13. Valentina
VALENTINA
Maybe I should be shy, but I’m just too tired and too overwhelmed with everything else to care about Diego seeing me naked. Hot pain radiates in waves from my wound and with no painkillers or even alcohol to help numb the pain, I need another distraction.
Diego is the best distraction.
Diego and a hot shower that pours over me like a blissful wave. Every droplet lands against my skin with enough force to aggravate a bruise or a healing wound, but it’s an oddly pleasant sensation. Like a reminder that I’m still alive and pieces of my life are ever so slowly coming together.
“Do you mind?” Diego’s low voice rises from behind me, and I spare him one glance. He stands there, completely naked in the shower with me, and both hands hover a few inches away from my shoulders.
“Please,” I murmur. “I don’t want to lift my arm too high and rip open your hard work.”
“I’d be devastated,” comes his quiet reply.
Then his hands land on my shoulders.
They’re rough, callused from all the work he does and the life he’s lived, but the sensation of that roughness dragging slowly over my shoulders while his fingers dig gently into my muscles is enough to turn me to butter.
A weak sensation sweeps south, landing in my knees and making them knock together, so I reach for the wall for balance.
It’s all I can do to stay upright while Diego takes over washing me.
“Your back looks good,” he says softly as he works.
A cap clicks and his hand vanishes, then returns with something cold against my skin.
I flinch sharply but within a few seconds, the gel warms against my skin and lathers up quickly under his touch.
“Everything here looks like it’s healing well.
Y’know, because I’m a doctor and I completely know what I’m talking about. ”
“I trust you,” comes my soft reply as my vision twinges in and out of focus. “Do they look bad?”
“Depends on your benchmark.” His hands glide down my back to my waist, leaving a trail of hot tingles in their wake.
“If they were on me, I’d say they were pretty fucking bad.
But given the scars you have and your head wound, I’d say they’re pretty on par.
Your head is like… the worst, and these are sort of middle to low. ”
“Middle to low,” I repeat lazily, more focused on his hands than anything else.
They reach my lower back and his thumbs press in, moving in slow, tantalizing circles, then they sweep back up with his thumbs staying close to my spine.
Each press is bliss, each stroke and caress a warm, welcoming sensation that I cling to over everything else.
Sometimes, he’s close enough that the warmth of his breath brushes against my shoulder, and I want to sink back into his hold.
Diego’s hands sweep south once more to my lower back and over the crest of my ass. He’s tender in his touch, massaging in the lather then sweeping his hands slowly back up. A shiver shoots through me as tension seeps from my aching muscles.
“You’re good at this.”
“Washing?”
“Caring for someone. Have you done this before?”
“Not… exactly. Feels weird to talk about her when we’re like this, but Mindy, the woman who came to my apartment?
She’s… she’s an addict. There was a point in time when she was trying to get clean and I did what I could to help her through the aches and pains.
Step back for me?” His hands settle on my waist, and he guides me backward as soon as I step into him.
Hot water pours down my back, washing the soap away and sending it trickling down my legs.
“Okay, turn around.”
I obey, switching out which hand presses against the tiles, and our eyes meet. Face-to-face, his struggle is obvious. He’s fighting to be a gentleman just like I’m fighting to keep my eyes up and away from his own nakedness.
“Are you ready?”
I nod slowly, but despite my mental preparation, the moment he touches my stomach, I flinch.
“Sorry.” Diego immediately retracts his hands, so I move my balancing hand from the wall to his shoulder.
“No, no, that wasn’t you. I’m sorry. I’m just… everything is pain, y’know? All over. And your touch is nice, so I thought I was prepared, but I think part of me still expected pain.”
“I would never hurt you,” Diego replies earnestly, his voice low. “Other than stitching you up.”
“I know. Please, it’s okay.” To help show him that I’m really okay, I move my hand down his arm slightly. “This bruise… it’s from a seatbelt?”
“The crash.” Diego nods, and his hands return to my abdomen, where he lathers the same gel against my skin.
“You didn’t have one on. Sometimes, I wonder if that’s how you hurt your head.
Either from the crash or from them beating you—” His voice catches slightly. “Sorry. I don’t mean to bring it up.”
“It’s okay. This is just the first time I’ve seen your injuries. I suspected you were hurt, but you’ve been acting like everything is fine.”
Diego meets my eyes and smiles as his hands sweep up my ribs. He’s very careful around my reopened wound, keeping all soap and lather away from it until his hands settle under my breasts.
“It felt like the right thing to do,” Diego murmurs, and his cheeks suddenly flush even darker.
“Hiding your pain isn’t right.” My eyes close briefly. Diego snakes an arm around my waist and draws me gently in against his body. I open my eyes and he’s gazing down at me so intently.
“Stay close so you don’t fall,” he instructs firmly. “And tell me if you feel dizzy.”
“I feel dizzy,” I reply immediately and then smirk. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” He continues to hold me up while lathering up my breasts, being extra careful around bruises and marks. Then, like before, he guides me under the water to wash it all away.
Exhaustion creeps up quickly and by the time Diego sits me down on the edge of the bath to tenderly wash my hair, I feel like warm butter.
