After Arlington

Chapter 12: Lola

The water trickled over her skin in webs of glitter, flowing over her shoulders and down the curves of her breasts, warm and sensual and washing her clean. It traced down her cheeks, splashing from her parted lips as her breath slipped between them in short, shallow gasps.

His hands dug into her thighs, pressing deeply to keep her secure, the cold tiles hard against her back as she grasped the walls for support.

"Fuck," Lola breathed, tipping her head back and letting the shower of water run through her hair.

"You close, baby?" Alex asked, his words a hoarse whisper as he thrust into her so deeply she couldn't help but whimper with each movement.

"So close," she replied through clenched teeth, her abdomen tightening around him like a firework launching into the sky, ready to explode at any moment.

And then it happened, her body collapsing and being reconstructed all in one moment. Her heart set off on a marathon as moans of pleasure left her lips, her gasps drowned out by the trickle of water from the shower head. He came too, his fingers digging so hard into her thighs there was a good chance they'd leave bruises.

But holy shit it felt so good.

He lowered her to the ground, both of their breathing coming in pants as he grinned wide.

"What?" she asked. Her cheeks were now pink with euphoria, her skin sensitive and raw.

"Nothing," he said, and then he wound a hand through her hair and kissed her deeply, the passion igniting a new flame of desire within her.

"You know," she said as the kisses started winding their way down her neck. "I came in here to shower."

"Then shower."

She gave him a pointed look before turning around to grab her loofah, her legs feeling a little jelly-like after their escapades. But then his hands were winding around her stomach, pulling her against him.

"Don't you have gardening to do or something?"

"Hmm," he hummed, his chest vibrating against her. "You could say I have some form of maintenance to tend to."

Now his hands were diving downwards, to the area which she wasn't quite sure could take any more pleasure. "I think you've tended to me already. Three times this morning, actually."

Since their first not-so-one-night-stand, it had been the first time Alex had stayed the night, nestled against her beneath the sheets of her four-poster bed.

It was the best way to forget the face that was still haunting her whenever she closed her eyes. The pain-stricken desperation of Francis Greene, the ring glistening in his fingers, a pair of handcuffs ready to trap her into his grasp.

"Well I just can't get enough of you," Alex said into her damp hair, planting a kiss against the back of her head.

Her face heated further. Even she had to admit that Alex was consuming her. When he was around, all she could think about was him and his body. There was a rebellious freedom that came with sleeping with a groundskeeper, especially after she'd just freed herself of the million-dollar-heir her parents had previously sold her on.

"Then stay today," she suggested. He'd stayed all yesterday, but she honestly wouldn't mind if he never left. When he was around, the memories of home that haunted her remained at bay. It helped her forget about Francis and the emptiness of his eyes when she'd walked away for what she desperately hoped to be the last time.

It would have been so much easier if she'd never loved him, but it was the opposite. She almost felt as if his pain was tearing her apart just as much as it was him. And that wasn't fair.