Matt was a dead man walking. He couldn’t get in the tub now, not without her knowing he had a woody the size of a bull’s. How he had gotten a hard-on when he was this bloody cold, he had no idea, but the damn thing was there. Insistently there.
She was all the way in, liquid soaking her T-shirt and making it cling to her body. He stared and reconsidered. He could strip and wrap himself in blankets in the living room. He’d already taken a step toward the door when she spoke.
“Matt? I know this is awkward, but if you don’t get your ass in the tub right now I’ll track you down and make you regret it. I don’t care if you’ve got a hard-on, I’ve seen one before. I know it’s a natural reaction, and it doesn’t mean anything.”
Shit. “What the—”
“I danced for years, Matt. Put myself through school showing skin, and I know the female body turns guys on even if their brain isn’t engaged. I understand what happened this summer. Enough. It’s forgotten. Just get in the tub.”
Matt figured he was about fifty shades of red, but obeyed. Dragged his jeans down his thighs, deliberately not looking to see if she was watching. Because if she had her gaze on him and there was even a hint of attraction, he wouldn’t know what to do.
And if she was watching with total disinterest that might be worse.
He stripped to his T-shirt and boxers before glancing her way. She sat in the middle of the tub, leaning against the side. Her body was curled into a ball, head back on the tiles, eyes closed. There was enough room for him at the top of the tub to step into the heated water—he groaned as loudly as she had, it felt so damn wonderful—before he sat and tugged her into his lap.
“I’m glad you have such an open mind about things, darling, but if it weren’t for the fact I’m afraid you’d fall asleep and drown, I’d keep my carcass out of your way right now.”
Hope twisted until she lay flat out on top of him, hip tight to his groin, head turned so her cheek rested on his chest. “Fine by me, any excuse you want to use. Just get your hands back in the water before your fingers fall off and my guilty conscience forces me to sew you special gloves for the rest of your life.”
Matt snorted, but obeyed, slipping his hands around her and resting them on her belly. He linked his fingers together to be sure he didn’t accidentally touch anything he shouldn’t.
No matter how much he wanted to.
“By the way, thank you for rescuing me.” Her voice, soft and low, tickled his ears.
“No troubles.”
She shivered once more before relaxing with a deep sigh. “So, Matt Coleman. Can we start again?”
What was she up to? “Start again?”
Her body shook with soft laughter. “We’re sitting in a tub of water in our undies. This situation calls for some explaining. Since we’re not going to be lovers, I’d like us to go back to being friends. I’ve missed having you around since Helen deserted us. I’m sorry she was a shit to you, but I hope you won’t hold her actions against me.”
The matter-of-fact way she said it, with a cute, slightly sleepy after-yawn, wiped away the sexual stress and chaos of the past hours. He hadn’t realized that Helen had abandoned others as well.
Hope was smart, quick-witted…and a desirable woman, but the sexual part would just have to wait for someone other than him. “I would be honoured to be your friend, Ms. Meridan.”
She lifted one hand out of the water, palm toward him, and this time he laughed as he gave her a high-five, like he’d done off and on over the years since they’d been teenagers.
Friends. Yeah. He could do that.
Chapter Three
The nonchalance she’d donned like a cloak was harder to maintain once she was warm enough to concentrate on something other than the ice in her limbs. Things like his firm body under hers.
The tingling in her extremities slowly faded. The tingling in her core refused to go away.
“How do you like running the shop?” His deep growly voice tickled her ears at the same time he wiggled just enough to scrape his whiskered chin over her shoulder. She hoped the lingering chill in the air would stand as a good enough excuse for the goose bumps that rose in response.
“Stitching Post?” Hope shrugged, then froze as that motion slid their skin together too intimately. “It’s amazing. Although, there are moments, like when I’ve got more work to do than seems humanly possible, I wonder why in the world I thought being a business owner was a good idea.”
Matt chuckled. “The chores can seem unending, can’t they?”
“Like ninety five percent of the time?”
“At least you don’t have to muck shit.”
A laugh escaped her and she manoeuvred carefully to the bottom of the giant tub, slipping between his knees as she dipped her hands in the water one last time. “There is that. You’re right. If we want to play ‘who has the dirtiest tasks’, I’m pretty sure the ranch wins. But mindless? Matt, you need to try restocking the thread bins sometime.”
He sat straighter, his wet shirt clinging to the ridges of the six-pack muscles covering his abdomen. Oh dear. Hope dragged her gaze away.
“Those little white spool things? They got numbers on them, right?”
“Yeah, only they slip out of the rack on a spring-loaded system, which makes it oh-so-fun for the kids who get away from their moms to stand and one after another make them go ping ping ping across the room. One day I swear I reloaded that thing four times before I caught the little vermin and tied them down.”
Matt was laughing as she stood and reached for the towel. The timbre of the sound changed then cut off. She steadily ignored him, stepping onto the bathmat to catch the drips.
Yeah, she had enough body to catch anyone’s attention. She wasn’t unaware of it. Only she wasn’t trying to make this any harder for him than it already was.
The sheer dirtiness of her thought patterns made her want to snort. Poor baby. Hard?
“You warm already?” Matt crossed his hands over his lap casually, pulling his knees up to hide what must be another erection. Although she didn’t think he’d really lost the first one.
“Warm enough to go…”
The power was still out. What in the world was she leaving to go do?
Matt smirked. “I think you need to reconsider your options, friend. You were pretty chilled. The apartment isn’t getting any warmer.”
“So we’re going to sit in the tub all night?”
“Until we’re wrinkled like prunes.”
She shivered, and his expression changed, this time from lighthearted to deep concern.
Not even that was enough to stop her from getting out of temptation’s reach. “Now don’t look like that. I’m okay. Let me get a bunch of layers on, and I’ll be fine. You stay in the tub for a bit then we can talk about what happens next.”
It was the best idea—he couldn’t argue with her logic. When he nodded, she picked up one of the candles and used it to reach her bedroom.
Fifteen minutes later she had a flashlight to illuminate her way. Long johns, two layers of socks, a thick long-sleeve sweater and a quilted hoodie she’d made completed the outfit. She’d also dug up a few things for Matt, although she wasn’t sure how happy he’d be to receive them.
She tapped on the bathroom door. “Knock, knock. Is it safe to enter, your majesty?”
“My kingdom consists of six feet of water, two feet deep. One knock will suffice.”
Hope laughed and opened the door, her amusement dying away as she took him in. Candlelight glowed over Matt’s naked skin—he’d taken off his wet T-shirt, and all those ridges she’d felt under her before were now out in public. It wasn’t clear right off if he’d also removed the boxers. She wasn’t sure she could handle knowing.