Chapter 16
LEXI
Instagram took her focus as she adjusted the timing on her reel. She’d had to crop three of her pictures because of some guy peering in through the back door, but she made it work. She frowned and leaned closer. Who the hell was creeping at her back door?
She was about to text Eddie to check it out when Grayson filled her doorway, and she forgot everything for a moment before noticing the white box in his hands.
Her mouth watered a little, and she chose to credit the Italian pastry.
With the reel scheduled, she pushed back from her desk with a little sigh.
The cold shower and coffee had helped - tremendously, but she was starting to get fuzzy around the edges again.
She knew she had to sign Grayson’s contract, but she was enjoying spending time with him.
He didn’t push to be in charge here, she’d noticed.
He’d mostly left her alone to do her thing.
Aside from spotting her in the ring, which she hadn’t said anything about, he just watched.
Her. Everything she did. Every interaction she had, especially the ones with any of the guys.
It made her feel a little self-conscious, and amped up the electricity she felt between them.
But he didn’t interrupt, she thought, or get in her way. Since he also hadn’t brought up the contract, she felt like he was enjoying the afternoon as well. Lexi frowned. She hoped he was.
“Everything okay?” Grayson asked from in front of her.
Lost in thought, she’d missed him settling back into his seat. She could feel the heat of his legs next to hers, and fought a losing battle not to blush.
“Fine,” she said. She opened the box and grabbed a bomboloni.
Hoping she couldn’t blush and eat at the same time, she took a big bite.
Grayson held out a hand towards her bomb.
Amused, she peeked back into the box. Three left, but apparently he wanted hers.
Lexi licked at a small drop of lemon cream that had surged from the side, and handed it over.
She’d already had one, and she didn’t mind sharing.
With his eyes on hers, he took two bites - one from each side.
She swallowed as he licked sugar from his lips and handed it back to her.
The silence seemed extraordinarily loud.
Cream was just edging over the seams of the pastry, forcing her to lap it up before it dripped. She realized what he’d done mid-lick.
Lexi glanced at him and saw him staring at her mouth with hooded eyes.
He reclined back in his seat and sat watching her with his hands behind his head.
The pose accentuated every muscle from his chest to his forearms. The heat that stole through her made it difficult to draw a full breath, but she tried.
“Did you, um-” Was that her voice? It came out husky. She set the pastry aside and reached for a bottle of water.
“Something wrong?” Grayson asked.
It sounded innocent enough until she looked at him. He knew exactly the effect he was having on her. She tried again to push it aside, but couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were still trained on her mouth.
“Pastry’s a little dry,” she managed in between sips. Before she could swallow, Grayson had leaned up and was at her ear.
“Seems plenty delicious to me,” he murmured.
Lexi knew if she turned, he would be right there. Her eyes flicked to the open door. Granted, hardly anyone knew the old janitor's closet at the back corner of the gym was her office, but Eddie or Blue could come in.
Without a word, Grayson stood up and closed the door.
There was a small standing fan in the corner, and he turned it on, setting it to oscillate across the room.
The fan drowned out the rest of the noise coming from the gym.
Grayson stood on the other side of her desk, and after a moment turned back to the door.
Both relief and disappointment swept through her in equal measure as she thought he would open the door back up.
Instead, he glanced out the small glass window before flicking the lock.
Shit. He sat back in his chair and leaned towards her.
His breath, still smelling of sugar, drifted over her as he whispered.
“Look at me please, Alessandra.”
Lexi looked. She couldn’t help it. The intensity was back in his gaze, and she waited, holding her breath, as he ran one finger across her lower lip, then wrapped his hand around the back of her neck.
The hard grip surprised her, but felt So.
Damn. Good against the tightly wound cords in her neck.
She moaned softly. One corner of Grayson’s mouth twisted up.
“Turn around,” he said, voice low.
Lexi moved to turn her chair, but he stopped her with a hand on the back of it.
“No, you turn, so you’re straddling it.”
