“Okay,” she said, her voice thicker, huskier.
My jaw worked overtime. “Let me see you do it a couple of times. The mechanics of it.”
Josie did what I asked. Under my hands, her hips tilted forward as she dipped her chin, getting her arms across her chest. And every time I felt those muscles tense, it took everything in me not to grab those hips and haul them back to mine.
Her hips moved again, and I almost groaned.
I needed to get my head into the game. Refocusing on her for the right reasons, I had her keep doing the motions until they were smooth, but my hands lingered as I stepped back, having a mind of their own as they slid off.
She turned, facing me. Her bottom lip was stuck between her teeth.
“Ready?”
There was a nod.
Cursing this and about a dozen other things, I swung out, catching her on the shoulder. Down she went, smacking into the mat. Not the correct way.
“Dammit,” she moaned, unfolding her arms as she stared up at the ceiling. “That…that stings.”
Walking over to where she lay, her legs at awkward angles, I extended a hand, and hated myself for what I said next. “Get up. Do it again.”
Josie groaned as she folded her hand in mine.
I hauled her up.
We squared off.
I knocked her down again.
And she didn’t land right.
This was going to be a long day.
CHAPTER
22
THE LONC-ASS day turned into a nightmare of sorts once Luke arrived after lunch and also tried to get her to land right. Frustration was like a heat rash on every square inch of my skin— made worse by the fact that Luke had also gotten all hands-on with her, trying to help her out with the hip motion.
I wanted to rip his hands off at the wrists and shove them into his mouth, which was stupid, all things considered.
Then there was the group that had formed at the door. Halfs. Pures. Deacon had also shown up, but he was sitting on the edge of the mat, arms resting on his knees, looking like all he needed was a bowl of popcorn. But those by the door, they were all curious to why a half and an Apollyon were training what appeared to be a mortal. Thea was among them, the shirt she was wearing so low-cut and tight that her generous breasts were defying gravity and practically training along with the three of us.
Josie had also noticed.
Every time she picked herself up off the mat, she checked out the group huddled at the door, and her eyes always strayed to Thea. It was hard not to, since the girl was basically fucking me with her eyes.
I was going to have to do something about that.
“You got this,” Luke said, standing in front of Josie. “You almost had it right last time. We’ll do this again, and then you’ve got to run.”
Josie shifted her gaze to mine. “Running sucks.”
“I’ll run with you,” I told her.
Luke patted her shoulder. “So will I.”
“Yay. Can we all hold hands while we run?” she asked.
I snorted. “Let’s pass on that.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Deacon chimed in. “I’d even run with you guys if we all hold hands.”
Luke shot him a look before he stepped back from Josie, and I moved a few feet behind her, mentally bracing myself to watch Josie turn herself into a living, breathing bruise.
She shook out her shoulders. “Ready.”
The half shot forward, hitting her in the shoulders, and she took the jarring knock like a champ. Her hips were in the right position, but her neck and shoulders weren’t, and I knew, when she hit the floor, it was going to sting like a bitch.
I didn’t stop to think.
Springing forward, I caught her at the waist before she slammed into the unforgiving mat for literally what had to be the hundredth time that day.
A slight grunt came out of her and her eyes popped wide. “Seth,” she gasped, gripping my arms as I righted her.
My gaze met Luke’s questioning stare, and I quickly looked away. “She wasn’t going to land right. No point in letting her break her back.”
“Good point.” Luke folded his arms as one eyebrow climbed up. “I guess we call it a day and run.”
“Sounds good to me.”
A half-smile appeared on his face. “I think you need to let her go first, though.”
Frowning, I looked down. Josie was staring up at me, the hollows of her cheeks pink. My arms were around her like I was a rubber band. I let go of her so fast that she stumbled and I had to catch her again. This time I didn’t hold on.
Deacon chuckled.
I sent him a look that said I was more than willing to light his ass up, and all he did was grin at me. I was losing my touch.
We started toward the door to take our run outside. The group scattered like cockroaches. All except a few—one of them being Thea.
She sauntered right between Luke and me, causing me to draw up short. A body—Josie—bounced into my back and there was a muffled curse from her.
I sighed.
Thea was beautiful. There was no way around that. Stunning face and a body that could grace a Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. And she was a nice girl. She liked to have fun, especially my kind of fun, but the perfect face and body weren’t doing anything for me.
She smiled, flashing straight ultra-white teeth. “Hey.”
