Love Under The Mistletoe

TOO CLOSE TO BREAK

∆EIDEN∆

"What's wrong with me?" I tossed and turned in bed repeatedly, unable to sleep.

Whenever I close my eyes, I see images of Pearl in my head.

Finally, I stopped moving and stared at the ceiling, my mind kept replaying all the moments we spent in the living room together..... The electricity that crackled between us and how I slid my jacket over her body.

I've always battled with insomnia, but a drink or two before bed usually helped me, until today.

By five a.m., I gave up on sleep, wore some workout shorts, and decided to lift some weights so I can take the tension off me.

The penthouse has a private gym, so I went straight there to workout.

I haven't touched the weights in a bit, so it takes a lot of effort to start, but I eventually get used to it. After thirty minutes, I'm drenched in sweat and my upper arms are literally aching like hell.

But it doesn't work even a bit.

My mind still taunts me with images of how good she looked in those pajamas.

Just as I dropped my dumbbells, something moved at the corner of my eye, I spun around quickly, and my breathing evened out when I realized it's just Pearl with the flushed look on her face.

It seems like she's been watching me lift weights for a while and has just been caught like a rat caught in a stealing act.

My eyes drifted across her outfit, the tiny sports bra she's wearing barely covered her melons, and she's wearing the shortest shorts I've ever seen in my life.

Very soon, I'll have to ask her why she doesn't have clothes her size.....and maybe buy some for her.

Her arms are crossed, and it made her melons bounce out even more, I hate the way I'm always aware around her, and how my body always freaking reacts.

She smiled slowly and then stepped into the gym, I forced my eyes away. My body reacted freakishly with just looking at her.

She bent over a dumbbell, and that does it for me.

"Leave," I warned her with a hard voice.

She peered at me and blinked her eyes like she's innocent, like she's not aware of whatever it is she's doing. "But you told me to feel at home and that I'm welcome everywhere, then... Why are you not allowing me...."

"This is my private gym, the one I told you about belongs to the building and is on the ground floor, take the elevator and go down there, do whatever you want in the place given to you but not here."

When she blinked again, I can see pure mischief in her eyes. "You were already done anyway, I'm sure you don't mind me using these, are you?" And I can't even be angry at her because she's using her sweetest voice.

"I'm not done, I just set the dumbbells down..."

She ignored me and went to the weight rack across the room, but it's in the line of sight of the mirror directly in front of me, which means I can see everything she's doing.

I sighed internally and resumed on the leg press machine.

My eyes flickered to the mirror now and then, and I can see she's doing squats.

Whenever her thighs flex, the shorts get tighter and tighter, her eyes caught mine in the mirror, and we both looked away quickly.

But even that doesn't stop the corner of my eye from watching her in the mirror.

When she stretched her hands over her head, her fine abs popped into view, I'm convinced she has to be doing this on purpose..... There's no way this is accidental.

Once it can be accidental, twice it can be accidental, but the amount of times it's happening, there's no way I could think of it as accidental.

What bothers me even more is that I'm falling for it.

She's the daughter of my best friend, I know that, but my body is operating with a mind of its own.

All it knows is that she's a sexy woman exercising in tight clothes that is showing off every single curve of her body.

And my mind isn't helping matters, every minute or so, it kept popping up images of her under me with her gaze locked on mine, lost in the moment with the feel of her skin under my lips.

Every single image my mind conjures is more detailed and vivid than the last.

The more I stared at her, the more my breathing became labored.....and it has nothing to do with the workout, but everything to do with her tantalizing body reflected in my mirror.

Our eyes caught again in the mirror, and she raised her eyebrow.

There's a sneaky smile on her face. "Are you going to keep watching or actually work out?" she asked.

Her calling me out directly confirms my suspicions that she’s doing this on purpose, I swing my legs off the press and fixed my gaze on her.

"This needs to stop, and don't ask me what.....you know exactly what I'm talking about."

She took a step closer, her arms open like she's innocent. "All I'm doing is working out.... You're the one staring, and in the end, are you blaming me?"

She's taunting me to admit she's getting to me, that I'm the one who wants her.

While my face stayed set in a cold mask, my mind flooded with images of picking her petite, perfect body up, pulling her close against the mirror, and losing myself in a deep kiss.

But instead, I said, "Pearl, you know you're in my house, and there are boundaries we can't cross....."

I haven't even finished speaking but she interrupted. "And who set those boundaries?"

"Let's be realistic," I snapped. "Whatever you're thinking isn't feasible."

She tilted her head, the sneaky smile returning to her lips. "Boundaries or not, I'm sure you sometimes need to think about crossing them."

I can't think of a comeback because she's right, and thankfully, the moment is interrupted by my phone ringing in my pocket, in fact, I'm more than relieved, I waved dismissively at her. "The gym is all yours now, I have calls to make, go ahead and workout, as long as you want."

I grabbed my towel from the bench and didn't even look at her as I walked past her to the exit.

When I got to my bedroom, I locked the door and leaned against it, trying to catch my breath.

I stripped off my workout clothes and stepped into the shower.

I turned the water to the coldest setting, but though the freezing spray hits my overheated skin, it doesn't help.

I pressed my forehead against the cold tiles, closed my eyes, and tried to force my body to calm down, to think about anything else.

But my mind keeps drifting back to her in those shorts.....the knowing smile on her face, the way she keeps challenging me, chipping away at my resolve brick by brick.

Eventually, I shut off the shower and dressed for work, I heard Pearl in the distance, singing softly, I had no idea she was this good at singing

I followed the sound as it carries through the penthouse.

Her voice led me to the kitchen, and I leaned against the doorway as I watched her sing while cooking breakfast, dressed in one of my old tops.....like she didn't just spend the last thirty minutes testing my control in my own gym.

I want to turn back to my room, but I can't look away or command my feet to move.

Instead, they carried me toward her as if they had a mind of their own.

Pearl stood near the stove wearing only one of my faded tops that hit her mid-thigh.

Her legs are bare, her hair still tied up in that same ponytail hairstyle, it clearly shows she came straight to kitchen from gym.

She's cooking something that smells incredible, though I can't recognize it because I haven't been in the kitchen in so long.

She turned around when she felt movement from behind, and smiled as if she was expecting me.

If I stayed one more second, I would cross a line I could never erase.

"I'm making breakfast," she asked with a teasing smirk, "Are you hungry?"