Lexi hesitated before twisting the chair around. She felt his eyes on her as she stepped over the seat of the chair. The arms demanded each leg drape over. It was a strangely intimate position, which she imagined he knew. She sat upright, unsure what he wanted.
“Lean forward onto the chair,” he told her.
She did. And felt the heat of his body just behind her. Grateful for the fan that threw air on them, she drew a deep breath. She was unprepared for the quick nip on the side of her neck, and she sat up. He was close enough behind her that she was pressed up against him, and he chuckled.
“Relax. I’m not going to do much.” Grayson pushed her forward until she rested against the chair again, and the push turned into gentle strokes across her shoulders.
Shoulders that turned into putty as soon as those strong hands started digging.
Grayson spiraled his thumbs in circles down each side of her spine, and Lexi arched back into it.
His hands were wide enough to span the width of her back and wrap around part of her ribs.
She closed her eyes and sighed as he dug into her traps.
“Do you like that?” Grayson asked.
All Lexi could manage was a contented sigh.
The fuzziness was back on the periphery of her consciousness.
It didn’t seem so bad to relax into the massage.
Maybe she could swing a quick nap before her class- she blinked her eyes open.
Grayson stopped. His voice was back, insistent from just behind her.
“I asked if you liked it, Alessandra. Answer me please.”
Oh.
“Of course I like it,” she whispered. Was he nuts? She was loving this. Not only did she desperately need a massage, but there was something about being alone with Grayson that made her want to melt. Relax.
“Good. Take your shirt off for me.”
“Oh,” she said, not fighting the dreamy feeling that was flowing through her like lazy darkness. “Okay.” And she would have, if she could just remember how.
After a minute of struggling, Grayson quieted her attempts with his hands over hers. He took the hem from her and drew her top off.
“Good. Thank you, baby.”
Her exhausted brain didn’t work out that he just called her baby, but focused only on the warm feeling it caused.
Warm hands were back on her, and he slowly massaged down each arm before coming back to her neck.
He paid it special attention, and she would have sworn she felt his lips there more than once.
Unable to tell, or remember why she should care, she floated to a comfortable place in the dark.
She groaned when his hands found knots, and might have whimpered a little as he dissolved them, one by one.
He reached her tailbone and his fingers wrapped around her hip crease where her legs splayed open to press into her lower back.
Lexi caught her breath and looked down. She could see his fingers, so very close to her center, and wondered if he would touch her. Except he didn’t, and she bit back another whimper, this one of disappointment.
“Alessandra? Are you awake?” he asked her.
Lexi smiled. Even if she had drifted for a few minutes there, he definitely woke her back up. She nodded.
“I’m going to stretch your hips out, okay? It might ease some of the tension in your lower back.”
“Okay,” she said, wondering where the fuck he learned what amounted to physical therapy. She couldn’t find the energy to ask. Then his hands scooped underneath her thighs from behind, and she grasped at his forearms when he lifted her. Grayson laughed quietly behind her.
“I won’t let you fall. Just hold still.”
She did, sitting upright as he brought her back to straddle his thighs. He pulled her backwards until she was snug up against his hips, and he hooked one foot out around her chair to bring it closer to them.
What was he doing to her? She couldn’t grasp what was happening, or why she was perfectly fine having this crazy erotic moment at work. But it didn’t matter. She wanted this. Wanted him.
“Fall forward,” he said quietly. He pushed her shoulders until she was falling forward on the seat of the chair. “Now relax again, Alessandra. This won’t hurt.”
Lexi found it easier this time to relax. Despite that her shirt was off. And that they were in her office. And that she was straddling his lap. She laid forward and took a deep breath, purposely letting go of what tension she could in her back.
Grayson had moved his knees in to support her under her ribs, and now he widened them a little so her torso inched down between them.
She groaned at the intense stretch of her hips and thighs.
His hands stayed above the curve of her ass, massaging into the muscles in her very lower back and around her hips.
His fingers found every right place she owned, without touching her where she wanted him most.
“Is this too much?” he asked.
Lexi smiled into the fabric of her chair. It wasn’t nearly enough.
“Yeah, I mean no - yes, yes, I think the stretch is good.”