Page 15 of No Reservations

He cast a glance in their direction before looking back at me. “Give me a minute to say goodbye, and I’ll come with you.”

Before I could protest, he got up and strolled away. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to spend time with Matthew. In fact, there were parts of my anatomy that were one hundred percent on board with the idea. I thought it might be better to take care of that issue in private before he got back. I supposed I could always jerk off in the shower with him on the other side of the wall where he could probably hear…

I shook my head and scowled as I stood up. Contract-based fake relationships did not include jerking off to thoughts of his broad shoulders or plush lips wrapped around a marshmallow-coated thumb. The reminder that this wasn’t real blared through my mind like a sound check. A reality check. I turned away from the fire and headed down the dimly lit path toward the cabins.

“Hey, Cole!” Matthew’s flip-flops slapped on the asphalt as he caught up to me. “Everything okay?”

“Yes. You could have stayed with your friends. It’s their last night here, right?”

He shook his tousled hair and caught my hand to twine our fingers together again. “We see each other all the time at home. I wanted to come with you.”

His words sparked that unaccustomed warmth to life inside me. I knew I should pull away and say something to remind him that he didn’t have to perform when we were alone, but I didn’t want to. His hand in mine and his simple words felt too damn good.

We took turns in the bathroom after closing the cabin door behind us. The strain of conflicting thoughts took care of the arousal issue. By the time I settled on the couch next to him, the same old tension as always had taken over. It wasn’t work that had my muscles in a knot that time, however. I had brand new things to worry about.

Matthew watched me for a moment as I tried to relax against the cushions. He jumped up to fetch two bottles of water, came back, and handed one to me. “This is nice.”

I glanced at him. “What is nice?”

He shrugged. “Just hanging out together.” He bent his knee and turned toward me. “I mean, I like people and getting out and doing things, but sometimes it’s just nice to be alone.”

Alone.I was alone most of the time. Even when I was with people, I felt alone. A twinge of pain shot down my neck, and I tried not to tense up.

Matthew’s pretty eyes narrowed. “Stress is a killer.”

My own widened. How could he tell? “What?”

“I could tell the minute I first saw you talking on the phone by the lake. You carry way too much around with you, Cole.” He waved away any attempts to deny it, as if I could. “I can’t imagine how stressful your life is, especially with that jerk making up rumors about your sexuality. But you need to find some way to set it down sometimes, you know?”

How could this man see me so clearly? Maybe others could too, but they ignored it all because then they might not get what they wanted out of me. Brooke cared, but she was hardly the nurturing type. It was easy to hide the strain over the phone. My parents cared in a reasonable detached way. We’d never had the type of relationship that invited sharing. I had no one else.

Before I could come up with anything to say, Matthew stood up and held out his hand. “Come here. Get on the bed.”

I had no clue what he wanted to do, but I followed him across the short stretch of floor without question.

“Shirt off, on your stomach.”

His words and take-charge demeanor did something to me. I set my shirt on the edge of the bed and laid down before he could notice my hardening cock. Possibilities of what Matthew was about to do flew through my mind. They ranged from tucking me in to sleep to stripping me bare and sinking deep inside. I was about to ask when the end of the mattress shifted.

Matthew straddled my thighs and settled against the curve of my ass. The pressure and thought of him touching me like that sent even more blood downward. “What?” I managed before he leaned forward and pressed his slick palms against my back.

The first firm upward stroke along the sides of my spine forced a groan from my lips. His hands, coated in a thin skim of lotion that smelled like lemon and vetiver, spread warmth over my skin. The firm contact soothed muscles in ways I hadn’t felt in far too long. Along my spine, over my shoulders, down my arms, and around my ribs to the waistband of my shorts and back again. My cheek rested on the pillow, and my eyes slipped closed.

“You’re one big knot,” he murmured as he repeated the massage pattern for a second time. He leaned forward, thick thighs tensing over my hips, and ran his fingers up my neck to my hairline. “Lemon’s not the most relaxing scent, but it’s all I have here.”

“Do you give massages often?” I tried to keep my voice steady.

Fingertips stroked over my shoulders before his palms pressed harder. “No. I haven’t done this in a long time.”

Soon, the only sound in the cabin was our deep breaths and an occasional moan when his hands hit a particularly tense spot. The relaxation of the repeated motions began to transform intosomething warmer when I noticed a new pressure against me. The hard length of his cock covered in cotton shorts eased along my equally clothed cleft, and I fought not to shift and push back against him.

It was just friction. No one could blame either of us for getting hard, right? The more I tried to justify it in my mind, the more aware I became of the lust coursing through me. If I could magically make our clothes vanish without any awkward conversations or negotiations, I would. If I could make him want to wrap his arms around me and push inside, touch places that needed as much attention as my back and shoulders, I…

Matthew’s hands left my back, and he heaved off the bed in a rush that left me gasping and confused. Had I said something out loud? Had he somehow felt how much he was turning me on and come to his senses? The water ran in the bathroom for a minute, and he returned with a damp cloth. The parallels to cleaning up after sex were not lost on my lust-filled mind.

He held the cloth out awkwardly. “You could wipe off or maybe taking a quick shower would be better?” His gaze landed anywhere but on mine. “It’s just lotion, though. I didn’t use oil or anything goopy, so it’s not like you have to wash it off right away.”

I’d never seen Matthew nervous or unsure of himself at all, and as adorable as it was, it didn’t seem like him. I didn’t want him to take on the tension that he’d massaged out of me. “Matthew,” I said to stop his babbling. “That felt wonderful. Thank you.”

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