“Morning Don.”
Don spun his chair around, his eyes narrowing as he saw Thomas. “You come to fight your little girlfriend’s battle?” He dropped the pen he was holding onto his desk as he stood up and headed toward Thomas. “You’re too late. Her other man beat you to it.”
“Nothing to fight about. I just came to make sure you were doing your job.”
Don stopped in the middle of the room and started laughing. “Last time I checked you weren’t my fucking boss.”
“You need to take a long hard look at what you’re doing and decide if this little fit you’re throwing is worth losing your job over.”
The smile left his face. “Fuck you Thomas.”
Don finished crossing the room, stopping two inches from Thomas’ face. “You think you can just come in and take Mina from me?”
“She isn’t yours. Never was. Never will be.”
“What, cause she’s yours now?” Thomas could see every vein bulging in Don’s face, the extra blood flow making it get redder and redder.
“Pretty much.” Whether she knew it or not was another matter he could handle later. Right now he was doing his best to keep from punching a meat head in the throes of a steroid fueled temper tantrum.
Don took a step back, giving Thomas a look up and down. “I guess I didn’t realize she was into gimps.”
Mother fucker.
Resisting the urge to cane this prick to death right here in the middle of the city building took every bit of strength Thomas had in him.
He could hear his blood racing through his veins, his heart thundering in his chest as he fought the rage building inside him. “Leave her alone Don.”
“Or what?”
“You don’t want to find out the answer to that.”
Don laughed again. “Right.” He grabbed the door. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Still laughing, he slammed the door shut.
Thomas stood on the other side of the door, breathing deep as he talked himself out of opening the door back up and beating the shit out of Don.
“Everything okay?” Terri must have heard the door slam.
“Everything is fine.” He gave her a forced smile as he headed past her toward the front exit. “I’ll see you later. Take care.”
“Thanks. You too.” She followed behind him, close on his heels. “If you need anything, you know with your house, you can call me.” She was blushing all the way to her ears.
Looks like Terri had a thing for gimps too. “I will.”
He kept walking to the doors, ready to get on with the better parts of his day. The cold hit him the second he stepped outside. This time he welcomed the chill hoping it would calm the anger still boiling under his skin. He knew coming here it was going to get personal. Nothing pisses a man off more than someone else having what he wanted. Especially a man who’s out to prove something.
“How’d it go?” Nancy turned in her seat to face him as he got in the back seat of her car, stretching his leg out beside him.
“Like I expected.”
Nancy grimaced. “That bad?”
“Mina must have told Paul and then he called the city. Don was primed and ready when I got there.”
Nancy got a weird look on her face and abruptly turned back around and kicked the car into drive, pulling out of the side lot. “Paul is a good man.”
“He is. He just doesn’t realize how Don is.”
“Donnie was such a nice boy.” His mother sighed. “I wish he would get it together.”
“Yeah well, he’s gotta stop shooting shit into him before that will happen.” Until he got over his inferiority complex, the chances of that happening were null.
Thomas was still seething ten minutes later as they walked into the medical center for his first physical therapy visit.
They’d given him the hell he deserved when he called to get this appointment. He kicked himself for not doing this sooner. By now he might be able to walk without the cane, maybe even be in less pain. Then he could have easily given Don the ass kicking he deserved.
Four minutes into his session he was eating those words.
Never. He should never have done this. The pain his tiny little slip of a physical therapist was able to inflict with one small motion was excruciating. He was sweating from exertion and discomfort, trying his best not to swear at the middle aged woman as she tried to teach him the exercises he needed to keep doing between visits to loosen his muscles.
“I would try to do this after a nice hot shower or a bath. It might make it less uncomfortable.” She gave him a half smile, knowing she was causing him pain. “It’s kind of a necessary evil. It will be worth it. I promise.”
She sent him home with a paper showing exactly how to do the movements she showed him, just in case he forgot, and an appointment for the following week.
“You okay?” His mother looked worried at his worsened limp as they walked back to the car.
“Yup.” He was better than okay actually. There was only one more stop to make in town and then he would be on his way to the only place he really wanted to be.
“It will be worth it when I can be out in the field in the spring.” And when he could be every bit the man Mina deserved.
Forty long minutes later he was ringing the doorbell, feeling the last of the morning’s frustration melting right off him. His last stop took way longer than he anticipated. Getting caught in the lunch rush and running into friends eager to chat and happy to see him out and about set him back. It was nice to know people cared, but he had someplace else he really, really wanted to be.
The front door flew open. Mina stood in the doorway, her long hair pulled away from her face, a streak of paint running through the loose tail as it swung across her back. A pale green sweatshirt with the neck ribbing cut out, hung loosely from one shoulder and down past her hips over black leggings, hugging her like a second skin.
She beamed at him, her eyes getting wide when she saw the lettering on the bag in his hand. “Did you bring me lunch?”
“I did. Thought maybe you could use a break.” He turned and nodded to his mom. Mina craned her neck to look around him, waving as Nancy backed down the driveway.
