I roll over completely on my stomach while Garrett leans over and presses a kiss in the middle of my shoulder blades. My head is turned to the side and I can see the beautiful outline of his muscular body as he kneels beside me, his erection sticking out boldly.

Garrett runs his tongue over the skin on my back and murmurs, “I’ve been wanting to fuck you from behind. Hold on to those braids so I can force your head back to kiss me while I’m pounding away inside of you.”

Oh, man. Totally liquefied bones in my body right now. His words are so dark and filthy, totally setting my blood on fire.

“I’m down with that,” I murmur, my voice sounding oh-so-needy.

“Good…but this might take a while. Remember when I said you had lots of body parts I wanted to explore?” He opens his mouth over my ribs and sucks on my skin lightly.

“Mmmm, hmmm,” I acknowledge dreamily.

“Well, don’t count on me fucking you anytime soon. I have a lot of exploring to do.”

Damn. I’m like butter…all soft and melted right now. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle his sultry words and warm, wet kisses.

Garrett’s mouth and fingers trail across my body. He takes his time getting to know my various parts…shoulders, elbows, back. Down he goes, trailing fire along my spine.

But then his mouth is gone from my skin. “Fuck, Olivia…is this where you hit your hip?”

He flutters a fingertip lightly over the place where I had my biopsy today. “Yeah.”

“It’s got a huge bruise around it. What the hell did you do?”

“Nothing…just backed into the corner of a counter at the shop this morning. I must have hit it harder than I thought,” I quickly say, wincing internally over the bald-faced lie I’m handing him.

“The bruise is really bad,” he murmurs, then he hisses through his teeth as his fingers smooth along the side of my leg. “Jesus…you’ve got some bruises here. What the fuck? They’re four of them. Is that where my fingers were last night when I carried you up the staircase?”

His voice is angry and confused, and I need to diffuse this before he starts asking more questions. Turning my body slightly so I can look at Garrett, I reach an arm back and lay it on his forearm. His head swivels to me and there is concern on his face. “It’s fine. The doctor said I’m a little anemic so I just bruise easy. I’m taking some iron for it and I swear…it doesn’t hurt.”

Garrett cocks an eyebrow at me. “Are you sure? Because they look pretty bad.”

I need to break the tension and his worry, so I try for a little bit of humor. “What’s wrong, Samuelson? I figured a big, tough hockey player like you could handle seeing a few bruises. I didn’t know you had such tender sensibilities.”

Challenge flashes in Garrett’s eyes and he turns on the bed to lean down over my face. Pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth, he pulls back just a tad and says, “I can handle bruises, but I just don’t like seeing your beautiful skin marked up. I don’t like to think of you hurting.”

Warmth and tenderness flood through me over his words, and I’m perilously close to spilling the beans about my cancer. Instead, I shore up and try to redirect him. “Sorry if my body disgusts you.”

Garrett glares at me in annoyance. “Your body could never disgust me. It’s spectacular, and a few bruises don’t change that. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

I give him a calm smile. “I swear, I’m fine. Nothing a little bit of iron won’t help sort out. Now…if you’re done examining me, Doctor, I believe you mentioned something about fucking me from behind.”

Nostrils flaring and eyes heating in desire, a slow, delicious curve of Garrett’s lips forms on his beautiful face. He licks his bottom lip. “Yeah…I’m going to fuck you really good from behind.”

Then bruises and cancer and favorite candies are once again forgotten. While I settle back down on my stomach, Garrett focuses his exploration between my legs. His fingers delve into me, spreading my wetness around and massaging me from the inside out until I’m almost delirious with need.

I hear the rip of the condom foil and then he’s positioning himself behind me. Gently raising my hips, he presses his lips over the bruise on my hip in a move that provokes more tender feelings to erupt within me.

And then he’s inside me…moving slowly at first, but quickly building up to a ferocious tempo that has me moaning and cursing for relief. True to his word, Garrett grabs ahold of my long braids, pulling them behind me and forcing my head to turn to the side. He leans over my back, his thrusts going shallow from this angle, and kisses me deeply.

He rides me hard, the sound of our slapping skin and lusty groans filling the air around us. I peak and crest, then start to fall just as Garrett explodes inside me.

Moments later, he has me on my side and pulled into the curve of his body. His arms hold me tight and he nuzzles his face in my hair.

“You are amazing,” he says. “Absolutely amazing.”

“You are too,” I whisper back, and I’m sad that once we close our eyes and go to sleep, our time together is coming to an end.

Chapter 11

Garrett

Grabbing the bag that holds some cans of chicken noodle soup, I get out of my car and peer up at Olivia’s apartment. I can’t believe in the span of just three days, I’ve apparently gone from philandering playboy to bringing soup to my sick girlfriend.