Josie bumped into me as she stepped around, eyeing Thea. I fought the urge to smile or outright laugh. “Hi, Thea.”
Catching the end of her braid with long fingers, she tilted her hips to the side. “I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight.”
If doing something meant sitting out in the cold like a jackass, then yes. “Yeah, I’m kind of busy tonight.”
She pouted, but the light in her jewel-green eyes didn’t dim. “Maybe another time.”
I forced a smile, but didn’t respond as I edged around her. Josie was staring at the floor, the skin white around her lush lips. I started toward her, to do what, I didn’t know, but I stopped myself before I looked like a complete fucker.
Deacon arched a brow, murmured something about getting food, and bounced away.
The running didn’t suck as bad as the training did, but by the time we had circled the campus once, which was pushing two and a half miles, I was sure Josie was going to keel over and die, and I let Luke drag her off to fuel up. The chicken-salad sandwich she’d eaten for lunch must have completely burned off by this point.
I headed over to the med building, grabbed what I needed, and came back out just as the sky was darkening to dusk. I’d taken maybe two steps when I felt a nerve-grating intensity aimed my direction.
Turning around, my eyes searched the thickening shadows. I immediately found the source.
Alexander was several feet back, eyes on me. Nothing about his expression was friendly. My fingers curled around the jar I’d picked up in the med building. I waited for him to approach me, to do whatever it was that he wanted to do, which probably was a lot.
A full minute passed, and then Alexander pivoted on his heel and disappeared into the shadows. I stood there for a moment, feeling oddly hollow. It wasn’t like I wanted a confrontation with the man, but in a weird, twisted kind of way, I wanted him to do whatever it was that he felt he had to do. Hit me? Try to kick my ass? I wouldn’t stop him.
The jar suddenly felt heavy in my hand, and I lifted it, thinking of its purpose. Standing here all emo-like wasn’t going to get anything accomplished.
Back in my dorm, I took a quick shower, changed into whatever was nearby, and then grabbed the jar. Maybe a half-hour had passed by the time I exited the room, took a step, and was in front of another door.
I rapped my knuckles on the door, and then waited.
A few moments passed before the door swung open and there she was, freshly showered. Damp hair stuck to her cheeks and shoulders. She still sucked at drying off, and I still wasn’t complaining, because the shirt she wore clung in the best possible places, like across her belly and between the swell of her breasts. And what lovely breasts they were.
Seriously.
Man, my mouth literally watered as her nipples hardened against the thin, damp shirt. I bet they were perfect, pink and small. My pants suddenly felt a couple sizes too small. Great.
“Hey,” she said, and when I dragged my gaze back to her face, her cheeks were flushed prettily.
“Can I come in?”
Her delicate brows knitted. “Yeah, you…you don’t have to ask.” She stepped back, sucking her lip between her teeth.
I smiled tightly in return. “How are you feeling? How’s your back?”
She winced as she shuffled into the bedroom. With the bed. The very same bed she’d been under me in. Perfect. She sat on the edge. “It’s definitely a little sore.”
“I brought you something that will probably help you with that.” Yeah, because I had a reason to be here that didn’t involve staring at her tits. “It’ll help with the swelling and soreness, get the bruises to fade quickly. It was created for halfs when they’re training, even though we have a higher than normal pain tolerance…” And now I was rambling.
“Oh, that would be great.” She eyed the jar. “What’s in it?”
Moving to sit next to her, I unscrewed the lid. The sharp menthol scent was strong. “It’s a mix of plant extracts—arnica and mint extracts, mostly. It’ll help. And you’ll probably need to use this every night until your skin and body toughen up.”
Her eyes met mine. “You knew this would happen?”
I nodded.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
At that point, I needed to hand the jar over and get the hell out of there. She could figure out how to get the salve on her back, even though it would be kind of tough to do so. But she was smart. She’d figure it out.
“Did you get something to eat?” I asked instead of leaving.
“Yeah, Luke took me to the cafeteria. I ate, like, a pound of fries.” She smiled quickly and then cast her gaze to the muted TV. “Everyone stares. It’s awkward.” With a shrug, she winced. “Did you eat?”
No. Are you offering? Gods, my mind was wallowing in triple-X territory. “I’m good.” That would’ve been the perfect moment to leave, but I twisted toward her. “You want me to put this on your back?”
What the hell was I doing? Part of me prayed she’d say no.
She worried her lower lip and that flush ran deeper as her lashes flicked up and her eyes locked with mine. “Can you?”
