Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

parts grudging and admiring.
“I’m good at everything.” A smile ghosted my mouth at her scoff.
We fell into a comfortable silence as I continued my massage. Jules’s
skin was soft and warm beneath my touch, and her breathing evened out into

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a steady rhythm.
I stole a glance at her face. Her eyes were still closed, so I allowed myself
to linger on the sweep of the dark lashes against her cheeks, the lush curve of
her bottom lip, and the silken fan of her coppery hair splayed out on her
pillow. Her brow was no longer scrunched with pain, and the knot in my
chest loosened.
It was my first time seeing Jules so unguarded. It was…unnerving. I was
so used to our bickering I’d never given much thought to what she was like
behind all the fire and brashness.
How do you know I haven’t already?
My family wasn’t big on skiing. We didn’t have the money for it even if
we were.
Jules has really…painful periods. Beyond regular cramps.
I’d known Jules for years, yet I knew so little about her. Her family, her
history, her secrets, and her demons. What was she hiding beneath that fiery
exterior? Something told me it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
I shifted my attention back to the task at hand and tried to reign in my
wandering thoughts. “Feel better?” The words came out strangely husky.
“Mmhmm.” Jules’s drowsy affirmation elicited another smile.
My gaze drifted upward again, and heat curled low in my stomach when I
saw her staring at me with a lazy, slumberous expression.
Her lips parted slightly as our eyes locked. Held. Burned.
Electricity charged the previously tranquil air and danced over my skin,
which suddenly stretched too tight over my bones and thundering heartbeat.
Jules’s breathing turned erratic again. Not only could I hear her rapid
inhales and exhales, I could feel them beneath my hands, and they matched
the uneven rhythm of my own breaths.
She licked her lips, and God himself wouldn’t have been able to stop the
X-rated images flooding my brain. Those full, pouty lips wrapped around the
head of my cock, that delicate pink tongue licking up and down my length
while she stared up at me with her big hazel eyes…
My hands stilled and curled into loose fists. There was no use pretending
I was still giving her a massage. The only thing I could focus on was the
erection straining against my zipper and hiding said erection from Jules.
It was so fucked up. She was in pain, and here I was, hard as a rock. Proof
that the body and mind were incompatible more often than not.
But Jules didn’t quite look like she was in pain anymore. Instead, she was

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looking at me like…
Don’t go there.
“You should be good for now.” I cleared my throat of its rasp before
speaking again. “I’ll bring out a warm compress so you can use it through the
night.”
I stood and walked into the bathroom before she could respond, angling
my body so she couldn’t see the severely ill-timed tent in my pants. By the
time I came back out with the towel compress, Jules was already fast asleep.
Relief and disappointment coursed through me in equal measure.
I placed the folded towel gently on her stomach and moved her hands on
top of it to prevent it from sliding off. I pulled the comforter up, turned off
the lamp, and stepped into the bathroom once again, where I turned the water
on full blast and let it pound the tension out of my muscles.
I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to make sense of the events of the
past fourteen hours.
That morning, Jules and I had traded insults like normal, but over the
course of the day, I’d willingly taught her how to ski, worried over her well-
being, and given her a fucking aromatherapy massage. Not to mention, I was
still harder than a steel pipe.