Page 39 of The Prize

I waited for him to notice me.

Tobias’s eyes met mine and then returned to his reflection in front of him. I deserved that, I suppose. My outburst had been infused with emotion born from my fear of everything imploding around us, and on top of all of this the thought of losing him. Only I’d not told him this or given him the chance to see how much I cared about him.

This is more than that...

He pressed a button on the panel and sprinted flat out and my heart skipped a beat at the vision of his well-toned athletic form and he didn’t even look out of breath. The only hint of exertion was a trail of perspiration soaking his shirt.

Eventually, after ten minutes of pounding hard he punched the control panel again and slowed the machine to a walk, taking long strides with those lean legs as he cooled down from his run. I’d strolled around the gym, pretending to be interested in the weights and then the rowing machine and trying not to ogle the eye candy in the corner.

Tobias stopped the treadmill and stepped off.

“We need to talk.” I folded my arms across my chest so I’d be ready for him.

“Sure. Anything for you. You know that.” His smile softened the moment.

“I appreciate that.”

“I’ll come find you.” He dragged a small towel around his shoulders and walked right past me and through a doorway as he eased out his earbuds. I followed him into a bathroom. It was decorated simply with an upscale elegance and at the far end displayed a gorgeously designed giant open-plan shower.

Tobias placed his iPod down and then peeled off his shirt and kicked off his shoes and socks and paused when he came to his track bottoms. “You might want to step out for this part.”

“It’s not like I’ve not seen you naked before.” I swept my hand like it was nothing, instantly regretting my nonchalance when he tugged down his trousers and then underwear and stepped out of them to stand to his full height, staring at me with his beautiful sculptured body shimmering in perspiration with his cock half-erect. Those bruises looked sore.

“Do they hurt?” I pointed to them.

He ran his palm along them and broke my gaze.

Trying to keep my eyes on his and not sweep over his body, I began, “It’s risk-verses-reward ratio. If you get caught forging a painting the rest of the plan falls apart.”

“I won’t get caught.” He rested his hands on his hips and seemed to mull over it with his six-pack flexing, and his firm chest rising and falling—a living, breathing sculpture. The circles of his inked left shoulder swirled like an unspoken poem drawing me into its mystery. The Latin words on his groin a reminder he liked to win.

He caught me staring at him and arched a brow.

“At least give it some thought.”What the hell happened to my resolve?

“I will.”

He was trying to disarm me, that’s what was happening here. He was purposefully entrancing me by rubbing his fingers over his mouth as though pretending to mull this over.

“Shower on, Jade.” He strolled under the enormous faucet and water burst in streams and cascaded over him.

Stepping back I tried to avoid the spray. “You know you can’t control everything the way you like to control your gadgets.”

“I know.” His neck craned as he looked up and drenched his face, seemingly unaware of the dreamy show he was putting on of an Olympian wallowing beneath the downpour. He turned away from me and provided a stunning view of his sculptured back with his refined spine curving into a pert bum. He rubbed shampoo into a lather through his dark golden hair, and his biceps bulged as his fingers massaged his scalp. Rising from this dreamy haze I came to find my right palm resting on the curvature of his upper back feeling rippling muscles beneath.

He turned his head slightly. “I’m thinking.”

My hand slipped from him. “Oh?”

“The shower helps me to think.”

“Oh, right, of course.” I stepped back. “I appreciate that.”

“We’ll find a way.”

Wanting to believe that, I drew on his strength and felt my loneliness lifting. There seemed no solution to this bewitchment and I didn’t want to walk away because it felt like it may be the last time I’d ever be this close and the agony of this realization was unbearable. “You understand my concerns?”

He kept his back to me. “You made some valid points.”