Air leaked slowly out of my lungs. This was a bad idea. Actually, it was a great idea. Awesome. Best I’d had.
Fuck me.
“Lie on your stomach.” My voice sounded rough to my own ears, and if Josie noticed it, I had no idea what she was thinking. But she got up and did just that, got down on her belly, folding her arms under her cheek.
Her eyes were closed and that lip was still between her teeth, and I had no idea why I found that so sexy. Getting up, I walked around the side of the bed and set the jar on the nightstand.
Swearing to about every god I knew, I carefully scooped the heavy, wet strands of hair out of the way, tossing them over one shoulder. Then, before I got down to business, I looked over my shoulder and made sure the damn painting of Apollo was still where I’d moved it, the face turned to the wall.
I slipped my fingers under the hem of her shirt, dragging it up the length of her back. She rose up a little, and the shirt gathered under her breasts, but I had it so far up that it bared her shoulders.
“Gods,” I grunted, staring at her back.
“Is it that bad?”
I shook my head as I stared at the already red and purple marks along the top of her shoulders. A giant collage of contusions from hitting the mat over and over—it was normal to see during training. Even more so when a Sentinel was out in the world, fighting. But seeing the violent splotches on her skin rocked me. I didn’t like it.
“Seth?”
My gaze drifted to her face. Those eyes were open and she was looking over her shoulder. I exhaled softly as I picked up the jar. “You didn’t complain.”
A lopsided grin appeared as she settled her cheek back on her arm. “I think I complained.”
No, not like most people who’d believed they were mortal up until a week ago would have. I scooped some of the thick gunk up, and then sat beside her, starting with her right shoulder.
The moment my fingers touched her, she jumped and let out a hoarse giggle. “Sorry. It’s cold.”
Nothing about this felt cold as I rubbed the salve gently over the bruise that traveled the width of her shoulders. Nothing about this should’ve been a turn-on, but the simple act of touching her got me going. There was something else under, a slight humming in my blood that had my gut hollowing in response, causing a tingling in the back of my throat. I didn’t want to look too closely at it.
More goo ended up on my fingers and made it onto her skin. Before I knew what I was doing, both hands were on her back, and even with the cooling menthol, her skin was warming under my fingers as I worked out the tense muscles.
Ten minutes had to have passed before either of us spoke. “By the way, your hair looks great down,” she said, sighing like a kitten that was dozing out in the warm sun. “Even wet. You have awesome hair. I’m jealous.”
My lips split into a grin as I glanced up from where I was working the slight dip in her back, where there were absolutely no bruises. “Thanks, Joe.”
“You’re welcome, Sethie.” There was a pause. “I really sucked at training.”
“It was just one day. You’ll get the hang of it.”
“You really think so? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?”
“Maybe a little of both.”
She laughed, and I could feel it.
“I guess it worked, huh?” My voice was low.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
I liked the soft smile on her face—a contented smile. The kind of smile I imagined would grace her lips after having an orgasm. That flush would be there, too, just like it was then. But I bet it would be deeper, richer.
I grabbed more of the salve, and my hands moved to her lower back, following the slight, sexy curve. There were faint bruises here. Nothing major, but that didn’t stop me. Even though I was well past the amount of time it would take to do this, my body was on autopilot. My fingers reached the soft sides of her waist, and I heard her inhale. The sound ricocheted through me like a boomerang. I was so hard, I ached. This was pure, senseless torture, but again, I couldn’t stop myself.
Rubbing the salve up her sides, to where her shirt was bunched up, my gaze flicked to her profile. Her eyes were open in thin slits and her lips were parted. Chest rising and falling unsteadily, I dragged my hands back down her sides as I kept my gaze glued to what I could see of her face. The pink was deepening, spreading. My fingers trailed to the center of her lower back, and there wasn’t even a speck of salve left on my fingers, the scent of menthol faded, as I worked my thumbs along her skin, dipping them under the hem of the loose sweatpants.
Her hips jerked up toward me and her eyes widened as my thumbs worked in short, pressured circles. Then they jerked again and her legs pressed together, like she was unconsciously seeking something—something that I could give her, that I wanted to give her.
I shuddered as I closed my eyes. The feeling of her skin under my hands, her body so close to mine, and knowing that if I took this further, she wouldn’t stop me, nearly blew the head right off my cock. Being that stiff hurt, but that throbbing pulsed deeper. Yeah, I wanted to strip her out of these clothes, part those thighs