She grabbed the bag from his hand and stepped to the side, letting him move past her. Hopefully she was ready to sit. He was in agony after his physical therapy and wanted to prop his leg up. He made it to the living room before he noticed she wasn’t beside him. Turning, he found her watching him closely.
“What happened?” Her voice was quiet, her eyes full of concern.
“Sometimes I’m an ass and have to pay the price.”
Her eyebrows came together as she tried to decipher his meaning.
“I went to therapy today.”
Her smile returned immediately as she came toward him. “How did it go?” She set the bag of food on the coffee table, watching him as she unloaded the foam containers, the smell of garlic and tomato sauce filling the air.
“Sucked.” He peeled off his coat and slung it over the back of the couch next to him. “A lot.” He eased himself onto the couch and gingerly propped his leg across the seat, blowing out the air he’d been holding once he was situated.
“Looks like it.” She fished around in the bag, pulling out two plastic sleeves, each containing a set of utensils. She handed him a set and then popped the lid on the box closest to her. She smiled and looked up at him. “Is this mine?”
During their dinner together at Campioni’s, she’d struggled to choose between two different entrees. That night she picked one and today, he brought her the other.
“You can have whatever you want.”
She was talking about the food. He was not.
As she sat cross legged on the floor, barefoot with paint in her hair he knew he would move heaven and earth to give this woman whatever she wanted, and to make sure she was his.
Mina looked up at him and their eyes locked. She held his gaze for a second before her eyes dropped to his mouth. He a
lmost smiled. It was nice to know she was thinking the same thing he was.
She cleared her throat, obviously a little flustered.
Handing him the other container, she smiled at him sheepishly as if she knew he’d read her mind.
“Thank you.” He made sure to brush his hand across hers as he took his lunch from her. He heard her breath catch as his fingertips brushed across the smooth skin on the back of her hand. The sound made him reconsider his decision to be slow with her.
The way she reacted to him made him struggle to maintain control. He could see the heat build in her eyes when he touched her. He wanted touch her now, all of her, but he wouldn’t rush this. He wanted to savor every moment he spent with her, take his time.
Taking the first bite of eggplant parmesan, she moaned softly and he almost dropped his pasta.
Maybe taking it slow was overrated.
She needed to eat fast. Being this close to her and not touching was getting harder by the minute.
“You want something to drink?” Mina stood up from the floor and headed to the kitchen.
“Anything is fine.” He took a bite of his lunch. He needed to get some food in his stomach too so he could take his pain meds. The appointment this morning had roughed him up and he really didn’t want to have any of his attention focused on pain today.
He heard ice clink into glass just before the soft fizzing as Mina poured something carbonated over the cubes.
“Coke okay?” She set the glass on the coffee table beside him before plopping back down on the ground and taking a pull out of her glass. “For some reason I really like carbonated stuff while I paint.”
He was hoping she’d decide to be done painting for the day. He had other ideas for how she would spend the afternoon.
“Coke is good.” He pointed at the bag sitting on the table beside her. “Can you grab me a pill out of the bag?” He needed to get it in his system so it could start working before he did.
She fished around in the bag, popping the lid on the bottle and sliding one into her palm before dropping it into his. He washed it down with the icy soda and dug back into his food. Even a little cold it was good. He glanced at Mina, happy to see she was shoveling in bite after bite. “Good?”
“It’s great. Thank you. I was starting to get hungry.” She ate one more bite, then closed the lid over her food and leaned back, letting out a sigh. “I think I’m done. Anymore and I’ll just want to go to bed and take a nap.”
Bed maybe. Nap definitely not.
He finished off his food, willing the pill to take the edge off the pain in his leg. Placing the empty box on the table with one hand, he rubbed the other up and down the outside of his thigh, hoping the heat from the friction would help the knotted muscles loosen.
He looked up to find Mina watching him.
“Maybe I could help.” She scooted across the floor to kneel between his legs.
“Is it the muscles?” She wrapped her hand around the outside of his leg and gingerly squeezed, rubbing her thumb across the top as her fingers explored the tension up the back. “Wow.” She looked up at him concern written all over her face. “They are really tight.”
It was amazing how quickly his attention shifted from the ache in his leg to the ache in his pants.
He hadn’t given her the opportunity to touch him like this and from the way he was feeling right now, it had been the right thing to do. If he were a better man, he would stop her now too, but apparently he wasn’t that good of a man.
Her touch was gentle but firm as she carefully worked her way up his thigh, seeking out every knot and slowly working it out of his tortured leg. Her hands climbed higher, his heart beating faster as she moved dangerously close to--
“Is this helping?”
He gritted his teeth. “Yes.”
He wanted to tell her how much better she made everything. How she was all he thought about, all he wanted.
But he couldn’t. It was taking every bit of strength he had to control himself. To keep his hands off her, knowing if he touched her right now, chances were he wouldn’t be able to stop. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
It was about to get worse.