Every muscle is soft and loose, every part of me tingles from the sensation of his hands, and I cling to that feeling of contact.
It’s the only nice sensation through a sea of aches and pains.
Diego murmurs to himself as he threads his fingers into my hair and lathers up the shampoo, working slowly around my head wound and doing his very best not to get the gauze wet. It mostly works and the pain is dull enough that I have no complaints.
Hard to complain about anything when his massaging fingers work at my scalp until I’m completely and utterly boneless with relaxation.
Once my hair runs clear, he moves to my legs and works his magic up my calves and thighs.
I’m too relaxed to speak under the hot water but when I glance down, I glimpse everything.
Diego kneels, his head down as he focuses on my knee, and between his arms, I see the soft thickness between his legs. His cock hangs down a couple of inches and the sight of it makes me look away.
And then right back.
It’s disrespectful. He’s been so kind and decent with me, averting his eyes while caring for me, but I’m unable to look away.
What would it feel like if we—
I cut that thought off immediately, but it doesn’t fade as much as I would like.
There’s no denying my attraction to Diego.
He’s an incredibly handsome man with curly, dark hair that sticks out a little because it’s wet, gorgeous bronzed skin, stunning green eyes, and a muscular body I want to sink my teeth into.
Pleasure is a great painkiller, after all.
No!
I scold myself and let my eyes drift closed. Diego’s been through enough already. I don’t need to complicate this by acting on my crush.
“Valentina?”
I open my eyes and Diego’s looking up at me with such a sweet, puppy-dog expression that my heart somersaults painfully in my chest. “Diego.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Relaxed. Loose.”
“Still dizzy?”
I move my head and slowly sit up, then shake my head and bite back a wince as pain pulls across my ribs. “Not as much. Refreshed, though.”
Diego nods and smiles, his eyes crinkling. “Just in time, too,” he says while standing and climbing out of the bath. “I think we’ve run out of hot water.”
The words have barely left his lips when the shower head clunks and the warm water I was soaking under suddenly turns ice cold. I squeal and Diego reacts quickly, scooping me up into his arms and carrying me out of the bathtub before the rest of the cold water can erase all of his hard work.
“Oh, my God,” I gasp, shivering immediately. “How cruel!”
“Told you it was a shitty place.” Diego laughs while setting me down on the ground. Before I can say anything else, a large towel drapes around my shoulders and he bundles me up. “Do you feel better, though?”
“Much,” I reply even as I sway into him. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” he says, inches away from my face. “It’s the right thing to do.”
I gaze up at him, mapping out the strong line of his jaw shadowed by fresh growth, up to the bright sparkle in his eyes that never seems to dull, then to the soft angle of his nose and then down to his wide, smiling lips.
And then I kiss him.
I don’t know what comes over me.
The urge is the strongest urge I’ve ever had in my life and it barely registers as a thought before I’m on my tiptoes, leaning against him with one hand against his chest, kissing him hard.
His lips are firm but soft and his skin is as warm as the water we’ve just left. A spark of excitement jolts through me, and my stomach tightens in the few seconds that the kiss lingers between us.
Reality catches up to me pretty quickly, though, and I jerk backward, eyes wide and mouth open.
“Oh, my God.” Clutching at my towel, heat flushes straight to my cheeks as if I’ve been slapped. “I’m so, so sorry. I don’t know what I—”
Diego, previously stunned and gazing at me, suddenly lunges forward and swallows the rest of my sentence by devouring my lips in a much more eager, hungry kiss than my own.
His arm winds around my waist and draws me in while his other hand rests on my shoulder as if ready to help me keep my balance, even if I push him away.
His head tilts and the kiss deepens so much that I arch backward, not that I am trying to get away. The heat from my cheeks increases and spreads through my body from head to toe, a rush of adrenaline spikes my heart, and my stomach somersaults as if invaded by butterflies.
Pain melts away from my mind.
There’s only the excitement and thrill that Diego wants to kiss me as much as I want to kiss him.
Our kiss breaks for a microsecond, just for Diego to adjust his angle and claim my mouth once again.
His tongue darts out and swipes over my lower lip, then presses against the seam of my mouth for entry, which I grant him instantly.
The moment his tongue slides alongside mine, my mind goes blank. Nothing else exists.
His grip is the only thing keeping me upright as my lungs burn and my heart pounds.
Deeper and deeper he kisses me until the urge to breathe becomes overpowering for both of us.
We break apart with loud gasps, and I clutch at him, panting, but before I can say anything, something firm brushes against my thigh, and Diego’s eyes widen.
I glance down.
His cock stands at half mast, nudging against my thigh even as he tries to angle his hips away.
“From a kiss?” I glance up, arching one brow as Diego’s face flushes.
“I’m sorry,” he croaks. “But I’ve wanted to kiss you for the longest time, and seeing you kick that guy’s ass was so hot, and you’re hot. I’ve just spent twenty minutes with my hands all over you and then you kiss me so I… would you believe me if I said it was adrenaline?”
“No.” I smirk, pushing into him until he guides us back into the bedroom. “But I think I have something that can help you.”