The Lonely Drop by Vanessa North Read Free Book Online Page A

memory of him watching me— watching me what? Breathe? — rushes over me.
    “For watching over me.”
    He runs a hand through my tousled hair. “You’re welcome. Now I gotta get up and go in to the office. Why don’t you get some more sleep? There’s a glass of water and some ibuprofen on the bedside table.”
    “I love you.” I roll to my other side and grab the glass. I don’t care if it’s tap water, it’s the sweetest glass I’ve ever had in my life. I take the two brown pills sitting next to it and swallow them with a grimace as Kevin gets up and goes about his morning routine. The shower turns on, and I hear him singing softly.
    After a few minutes of listening to the running water, I really, really need to pee.
    I stare at the bathroom door for minute. Hell, I’ve seen him in the shower before. Hundreds of times after games and practices. He won’t care.
    I push open the door to the bathroom and stop dead in my tracks when I see him through the glass enclosure. His back is partially to me, and the way his arm is moving, he could only be doing one thing.
    I’ve never thought of myself as a voyeur, but my mouth goes dry at the sight of him, water flowing over his muscles, his eyes clenched shut and his mouth open in a gasp of lust. A mirroring arousal shoots through my body, a tight ache across my skin. I should turn around, leave, give him his privacy, but to my utter shame, I can’t tear my gaze away from him.
    He tilts his head so the water hits him in the chest. His broad back hides his hand on his dick, but his arm moves up and down in strong, steady strokes. His ass cheeks flex and release as he rocks forward. He’s gorgeous, a beautiful masculine figure lost in sexual abandon, but beyond that, he’s my Kevin, the man I loved ten years ago, the man I probably never stopped loving, and the man I will never have— at least not on my terms.
    To see him like this feels like a prize I haven’t earned. I back slowly out of the room and close the door. Just as it clicks into place, I hear his sharp cry, and I cover my mouth to keep from groaning. I wait a long moment before knocking.
    “Hey Kev, comin’ in. I gotta pee.”
    “Hold on, I’m almost done.” He calls back. I hear the water shut off and then he opens the door, his lower body wrapped in a towel.
    “All yours.” He grins at me. I manage a tiny smile as I pass by him, and blush bright red when he starts whistling as he gets dressed.
    I’m waiting for my hard-on to subside enough that I can pee, when he calls out, “Do you drink coffee? There’s a pot here, but I didn’t want to make it just for me.”
    “I’ll drink a cup,” I call back. Then, to my humiliation, he comes into the bathroom to get water. He glances over to where I stand, red-faced with embarrassment, and gives me a little leer.
    “Heh, waking up next to you did the same thing to me.” He winks, then takes his coffee pot out of the bathroom.
    ****
    I drag my hungover ass in to work in time to open the restaurant for the lunchtime kitchen and serving staff, but immediately go hide out in my office. I can’t believe I went out dancing and got drunk enough to black out. I haven’t done that since… well, since college. And then this morning. Watching Kevin in the shower… What the hell is wrong with me?
    At just after noon, the door to my office slams open and Jenny stands in the doorway, glaring at me.
    “What the hell is wrong with you?”
    I blink up at her, wincing. Is she always this loud?
    “Britney tells me you haven’t come out of your office since you unlocked the door this morning. I come in three hours early to do the bar purchasing and you have Corey handling the bar alone during the lunch rush. He was so deep in the weeds I thought he was going to cry. Corey. The jock. Cry.”
    “Men cry too, sweetheart,” I tell her.
    “And there’s one sitting in front of me who’s going to be crying real soon if he doesn’t tell his favorite employee what