The Return (Titan 1)

“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 and ease into her from behind, blissfully losing myself in her and forgetting everything else, but I wanted more. I wanted to get so close to her that there was not an inch of space between our skin, and I wanted to stay with her. The nights I had slept next to her, were the nights I had gotten the best sleep of my life.