Chapter 340 - Safe Places

Chapter 340: Chapter 340 - Safe Places

Roxie stayed under the shower longer than she needed to because the hot water felt good after the flight, the bus and the entire morning on crutches.

By the time she turned it off, her body finally felt less sticky and sore, although getting herself dried and wrapped in a towel with one working ankle took more effort than she wanted to admit.

She sat on the closed toilet for a moment, adjusted the towel around her chest and remembered the way Zac had practically escaped the bathroom earlier after she mentioned the massage. A smile slowly pulled at her mouth.

"Zac!"

She heard movement almost immediately, then footsteps coming down the hallway before the door opened. Zac looked inside carefully. "You good?"

Roxie held both arms toward him. "Come get me."

He stared at her for a second, his eyes dropping to the towel before snapping back to her face so quickly that Roxie almost laughed. She raised her eyebrows at him until he finally seemed to remember why she had called him.

"Right."

Zac walked over and bent down, one arm slipping behind her back while the other went beneath her knees. Roxie wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted her, still warm from the shower and slightly damp underneath the towel.

He immediately looked straight ahead as he carried her out of the bathroom, and the way he suddenly became so serious made her want to laugh.

"You’re very quiet."

"I’m carrying you."

"You carried me in here and somehow managed to talk the entire way."

"That was different."

Roxie looked at his face. "What’s different?"

His eyes dropped toward the towel again before returning to the hallway. "Nothing."

Roxie laughed and rested her cheek against his shoulder. "You’re terrible at pretending."

"I’m not pretending anything."

His ears were already turning red, which made the lie even funnier. Roxie could feel his hand underneath her thigh, warm against skin the towel barely covered, and every few steps his fingers tightened slightly before relaxing again. The fact that he was working so hard to look anywhere except at her was almost ridiculous.

When they reached the bedroom, Zac lowered her carefully onto the edge of the bed and straightened immediately. "I’ll get your clothes."

He had already turned toward the closet when Roxie leaned back on her elbows. "Massage me now."

Zac stopped.

He stayed facing away for several seconds before slowly looking back at her. Roxie was still wrapped in nothing but the towel, one leg stretched carefully in front of her and the injured ankle kept still.

"You want the massage now?"

Roxie smiled. "You promised."

"You’re wearing a towel."

"I noticed."

Zac opened his mouth, then apparently found nothing useful to say because he looked away instead. Roxie nearly laughed at how completely useless his brain had become.

"I can wait until you change."

"I don’t want to change yet."

Another pause.

Roxie watched him swallow.

"Zac."

"Yeah?"

"Massage."

He rubbed one hand over his face before walking back toward the bed. "Fine."

Roxie carefully lay down against the pillows and adjusted her injured leg while Zac sat beside her. She expected his hands somewhere around her back or legs, but instead he reached for her arm. Roxie looked at his hand, then at him.

"My arm?"

"Yeah."

"That’s where you’re starting?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Zac stared at her for a second. "Because."

Roxie smiled wider. "Because what?"

"Roxie."

"What?"

He closed his eyes briefly and held his hand out again. "Give me your arm."

She laughed and finally gave it to him. Zac started at her forearm, working his palms slowly over the muscles before moving higher. His thumbs pressed into her upper arm and shoulder, and Roxie’s smile faded when she realized how good it actually felt.

Her whole body had been sore after Nationals, but she had been too busy dealing with her ankle to notice how tense the rest of her was.

She relaxed deeper into the mattress while Zac worked his thumbs into her shoulder. A small sound slipped out before she could stop it and his hands paused immediately.

Roxie opened her eyes. "Why did you stop?"

"I didn’t."

"You did."

"I’m still massaging you."

"Then move your hands."

Zac started again, but his jaw had tightened. Roxie smiled and closed her eyes because now she understood exactly what he was doing. He had chosen her shoulders and arms because literally, those were the safest parts of her body he could touch while she was lying in front of him wearing nothing but a towel.

It was adorable.

It was also making her want to make things harder for him.

When he switched to her other arm, Roxie shifted against the bed and felt the knot at the top of the towel loosen slightly. She barely had time to register it before the fabric slipped lower across her chest.

Zac froze.

His eyes dropped.

Before Roxie could even react, he grabbed the edge of the towel and pulled it back into place so quickly that she burst out laughing.

"Oh my God."

"What?"

"You fixed it."

"It was falling."

"You looked terrified."

"I wasn’t terrified."

"You moved faster than you did during football."

Zac’s ears turned bright red. "Shut up."

Roxie kept laughing while he stood from the bed.

"Done."

Her laughter stopped. "What?"

"The massage."

"You massaged two arms."

"And your shoulders."

"That barely counts."

"It counts."

Zac started to move away, and Roxie immediately pointed toward her good leg. "That one hurts too."

He stopped.

His eyes followed her finger toward the leg stretched across the bed, then moved slowly back to her face.

Roxie smiled.

"My leg."

"I heard you."

"So massage it."

Zac swallowed.

