Muscle. Skin. All man.
I drink in the sight of Lucas any chance I get. The planes of his body, the toned muscles, his large cock that promises a very special visit. All of it is hotter than the water beating against my back. I let out another loud moan, which echoes through the empty locker room, as Lucas trails his finger closer to my clit.
After we talked about the lesson, I could not get the image of Lucas showering out of my head. I imagined his bulging bicep moving up as he brought a hand through his hair under the shower stream, wetting it back against his head. Images of his body completely naked and covered in steaming water propelled me. I needed to see it as much as I needed oxygen. And I couldn't let my chance slip away by passing out in a deserted women's locker room. Plus, I needed to properly thank him for taking the time out of his day to help with the lesson.
Hot. Damn. Fantasies of Lucas' body in the shower have nothing on real-life Lucas' body in the shower. His body and how good it feels to be in his arms are things to be written about in the history books.
"Fuck, Talia. You're so beautiful," he pants out as his finger moves down and begins circling my clit, sending pangs of pleasurable aches through my body.
I grab onto his smooth length and start pumping. A deep, satisfied moan reaches my ears and seals itself into my memory bank. Half of my back is against Lucas. He snakes his other hand to my breast and begins kneading it with his palm.
"Mmm." Tingles spread through my nerve endings.
"You've been so naughty, telling another guy to come in here," he says hoarsely in my ear.
"Mm and how are you going to punish me for it?" I pant back just as Lucas begins increasing the pressure. If he keeps going at this rate, I'll most likely unravel in tears in his arms and end up passing out anyway.
"Habibti, I'm going to fuck you so hard, you won't be able to walk for a week."
As soon as the word lands in my ears, I lift my hooded eyes. A jetstream of pleasure runs through my body to the point I might suffocate under it all. I turn around to face him and he quickly leans down to kiss my neck, his hand now sliding up and down my side before quickly moving back to my clit.
"What did you say?" I ask, still out of breath and molding into him again.
Lucas sucks and lightly bites along my neck, but breaks for a moment to say, "I'm going to fuck you so hard."
I furrow my brows and push his head off of me, forcing us to lock eyes and his hand to break from my center. God, he is so handsome. "No, before that. What did you say?" My eyes quickly close to block out the man who looks ready to devour me. I need my scrambled mind to find clarity again.
"Habibti," he says softly. I reopen my eyes to find hooded blue and a tender smile.
He leans forward again and presses his lips back against me, now trailing along my shoulder. All of a sudden, the shower is way too hot. I can't fucking breathe. I'm going to start gasping for breath any second. God, what am I doing here? I shouldn't be here. "Don't call me that," I say with a scowl. Even though that word sounded so good, so perfect, coming out of his mouth, it's too much. He's too much and I'm slipping out of control.
Lucas hums and continues the kisses, moving to my other shoulder. "What? Habibti?"
"Yeah, don't call me that. Okay?" I close my eyes, trying to steady my breathing.
He only hums again and in between kisses says, "I'll call you that if I want to call you that."
I push him off of me again and this time, hold his shoulders so that he can stop kissing me and stop destroying the last shred of my sanity. "Do you know what that means?"
Even though he raises a brow and nods, he doesn't get it. He can't just throw that word around like that. He can't say 'my love' in my family's language and think it's just some fun foreplay. While the word could also mean 'my dear' or 'my darling' in certain contexts, the way he said it was low and deep - like a vow of some sort that swims ceremoniously in the love category.
I bite my bottom lip. The water still beating against my back somehow rises in temperature. I turn around to twist the knob and make it a little cooler before facing Lucas again. "Where did you learn that word?"
"I looked up a couple of basic phrases in Arabic this morning." His eyes drop to my lips before he leans in again.
This time, I take a step back. I can't have his mouth on me while I'm trying to process this piece of information.
He sighs and leans back. "Did I mispronounce it? Or you don't know it?"
Know it? Every time you say it my heart wants to explode out of my chest. Yet I simply shake my head. "I know it. I just don't want you calling me that. It feels too-" I shrug as a way to finish my sentence since no intelligible words come to mind.
