Page 70 of Endurance

She just stared at me for a few seconds, seeming to take a moment to absorb what I’d said, then walked over to where I was sitting.

“That’s a lot of money to give up, Sloan.”

“It is,” I agreed.

Taking a seat next to me, she placed a soft kiss on my cheek.

“You’re a good man,” she said softly. “I can’t believe you’re going to give it all away. I don’t know anyone who would do that.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” I brushed off. “I might be doing a good thing, but I have selfish reasons for doing it too. Competing in the MILL will give me the exposure I need to reinstate myself into the racing world. There will be other purses to win.”

She eyed me thoughtfully, then clasped my hand between hers and stood up.

“Maybe, maybe not. I just hope you don’t kill yourself in the process. You need to be careful with that hip. That said, come on. Let’s do some of the yoga techniques I taught you. You need to stretch after racing this morning.”

Fuck.

Stretching was the last thing I wanted to do right now. I could barely move from the red-hot pain blistering across my left hip. If I stood up and attempted to twist myself into a pretzel as she did, she would immediately know how bad I was hurting today.

“I will later,” I told her. “Right now, I just want to chill for a bit.”

“Alright. Take your time. Just make sure to do it. If you don’t mind, I’m going to use your shower. I need to get the stink of exhaust out of my hair. I have to meet with the marketing team at Kapton Motor Oil at three, and I don’t want to walk in reeking like their product.”

“The shower is all yours. I’ll take one afterward.”

She narrowed her gaze suspiciously, and I knew what she was thinking. Kallie had spent more time at my place than hers as of late. She’d taken numerous showers here—many of which I’d climbed in to join her. However, just the thought of doing that today made the stabbing pain in my hip seem all that much worse.

If she was questioning my sudden lack of libido, she didn’t voice it. Instead, she quietly made her way upstairs to the master bath. It wasn’t until I heard the faucet turn on that I let out a quiet groan. Shifting my weight, I stood up. Pain shot down my leg, and I winced as I slowly made my way to the kitchen for an ice pack. Alternating cold and heat seemed to work the best when it got this bad.

After securing the ice pack inside the waistband of my tactical racing pants, I went back to the couch. Twenty minutes later, I heard Kallie turn off the shower. Thankfully, my hip was feeling remarkably better—not great, but at least I could stand up without wincing. All I needed to do now was quickly get heat on it, and the shower usually worked best to loosen it up. After I did that, I would attempt the stretches Kallie had suggested.

Placing the ice pack back inside the freezer, I made the seemingly impossible hike up the stairs. When I entered the bedroom, I stopped dead in my tracks. Kallie was standing by the bed digging through her overnight bag, her hair wrapped in a towel, the ends of her hair dripping water down her shoulders onto the carpet. The afternoon sun was shining in through the balcony door, casting a glowing halo around her. She looked like a beautiful, blonde angel.

Not bothering to fight the gravitational pull I always felt from her, I walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge.

“Come here, gorgeous,” I said.

When she turned to face me, I reached up and began to pull the towel from her body, but she caught my hand to stop me.

“Sloan, we don’t have time. I have to—”

“Shhh. I know you have to leave soon. Trust me and just sit down,” I told her and patted the bed next to me. Doing as I asked, she released my hand, allowing the towel to fall from her body. I caught it as she moved to sit naked beside me. “Turn so your back is to me.”

Again, she did as I’d instructed. I loved that she was so trusting, even when in the most vulnerable state. It only made me want to be buried balls deep inside of her. If it weren’t for the pain in my hip, I’d tell her to blow off the meeting with Kapton so I could do precisely that. I’d spread her wide and savor every inch of her until the sun came up the next day. However, that wasn’t my current reality, so I settled for second best instead—and touching Kallie in any way was always at the top of my list of things to do.

Using the towel that had been wrapped around her, I brought it up to dry her hair, then moved down to wipe away the droplets of water from her arms. I took my time drying her, slowly brushing the soft cotton over her upper body, suddenly overcome with the need to take care of her just as she had been taking care of me for the past couple of weeks.

Leaning in, I kissed along her shoulder, over the delicate outlines of her star and moon tattoo, until I reached her neck. Her breathing became short, coming out in little gasps when I moved the towel around to dry her breasts. My cock grew hard in my pants, and I had to shift to make room for my girth. My movement caused her to turn her head and look at me. Passion had ignited in her emerald greens, a fire burning so hot, my dick instantly stiffened to a near painful level.

“Fuck, Kallie. You can’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“You know what. You’ll never make it to your meeting if you keep it up. You’re too damn tempting.”

Pulling her naked body against my fully clothed one, I brought my lips to hers. She moaned against my mouth, moving her body against mine to deepen the kiss. I gripped the back of her neck as her hand ran over the span of my chest, digging into the muscles. Sliding her hands under my shirt, her fingertips skimmed the tips of my nipples.

“Shit,” I hissed, knowing I wasn’t going to be able to put off the inevitable for much longer at this rate. And when she moved her hand to cup the bulge in my pants, I was reminded of how this beautiful, rainbow mermaid goddess could destroy me with just one touch.

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