She almost laughed again because his entire face looked like he was trying to solve some complicated problem.

"You said you were giving me a massage."

"I did."

"You’re quitting halfway."

"I’m pretty sure I finished."

"My calf hurts."

Zac stared at her.

Roxie stretched her good leg slightly. "Please?"

His eyes narrowed. "You’re doing this on purpose."

"Doing what?"

"You know."

"No idea."

Roxie gave him the sweetest expression she could manage until Zac muttered something under his breath and sat near the end of the bed.

The second his hands wrapped around her calf, Roxie’s smile weakened.

His palms were hot.

She had expected to spend the whole massage enjoying how uncomfortable he was, but the first slow press of his thumbs into her calf made her sink farther into the bed. Zac worked upward carefully, pressing through the sore muscle and moving toward her knee while Roxie tried to keep watching his face.

Then his hands moved above her knee.

Her breath caught.

Zac glanced at her.

Roxie immediately looked away.

His hands continued over her thigh, warm palms sliding upward before his thumbs pressed inward and moved slowly outward again. Roxie shifted against the sheets before she could stop herself.

"Stop moving," Zac muttered.

She looked at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

That was all he managed.

Yeah.

Roxie smiled because apparently words had officially left him.

Then she felt the towel move.

She looked down and realized the fabric had opened along the side of her good leg, exposing almost everything from her ankle to her hip. She could have pulled it closed easily.

She didn’t.

The towel still covered between her legs, but barely enough that the position suddenly felt much more intimate. She had nothing underneath it, and Zac knew that because he had literally carried her straight from the bathroom.

His hands stopped halfway up her thigh.

Roxie looked at him.

His eyes were fixed on the exposed skin near her hip.

"Zac?"

His gaze snapped back to her face. "Yeah."

"You stopped again."

"I’m thinking."

"About my leg?"

He stared at her.

Roxie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. "You’re adorable."

"Shut up."

He started again, but this time his hands moved higher. The laughter slowly disappeared from Roxie’s face as his thumbs pressed against the inside of her thigh before moving outward, then his palms followed, warm and firm enough that every pass seemed to make her skin more sensitive.

Roxie shifted again.

The towel opened farther.

Neither of them fixed it.

Almost her entire good leg was exposed now, right up to the crease where her thigh met her hip. The towel still covered her crotch, but only loosely, and Roxie became very aware that if she moved wrong, Zac would probably see more than she intended.

That should have embarrassed her enough to close her leg.

Instead, she let it relax slightly farther open.

Zac stopped again.

Roxie looked at him.

His mouth opened, but nothing came out.

She smiled. "What?"

He looked at her face, then her leg, then somewhere around her waist before apparently deciding that staring at the mattress was safer.

"You..."

Roxie waited.

"You what?"

He swallowed. "You’re..."

"I’m what?"

"Roxie."

"That’s my name."

He looked at her then, and the way his eyes moved down her body wiped the teasing smile from her mouth. He looked over the towel, down where it had opened at her hip and then toward the space between her thighs before dragging his attention back to her leg.

Roxie felt the look everywhere.

This had been her plan. She wanted Zac distracted, stupid and struggling to behave while she sat there enjoying herself.

Instead, his hands were on her thigh and she was the one getting more affected every time his eyes slipped lower.

Zac continued massaging her, palms moving upward again until the heel of his hand reached high on her thigh before sliding back down. Roxie inhaled slowly and tried to pretend the movement did absolutely nothing to her, but he caught the way her body tightened.

His eyes moved to her face.

Roxie stared back.

His hands traveled upward again.

This time her leg opened a little more without her really deciding to do it.

The towel shifted between her thighs.

Zac froze.

His eyes dropped.

Roxie followed his gaze and felt her cheeks burn.

She was still covered, but the position itself made her pulse race. She was lying there with nothing underneath the towel, one leg relaxed open while Zac sat beside her with both hands high on her thigh.

Zac swallowed hard.

"You need to..."

He stopped.

Roxie’s voice came out softer. "What?"

He stared at the towel. "You need to fix..."

Again, nothing.

Roxie’s mouth curved. "Fix what?"

Zac finally looked at her. "You know."

"I don’t."

"You absolutely know."

Roxie laughed quietly and shifted beneath his hand.

His fingers tightened immediately.

That tiny reaction went through her so hard that her breath changed, and Zac noticed.

For the first time since the massage started, something changed in his face. He still looked affected, but now there was a hint of amusement there too, like he had finally realized that Roxie was struggling just as much as he was.

His thumb moved once over the inside of her thigh.

Slowly.

Roxie sucked in a breath.

Zac’s mouth curved.

She narrowed her eyes.

That asshole.

He had figured it out.

Roxie had wanted him to lose control first, but now she was lying there under a loose towel with her leg open, his hand resting high on her thigh and her body reacting to every small movement he made.

She stared at him while he looked back at her, and the stupid grin slowly growing on his face told her exactly what had happened.

Somewhere during her little plan, Zac had stopped being the only one in trouble.