Chapter 29
Lucas
I hadn’t expected to be back in the women’s IM building so soon. And certainly not in the women’s locker room. Frank and I had discussed redoing the men’s locker room at some point, but I was already working on a tile mural project in the admin building as of Sunday night.
But Frank had called at midnight and said there was an issue with the tiles in the steam room, and for me to go over and see what was wrong.
I felt a little bit of panic. I was sure I had done all the sealants correctly.
Used the right kind of adhesive for the steam.
Hopefully whatever it was could be fixed quickly and something I could do on my own.
I did not want my first solo project to be something somebody else had to come in and fix.
The lights in the locker room were off, and I flicked them on.
When I turned the corner, I could see that the lights to the steam room were already on.
I opened the door and a billow of steam met me.
Shit. Somebody had used it earlier tonight and left the heater on.
It would take a while to cool it down so I could take a good look at the tile.
I wondered if it had been Lily who had used it, but she said she was always very careful about turning it off before she left.
Turning to leave and shut off the heater, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Somebody was in here.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I was just—” The steam had cleared just enough for me to make out the gorgeous naked body laid out on my tile job. It was the mosaic’s inspiration herself. “Lily?”
She turned her head and looked at me. She was lying on a towel on her stomach, her head resting on her folded arms. Looking exactly like she had in her bed the day I came up with idea for the steam room.
“I didn’t know you’d be here,” I said, trying to call up all my self-control and not go over and run my hands down her glistening, sleek body. “I’m sorry. I’ll leave you—”
“You don’t have to leave,” she said, stopping me. “I don’t want you to leave.”
She was going to break the deal with her father. I could be strong for the both of us and leave, give her time to think this through. I knew moments of weakness, for sure, but I did not want to be a moment of weakness for Lily that she’d regret later.
“I think it’d be better if I left.”
Her body tensed. I could see it in the long line of her back.
But she stayed where she was, emulating the scene that she lay upon.
“I won’t stop you if you want to leave,” she said, and I almost laughed at that ridiculous thought.
“But you need to know that my father changed his mind and has given me his blessing to see you.”
My breath, barely recovered from seeing a gloriously naked Lily, left me altogether. “I…I…”
“So it’s up to you, Lucas.” She picked up a water bottle from in front of her and tossed water onto the steam mechanism, sending a flare of new steam out from the bottom of the walls. “Can you stand the heat?” she asked, and then she rolled to her side and placed a hand on her hip, challenging me.
My clothes were off in seconds, thrown out into the locker room, the door closed, and I was sitting on the towel she was lying on, gathering her in my arms. Christ, to feel her soft, pliant arms go around my neck again when I thought I’d never even see her again?
She slid a leg over my lap and sat facing me, straddling me. “Lily,” I whispered, skimming my hands along her hips, pulling her closer against me. I looked into her eyes, questioning.
“Yes,” she whispered, then softly pressed her lips against mine. “It’s real. And it’s okay.” I put my hands on her face, along her jaw, and kissed her with all the stinging pain that I’d felt over the last two weeks. Devouring her as the darkness without her had devoured me.
“I can’t believe it,” I said between kisses. She wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, her tits smashing into my chest, her tongue darting into my mouth, finding mine.
“Believe it,” she said against my lips.
I wanted to drag it out. I wanted to lay her back down on the tile and lick every steamy inch of her body. I needed to touch and touch some more just to convince myself that she wasn’t some mirage brought on by the heat of the steam room.
But Lily had other ideas. She pulled her arms from around me and ran her hands down my chest, sitting back just enough to make room.
As she nuzzled my neck, licking here and there to my ever-growing cock’s delight, her hand snaked down and wrapped around me.
She moved up to her knees, and I was thankful she’d had the forethought to put a towel down on the beautiful—but very hard—tile.
And although my thinking was getting very hazy as she guided me to her and then eased down on me, the realization that this had all been planned—and well planned, involving Frank—zipped through me.
“This is perfect,” I said as she lifted herself a tiny bit, then slid back down on me.
I grasped her perfect ass and she put her hands on my shoulders, her fingers digging into me.
“That you picked this place, and laid out like that.” I gasped as she rose higher and came down harder. “So fucking perfect.”
She licked her lips, beads of sweat running down the side of her face. I leaned forward and licked a drop off her jaw. “I didn’t see it at first,” she said.
“What do you mean?” On this downward movement of her hips, I held her in place and ground her down on me, tilting her so her clit got some good friction. Her gasp proved I found the right spot. I ground again, and she leaned forward and nipped at my throat, then licked where she’d bitten.
“Fuck, Lily,” I moaned. I wouldn’t be able to hold on; it was too damn much to have her back in my arms, to be buried deep inside her, when I’d thought I’d never see her again. “God, I love you,” I said, and I flexed my hips to meet her strokes.
“Me…too,” she got out on breathy sighs as she rode me. Her tits jiggled, and I used one hand to guide a breast to my eager mouth as my other hand dug into her ass, coaxing her to go faster.
Which she did, even though it was the end of me.
I tried to hold back, make it last, but it was impossible.
When I felt that I was just about to explode, I reached around and stroked her clit, willing her to come with me.
I looked into her eyes and I didn’t even have to say the words.
She gave me a small nod of understanding, a soft kiss, and then her head fell back and her body started convulsing with her climax.
I was right behind her, holding her tight as both of our bodies were racked with spasms of pleasure.
And love.
* * *
“What did you mean? Earlier, when you said you didn’t see it at first?” I asked her later. We were still in the steam room, and she was still in my arms. God, I was afraid to let her go, I just couldn’t believe that she was mine again.
“The steam room design. I didn’t see that it was…me.” She looked uncertain all of a sudden. “It is me, right? Like, in my bed?”
I stroked her back. Her skin was so slick with moisture my hands almost slid off her body. “Yes, it’s you. Though I couldn’t really do you as I wanted to. I had to keep it abstract enough that nobody would realize it was a naked woman. No nips showing or anything.”
She swatted playfully at my shoulder. Then ran her hand along my neck and to the back of my hair, tangling her fingers in what was probably a soaking rat’s nest by now. “Yeah. No. I didn’t see it. Jane was the one who recognized the similarities.”
“Well, I suppose she and I are the only ones who have seen you naked on your bed. You wouldn’t know what a goddamned beautiful sight you are like that.” I looked her up and down. “Or like this.”
She smiled at me. “I love you, Lucas.”
I kissed her. She tasted like…a beautiful second chance.