Lucas raises his brows before furrowing them and then raising them again. Then, he stands up straight and lets go of me. Instantly, the shower turns cold and I wrap my arms around myself to keep warm. Lucas sighs and leans beside me to turn the water off. The stream cuts abruptly and silence fills the space like an audience about to witness the next act. He grabs his towel.
"W-where are you going?"
Lucas shakes his head as he wraps the towel around his waist. "We're not having sex Talia," he says as he exits the stall, leaving me in a puddle of confusion.
While I'm slightly relieved, feeling like I can breathe again, a part of me is annoyed that he's the one to make that decision for us. Yet that's the least of my worries. Lucas looking up a romantic Arabic phrase to say to me? That thought and hearing him say that word, feeling it rush into every organ and every bone, is messing with my mind more than when we started this whole merger.
I grab my towel and wrap it tightly around myself before making my way out of the stall. Lucas is already in olive green boxer briefs and rummaging around his gym bag. A vein in his neck bulges and his jaw visibly clenches when I near.
This plan of mine is backfiring completely. It was just meant to be some harmless fun and now I'm feeling like I smacked my head against the tiled wall, ready to go to the hospital for a concussion. "Why are you upset? I just asked you not to call me that," I say with more sass than intended.
Lucas pulls on a pair of navy blue sweatpants before turning to me. "And I told you I can call you whatever the hell I want." His taut abs are on display in the bright fluorescent lighting of the locker room, but I force myself not to look down at them nor at his biceps as he crosses his arms.
I scoff. "Do you even hear yourself right now? You need to respect when a woman demands respect!"
The chords of veins in his arms visibly grow within his skin and his nostrils flare before he laughs incredulously. "Talia, do you even hear yourself right now?" He shakes his head and in a low voice says, "I didn't know saying 'my darling' to the person begging me to fuck them was going to be offensive." His tone is like salt on the wounds I'm scratching open.
"I didn't beg for you to fuck me." I grip my towel tighter. The nerve of him to treat me this way!
"Oh? Then all of the thick liquid running down my hand as I fingered you was just the shower stream rerouting its path?" His tone is even like he's still fully in check of his emotions, which pisses me off even more.
I march closer to him, fury prickling my body. "You are making this a way bigger deal than it needs to be! I just told you I don't want you calling me that. Now don't be an asshole about it!" The words feel bitter on my tongue as if I just took a bite out of a waxy orange rind.
His Adam's Apple bobs and he nods, the roaring blue hues of his eyes commanding my attention. "So am I still an asshole if I call you helwe?"
My stomach flutters hearing the translation of the word 'beautiful' but I keep my stance firm and scowl still solid as I nod.
"Or how about bijanen?" he says in a lower, softer voice with a hint of amusement as his face moves inches away from mine. The sage aroma of his shampoo wafts into my nostrils and I close my eyes, relishing the way he called me amazing. What is happening to me?
"Habibti, Talia, albeh elik."
Falling. That's all I'm doing. Falling deeper and deeper into the world of the unknown. A place where I would either suffocate and die or soar gloriously uninhibited.
I lean in a little closer, our lips a mere millimeters away from each other and our breaths intermingling like the folding of sweet buttercream.
Whoosh.
The sound of the door opening is like a hand reaching down and yanking me back up. I jump back, shaken out of the intermediate state of being awake and falling completely out of control.
"Uh, this is the men's locker room." A man's voice travels through the space.
I shake my head, carrying a mountain of unspoken emotion toward Lucas pressed against my chest. His expression is completely unreadable as I clear my throat. "Uh, um, sorry I got it wrong," I say to the guy while still facing Lucas. "Anyways, um, good running into you, Lucas, and catching up. I'll see you around."
Without waiting another second I flee past the men and out of the space. My mind spins and my heart hammers against my chest. That all got way too serious, way too quick. Right? Things with Lucas aren't serious. Did I dream up everything that just happened? Maybe it isn't as intense as I thought? The words he shared are all pet names or phrases that anyone could have said to me in a friendly sort of way. Yet why do his last words to me shock my system like two defibrillator paddles to the chest every time I replay them?
My love, Talia, my heart is yours.