Page 50 of Piece By Piece

“I don’t know what to say.” His mother knows about me. His mother is his housekeeper? He told his mom, who’ll be around the house unannounced from time to time and whom I might meet accidentally, about me.

She got me gifts.

“You have to give her my sincere thanks. Please. Oh god, and is there a way you could make her never buy anything for me again without offending her? I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I can’t accept all this.” Shit, why am I getting upset? The more I speak and think about this nice, thoughtful gesture, the more the lump in my throat grows.

Sebastian must notice it too, the attentive idiot. He takes my hands in his and lowers his voice to a softer, more intimate tone.

“Aliena, there’s nothing wrong with letting the people that care about you spoil you from time to time,” he tries to explain to me. Before I can protest that his mother doesn’t even know me, he goes on. “And no, there is absolutely no way that my mother wouldn’t take offense if I tried telling her anything of the sort.”

I chuckle softly and nod, pulling myself together. “All right then. At least tell me when she’s coming over the next time so I can leave her some flowers.”

“I’ll let you know. Now, let’s get your bath started,” he proposes, only to hesitate for a beat. “You’re sure you’re okay, right? You’d talk to me otherwise. Or someone else. Whatever,” he rambles and I’m instantly mortified.

Great, now that I nearly burst into tears because of a gift I deserve in no way, he’s worried about me. I hate that. Making someone worry about me is easily the worst thing I can do to a person. It’s such an unnecessary headache.

“I’m fine. Just tired. I get stupidly sensitive and I don’t know how to react to gifts. I was just surprised,” I tell him. Eager to deflect, I add, “What about that bath now?”

After taking advantage of Sebastian’s gigantic bathtub filled with soothingly hot water and bubbles for over an hour, I dried myself with one of his fluffy, smooth towels and put on my pajama. Then, I climbed into bed with him, and he read to me until I fell asleep, stroking the back of my hand soothingly as I drifted off,

When I wake up, we’re in the same position as always. My back is to his front, one of his arms is curled around my chest while the other is under his head. Only this time, my mind instantly focuses on something at my back. Something I’m no longer used to feeling so close to me.

Oh, god. Yeah, there’s no mistaking the erection Sebastian is sporting. And it’s placed perfectly against my ass, too. My sleepy mind doesn’t have enough self-control to shut down the road my thoughts are now going down and I nearly burst out laughing as I realize why Sebastian is as cocky as he is.

Yeah, I find that very funny. Only until I become aware of the two fingers that are moving against my underboob when my torso shakes softly with laughter. After that, I’m careful to stay very still.

Technically, I didn’t mean to wake up so early. Judging by the greyish light streaming through one of the windows, it’s way too early to start my day off work.

I planned on sleeping in to an outrageous degree, maybe late afternoon if I could. I was fully intent on it... Until now. Now, it feels impossible that I could fall back asleep withmy awareness rising. The way my skin is tingling is both familiar and yet so much more intense than I remember.

Maybe it’s because I know I can’t act on it. That indulging in the way he’s making me feel with this unconscious show of his arousal is off limits. I’ve never been much of a rule breaker, but I hear it’s a common inclination when it comes to sex.

And it’s been quite a while since I’ve had that... Or maybe it’s just that I’m feelingSebastian’serection against me, something I’ve been fantasizing about more since I met him than I’d ever admit. Not just in the short time between meeting him in the nursing home and then at his party. No, he remained the lead in all my fantasies even when he acted like he couldn’t stand me.

The tingle on my skin wanders lower, gathering between my legs as those unbidden fantasies rise to the forefront of my mind. He’s so close and so warm and sosafe.What would it feel like to have him cage me to the bed, shield me from the entire world while he made me forget everything so thoroughly I wouldn’t even remember my own name? To have him sink into me and kiss me, to worship my body and own me entirely.

Shit,stop thinking crazy things like that. Abort. Abort before you get too attached to an ideal you can never have.

What do I do? Do I just wake him? It’s not that I mind the position I’m in, and I’m not sure it would be fair to wake him now only because I’m up. But maybe it’s wrong to enjoy this. Sebastian agreed to be my friend, after all. That’s what we shook on. I have no permission to enjoy the way the feel of his erection makes my blood heat.

It’s easy to forget how long it’s been since I last had sex, and with sharing a bed with a very attractive man every night, tension sure has been building.

But Sebastian is just a friend. I can’t let my mind go places.

Slowly, very slowly, I try to move my ass away from his front to put at least a little distance between us. Maybe then, I can go back to sleep and forget about this slip up.

When I move, his fingers brush against my boob again, and hell, if my body doesn’t react ridiculously much to that simple, accidental touch. It’s always the same with Sebastian. My attraction to him intensifies with every touch we share, and the fact that he told me nothing could ever happen between us only adds to my desperation.

His words return to me and in the clarity of the morning, they hit me a lot harder than they did at the party when he’d first said them.

Because one kiss wouldn’t be enough. Nor would two, or ten, or fifty. Once I felt your kiss, I’d want to feel it all, Aliena.

You are so beautiful, it’s hard to believe you’re real at times.

Make that sound again and I’ll fuck you up against the closest wall. Don’t test me.

Don’t pull away. I’m not ready for this to end. We said one kiss.

I feel myself getting turned on and grit my teeth, trying to carefully move my hips away again. This time, the arm around my chest tightens, damn near bringing Seb’s hand close enough to cup my breast. It does nothing to stifle my uncalled-for lust.

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