Chapter 23
twenty-three
MAYAKOBA, MEXICO
Avery padded out of her room the next morning and into the kitchen in slippered feet, a short and lightweight Turkish cotton bathrobe over her pajama set.
Her bed had been empty when she woke up.
The kitchen was silent, but she was greeted by the welcoming, earthy scent of freshly brewed coffee.
She longed to find out what Teddy’s mouth would taste like mixed with a hint of that coffee.
She poured a cup and found a platter of fruit and pastries on the counter.
She’d bring her coffee and the platter out to the pool deck.
Maybe Teddy was out there enjoying a moment of zen.
She hoped they were the only ones up and she’d find him alone.
She wanted to throw her arms around him, before it was back to walking the fine line between fake-dating, fake-dating with benefits, and real relationship.
It was less of a line, and more of a triangle? She’d never been good at geometry.
But as soon as she opened the sliding doors and stepped out onto the deck, her heart sank. The kitchen had been empty because she was the last one to rise, not one of the first. So much for coffee-tinged kisses.
Stacey had set up a workout station for Teddy on the dock, with a yoga mat, weights, and a large exercise ball. He was sitting, shirtless, a headband keeping his hair out of his eyes, in a crunch position on the top of the exercise ball.
The position he was in mimicked the angle of his driver’s seat, his biceps bulging from exertion, a heavy set of weights out in front of him as if it were a steering wheel.
She imagined herself running her hands over them.
His face was scrunched while Stacey was holding onto his legs, trying to throw him off balance by pulling them in different directions, as if he were rounding a corner.
James was stationed by them, capturing the workout.
He had swapped his phone for a more high-tech camera and was hovering over Stacey’s shoulder to get the right angle so he could capture just how hard Teddy was working, the flex of each muscle in his core. The internet would eat it up.
Like I am. She licked her lips.
“Just four more. You’ve got this,” Stacey encouraged, as Teddy focused on his breathing during the sequence, exhaling out each time he righted himself back to center on the ball. “Grab a sip of water.”
“Morning, bella,” Teddy winked at Avery, as soon as Stacey took the weights from his hands. So, he had clocked my presence, but managed to stay focused on the workout. Impressive. Avery doubted she’d be able to do the same if he walked into her place of work.
“Good morning,” she smiled at him, as if she was used to waking up to sweaty, half-naked men calling her “bella.” “Good morning, Stace.”
“Morning, Avery,” Stacey said. “Okay. Teddy, break is over. Ten minutes of neck work and then you’re done,” she nearly cackled as she waved some neck stretching torture device in front of him.
Avery’s neck heated remembering the feel of his hot breath on her neck.
Teddy gulped down a sip of water, drawing Avery’s eyes to his mouth, as a drop of water escaped his mouth and trickled over the white scar on his bottom lip.
“I’m going to do a cold plunge and a jacuzzi when I finish. Join me?” he asked, staring at her mouth right back.
She nodded and took her plate and mug to the outdoor dining table on the other side of the pool and stared out over the lagoon.
If she stood there watching any longer, she’d start drooling, or worse yet, get in their way.
She took a big bite of her croissant, savoring each flaky bite.
Steaming cup of coffee. Check. Fresh pastries.
Check. Hunky shirtless lover in her peripheral vision. Check. Another day that did not suck.
* * *
“Hot or cold first?” Teddy asked Avery.
“You should do the jacuzzi, then the cold plunge, then the jacuzzi again for maximal cellular benefit,” Stacey interjected while she wiped down the sweaty workout equipment.
“No cellular benefit talk for me, I’m not a professional athlete. I’m on vacation and have no interest in freezing my ass off in an ice-cold plunge pool. I vote for jacuzzi first, then jacuzzi, and finish with jacuzzi.”
Teddy shrugged. “Jacuzzi it is.”
Avery shimmied out of her robe. Steam wafted up from the tiled jacuzzi warming the air as she dipped a toe in.
The water was scorching hot, almost burning her skin.
Just how I like it. She lowered herself onto the bench on the side of the jacuzzi tub, letting one of the jets massage her back, groaning in contentment.
Teddy hopped in next to her and looked around to make sure Stacey and James were no longer in earshot.
“I like that sound coming out of your mouth, but only when I’m the cause of it,” he said, turning his head to hers.
He lowered his mouth to hers, and she parted her lips for him.
He kissed like he drove, determined and in control.
Avery was happy to let him take charge, his tongue everywhere in her mouth.
She whimpered, and he pulled away. Teddy leaned back against the side of the tub, arms folded behind his head. “Precisely,” he smirked.
She turned around and straddled him, kissing him this time, deeply and quickly, before running her thumb over his bottom lip, smoothing the spot with the scar. “How did you get this?”
“Go-kart injury. I was about seven, just mucking about and knocked my mouth right into the steering wheel. My front tooth went right through my lip.”
“Did it deter you from karting at all?”
“Not at all. But it did force my mum to buy me some proper equipment, and get someone to teach me how to drive the darn thing. In fact, I can probably thank this scar for really launching my career.”
Huh. Avery turned this new piece of information about Teddy around in her head. She knew he’d have to be a calculated risk taker, have some tolerance for bodily injury to do what he did, but she’d never taken him for someone to be motivated by it.
“You just keep surprising me, Teddy Ross.” Avery felt lightheaded. “I’m overheating,” she announced, lifting herself off his lap and onto the side of the hot tub, her feet dangling in the water.
“Ah, I often have that effect on you,” he teased, grabbing her feet.
She kicked her feet up out of his grasp, splashing him, “Yes, it’s either you, or the 104 degree water.”
He took her foot back and rubbed, sending a shiver of pleasure from the sole all the way up her inseam.
“Ok, cold plunge time for me,” he said.
He stepped out of the jacuzzi, dripping on her in his wake.
He jumped in the narrow pool next to the jacuzzi that was kept at a chilly fifty-five degrees without flinching. “Wooo-wee, that's the stuff.
“How can you just dive right in like that?” she asked.
“It’s not so bad. Come see for yourself,” he answered.
“Ok fine,” Avery took a deep breath and before she could chicken out, stepped into the ice-cold water in the adjacent tub.
She gasped as the cold water shocked her nerve endings.
“Well, now you’ve surprised me today, too,” Teddy said. Exactly what she had been going for. She shivered again.