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She was cautious as she centred the clay, none of that first day’s overeagerness evident now. He kept her elbows braced against his stomach when they tried to poke out, which only caused another jagged breath to escape her.

‘Feel?’ he said when the clay began to rise into a cylinder. ‘Just like that.’

‘I don’t know what I’m doing.’

‘And yet you’re doing it, anyway.’ She was, thumbs moulding the inside of the vase to hollow out its walls.

‘This is silly,’ she groused.

‘So be silly. There’s no one here but me and you. What are you afraid of, Hodge?’

He imagined her eyes rolling behind the blindfold as she replied, ‘I’m not afraid of anything,Whittaker.’

Yet she continued, letting her hands mould the clay into its new form. When it began to flare out of shape, he guided her into a more stable position, his palms sparking with electricity as first her, then the clay, listened. Answered.

This was why he loved pottery. Clay had a life, and all it needed was someone to coax it into being. There was nothing that could happen on this wheel that would ruin him the way Elmington had. No pressure, no expectations. It was the steadiest relationship he’d ever upheld, the only thing he could control when the world felt far beyond it.

Watching Juniper discover that was like watching magic happen. He felt her relax against his chest, felt her wrists fall slack as she followed wherever the clay took her.

She didn’t need his help anymore, and yet he couldn’t pull his hands away. Couldn’t sever this sudden, overwhelming connection.

‘Is it working?’ she whispered.

He nestled his chin into her shoulder. ‘You tell me.’

As she slowed the wheel, he couldn’t help but lace their clay-slick fingers together, knees growing tighter around her hips. ‘See? It’s good not to think for a while.’

She hummed, wriggling back against him just like she had in class. His lips brushed her temple, finding friction where her skin met the blindfold, and he needed her. Fuck, he needed her, so much that he was already hard again.

‘Sometimes, feeling is enough.’ His attention fell to her earlobe, and he nibbled until she gasped, arching her neck. ‘I can’t stop thinking about you, Juni. I need more of you.’

‘We can’t,’ she said.

‘Why not?’

If there was a reason, she didn’t give it, instead pursing her lips.

And then she guided their intertwined hands to her chest, brows furrowing on the edge of the rag as though she was making up her mind.

‘We shouldn’t,’ she corrected.

‘Says who?’

Again, nothing.

‘At least let us finish what we started,’ he begged. ‘You were so close, weren’t you?’

She nodded.

‘Did you think of me when you finished yourself off after?’ he asked.

She rutted her ass against his cock as though her body had already decided for her.

‘Tell me,’ Aiden urged. ‘Please tell me.’

‘Yes,’ she whimpered. ‘Fuck, Aiden, yes.’

‘Do you want me to touch you like that now?’