NINETEEN
Mina expected Thomas to relax a little more as the pain in his leg eased. She could feel the muscles relax under her fingers and he’d taken his pain pill almost twenty minutes ago, but he seemed to be getting more and more tense. Almost to the point she thought he was going to jump off the couch any second.
Worried she may be hurting him, but he didn’t want to tell her, she looked up, expecting to find pain written all over his face. All it took was one look at his darkened eyes and she realized he was suffering, but not from pain.
She looked back down at her hands as she continued to knead and rub at the thick, tight muscles not yet ready to give up the first opportunity he’d given her to touch him.
He sat, one leg stretched out on the couch, the other on the floor, completely still while she ran her hand up and down his leg, coming very close to an area she couldn’t help but be intrigued with.
All the knots she’d felt, were gone, the muscles beginning to soften and she knew she could stop, but she didn’t want to. She’d waited so long to be able to touch him like this and now that she could, all she wanted was to touch him more. Hopefully he would let her.
Slowly, she leaned forward and instead of stopping, let her hands run up his body, gently grazing the bulge pressing up against the zipper of his pants. He sucked in a breath between his teeth. She kept going, up across the flat plane of his stomach, over the rise of his pecs and up to his shoulders. Bracing herself on the arm of the couch behind him, she leaned her weight forward and brushed her lips across his as she shifted her knees to straddle his hips. She leaned forward, letting her weight press against him.
Wrapping her arms around his neck she sucked his lip between her teeth, gently raking across it as she let it slide slowly back out.
“Mina, you’ve gotta stop.” He was panting, his hands both pushing and pulling her. Even as he told her to stop, his tongue swept her mouth egging her on.
“I don’t think I do.” She grabbed his shirt, pulling it up to expose the skin she wanted so desperately to feel. She slid her hands up and under, palms flat against his warm skin as she kept shoving it up. The trail of sandy hair just above his waistband teased her fingers. Following it up his stomach, she shoved the shirt higher, feeling his muscles flexing under her touch. This damn shirt was coming off if she had to wrestle it off him, which didn’t sound like a bad option either.
“Please.” He grabbed for her hands but she dodged him and held them behind her back. He seemed relieved for the second it took her to find the insides of his legs and slowly trail her fingers toward his-
“Mina I need you to stop.”
She smiled at him and raised her eyebrows. “I disagree.” She continued running her fingers up his thighs until she found what she was looking for.
She ran one hand up and down his length watching as he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Her other hand began unbuttoning his jeans. She almost had the zipper all the way down when he gripped her hips and tried to flip her under him.
Luckily she saw it coming and dropped one leg to the floor, using it for leverage to secure her position. As she slid her hand inside the open fly of his pants he let out a frustrated groan.
She leaned forward to change the angle of her reach, slipping her hand further down and into the fly of his boxers, sighing as she was finally able to get her hands on him. She wrapped her fingers around him, able to feel the quickening of his pulse as she slowly ran her grip up and down his substantial length. She wanted more of him.
Rising up, she grabbed the waistband of his jeans and tugged down, careful to avoid hurting anything important in the process. She must have caught him by surprise because she was able to get them below his hips, freeing his very hard, very large cock. Watching his face she eased down the leng
th of his body.
Shock and fear flashed through his eyes. For some reason he was scared to give up control. He was going to have to get over that. Right. Now.
She closed her eyes as she slowly pressed her lips against him, rubbing her tongue against his skin as she pressed forward letting him slowly fill her mouth. Thomas let out a long groan as she pushed further, taking more in, as far as she could go. She pulled back, immediately missing the feel of him. Discovering she enjoyed pleasuring him as much as she enjoyed him pleasuring her.
She barely made it halfway back down before he was gasping her name his hands cupping her head as she moved. “Angel you’ve gotta stop. I can’t… I’m going to…”
He suddenly became harder than she thought possible, teetering on the edge. She pushed harder, wanting to send him over the brink. She wanted to taste him, feel him as he came in her mouth.
Wrapping one hand around the base of his shaft, she moved it up and down with her mouth as she took him in as deep as she could. Her other hand gently cupped and stroked his balls as they tightened up against his body.
“Jesus Christ Mina.”
His whole body tensed as spurts of heat slid down her throat. She held him in her mouth, sucking gently until he was completely spent.
Sliding her lips slowly off him she felt a little awkward. The heat of the moment had passed and she didn’t quite know what to do now. She didn’t have to feel weird for long.
Thomas grabbed her, tugging her onto his lap and pulling her tightly against his chest. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to return the favor.” He earned it after yesterday morning.
He pulled back to look at her, his face serious. “Mina, nothing I ever do to or for you is a favor you have to repay.” He brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek. “I want to take care of you. Make you happy. That’s all.”
Tears she didn’t want to cry burned the backs of her eyes. The only other man she’d been with certainly didn’t want her to be happy. Hell, by the end, he’d wanted her dead. After that, she worried she would never be able to trust anyone again.
Run (Never Waste A Second Chance Book 1) Page 15