up against my ass. God it feels so good.
A large part of me wanted to enjoy it, to relish the feel of his fingers pressing into my achy neck muscles and his firm cock nudging at my ass cheeks as it grew. But then I remembered the other time I felt Dex up against my ass. Only it wasn’t Dex…it was Jay. The night he’d showed up at my place unannounced, and I practically dry humped him. He’d spent an hour online with me as Dex and then must have raced over to my apartment to spend the next half hour as Jay. He didn’t even require a break between his lies. Realizing that was like having a bucket of cold water thrown over me.
I abruptly stood. “I should go.”
Dex stood with me. “I’m sorry. Don’t go. I tried everything. Even thinking about the time I walked in on my grandmother having sex with my grandfather, but not even that calamity could stop my body from reacting to having you near me. I didn’t ask you to stay to get physical with you. I wasn’t going to try to seduce you.”
Oddly, I believed him. “Why did you ask me to stay then, Dex?”
“I wanted to make sure you were feeling alright from the accident this morning. But I also wanted to see if I could convince you to go on a date with me. Can we start over? I know I fucked up royally—just give me the chance to show you I’m a man you can trust.”
That was half of the problem. Trust was an issue to begin with for me. I knew I had some daddy issues that were at the root of many of my doubts. But I also knew that it was nearly impossible to be around Dex without something physical happening between us. And being physical with him before I was able to forgive him and truly trust him again, would be a big mistake.