“I brought you here because I just needed you to be here. To sleep in my bed, to make a mess of my house, to be with me.” He released my chin, his fingers dropping to trail down my neck, and then stopping on the bare skin of my shoulder. “I only need you here, Della. I don’t need anything else. Is that okay with you?” He dipped his head down, lips following his fingers’ recent travels to place feather light kisses that caused my eyes to roll to the back of my head.
“Okay,” I whispered. “I’ll stay then.” He sighed against my skin, and I lightly pushed on his chest. “But can I at least take a shower?”
He laughed before moving backward a few steps, letting me stand up to head toward the bathroom. It was weird being here again. Everything seemed to be the same; everything was in its exact spot, not a speck of dust to be seen. Justin was the ultimate neat freak.
I stepped under the steaming hot water, so soothing and making me want to fall asleep on my feet, but I also wanted to get back to Justin. I popped my eyes open, smiling when I saw two bottles tucked into the corner. It wasn’t Justin’s yummy smelling guy stuff, even though I wouldn’t mind washing myself with that. No, mixed in with all of his stuff, were two bottles of my favorite shampoo, the only kind I used. And there it sat, just waiting for me to come back. Yeah, maybe that sounded stupid, but Justin wasn’t the type of person to let just things lay around. He wasn’t being lazy by keeping them. He saved them for a reason, for when I came back, because he knew I would.
I stayed an extra few minutes under the water, thinking maybe I would hear the door open and Justin would join me. Part of me wished he would, and the other part was happy by the fact that he didn’t. He was keeping true to his word. It made me feel even better about being in his house. It made me think that he did care about our relationship before, that it wasn’t just some fling between us.
It gave me hope that things might work out this time around.
THE CLINKING OF metal woke me, and I blinked my eyes several times, peeking up at the white, swirled ceiling to recall where I was.
Justin’s.
I closed my eyes. I needed more sleep but was surprised that my head wasn’t pounding considering everything I drank at the club. But then I remembered Justin had forced me to down two cups of water and take Tylenol before he let me go to bed.
I fell asleep in his arms last night…and it felt so unbelievably good. The best sleep that I’ve gotten in a long time. He wrapped me in his arms, resting his chin on my shoulder from behind, pressing one simple kiss on the bare skin revealed by the oversized shirt he gave me to sleep in. I was so going to steal that shirt so I could sleep in it every night.
Something clicking made me pop my eyes open once again and I looked up to see Justin hovering over me, messing with something above my head. I went to reach for him, and it was then that I realized I couldn’t move my hands. They were trapped above my head, and I could only guess what was keeping them there.
“What in the hell are you doing?”
He grinned down at me, moving back slowly so he was straddling my hips. “Keeping you right where I want you.”
“By using handcuffs?” I shrieked, pulling at my hands, which weren’t budging from the metal containing them. “Are you insane? I slept in your bed all night!”
“Mmhmm,” he murmured. “And now, I need you to stay here. I was a good boy last night, but I can only be good for so long.”
And here I thought we were actually going to take things slow. How stupid of me.
I squeezed my eyes shut, imagining all of the very bad things he could do to me, and it made me forget briefly that he’d actually handcuffed me to his bed. Who does that? Yeah, the fuzzy handcuffs, I got those, but actual handcuffs. Only Justin Parker. I guess being a cop had some added benefits that I hadn’t considered.
“Fine.” I opened my eyes, biting back a smile. I didn’t need to let him know that I actually liked what he was doing. Not yet anyway. “But we need to talk about some things first.” Sure, I might just be jumping feet first back into things, but I needed to know what exactly we were doing here.
He sighed loudly, but sat back on his knees, the warmth of his body leaving mine. “I know, Della.” He started rubbing light circles around my ankles, which was way too distracting. I couldn’t think when his hands were on me. I kicked at him, and he moved his hands away with a smirk. “Sorry, I just can’t help myself.” He slid off the bed to stand over me.
“Um…do you think you can at least undo these while we talk?” His eyebrows twisted together and he looked up to the ceiling, like he actually had to think if he was going to let me go or something. “And I have to pee,” I added.
“Fine.” He reached over to undo the cuffs, and I got up quickly to rush for the bathroom. He smacked my ass as I ran past him. “But as soon as we’re done talking, those go right back on. I’ve waited long enough to have you in handcuffs.”