“That’s tempting, but I still think—”
“I need you to help me figure out what’s going on with Cynthia. And you need me, because once we get Cynthia to the bargaining table, you can have a heart-to-heart with your brother.”
“That’s true.”
“So we’re going to be hanging out with each other anyway, and after the incredible sex we’ve had so far, I don’t think we can dial it back to platonic, do you?”
“Maybe not.” Much as she thought that would be for the best, she couldn’t picture it. They’d crossed the line, and there was no going back.
“We agreed to a temporary situation, and I’m the one who screwed up by suggesting something different. So erase that from your mind. I’m all about temporary. I promise.”
She was caught in a trap of her own making. He might be able to keep his heart out of it now that he’d declared their relationship strictly sexual. She wouldn’t bet on it. She wouldn’t bet on her ability to do that, either.
But if she rejected the olive branch and insisted on keeping him at arm’s length until this episode was over, that would be torture of a different kind. She wasn’t convinced either of them could maintain their distance from each other.
“What do you say, Landry? Ready to hit the showers?”
She leaned forward and kissed him. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Show me your jets.”
He’d damn near blown it, but maybe he’d managed a last-minute save. Painful though it was to think about, she might not be into him the way he was into her.
After lifting her off the counter, he took her hand and led her toward the large walk-in shower. “Wait here. Let me get the temperature right. How do you like your jets?”
She laughed. “Rhythmic.”
“I’ll set it for that, but I meant the temp.”
“Warm, not hot. Don’t want to scald anything important.”
“Right.” He was encouraged by the way she’d entered into the spirit of the shower experience. Maybe he hadn’t ruined everything, after all. Yeah, he wished she’d responded differently to his suggestion they could take this to the next level.
But she hadn’t. He needed to accept that and move on. He’d been granted a reprieve, because she could just as easily have decided to sleep in the guest bedroom and let him go hang. She obviously didn’t want a pushy guy with hopes for the future.
So he wouldn’t be that guy. As he stuck his hand under the closest jet to test the temperature, he mapped out his game plan. He would enjoy the gift of Giselle to the fullest. And he would give as good as he got.
She probably wouldn’t change her mind about him, and he wouldn’t expect that. He wasn’t campaigning to win her hand, for God’s sake. He had some pride. But if, at the end of their time together, she had weakened on her stated position, he’d be there.
Because he didn’t think it was the bareback sex or the unusual nature of their meeting that had created this spark between them. Whether she acknowledged it or not, he believed they had something special going on here. He wouldn’t mention it again—God, no—but he would watch, and wait, and hope that eventually she’d see that they were meant to be.
In the meantime, though, he had a killer shower and she was going to leave it totally wrung out, or his name wasn’t Luke Dalton. The counter sex had sidelined him for a while, but the jets could fill in for him until he was ready to rock and roll.
Females were amazing creatures, and he envied them their multiorgasmic capabilities. He had to pace himself, but they didn’t. Oh, sooner or later they’d call a halt, but their staying capacity was way beyond his. When he was looking at a limited time with a hot woman, he regretted his longer recovery time.
“It’s ready.” He glanced over at her. “Are you?”
She laughed. “I don’t know. I’ve never had the multijet experience before. Will I overload on pleasure?”
“I hope so.” He held out his hand. “That’s my goal.”
“Mmm.” She gazed at him with those emerald-green eyes. “And you’re a goal-oriented person, just like your sister, so I’d better watch out. You make this shower sound like the setting for an orgy.”
“A two-person orgy would be a good description.”
“You’ve done this before?”
He shook his head. “I told you that I haven’t brought a woman up here until tonight.”
“So how do you know so much about the shower? Have you been having a little solo fun in there?”
He didn’t usually admit such things to a sexual partner, but Giselle invited honesty. “Maybe a time or two. But my equipment is decidedly different from yours. What I have in mind for you is a product of my imagination.”
Heat blazed in her green eyes. “You’ve certainly fired up mine.”
He gestured toward the walk-in marble enclosure, complete with a built-in marble bench. The water beat a steady tattoo against the creamy walls. “After you.”
She stepped into the spray, raised her arms, closed her eyes, and turned in a slow circle. “Ah. Wonderful. No more sticky chocolate.” Arching her neck, she let the pelting water sluice through her hair until it hung in a slick curtain down her back.
Luke swallowed a moan of longing. He’d heard of mythical water nymphs, and now he knew what they must look like. The high-intensity lights in the ceiling created rainbows in the mist and turned the rivulets of water sliding over her body to ribbons of silver. He’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life. He ached to have her, and sex was only part of it. He’d always wondered if he’d know when the right one came along. Well, fate hadn’t been kind to him. The right one didn’t want him for the long haul. That wasn’t fair, but he’d have to suck it up and deal.
In the meantime, she was here, standing in his shower, and he had pleasure to provide. “Keep your eyes closed. Let me give you a tactile tour of the place.”
She laughed. “Okay.”
“Hold out your hand.”
She stretched out her right hand. So graceful, that hand. She had apricot polish on her toes, but her fingernails were bare. No rings, either. She was unfettered and seemed to like it that way.
He grasped her right hand with his, like a handshake, and slipped his other arm around her slick shoulders. “This way.” He guided her gently toward a spot where the jet was about crotch high—hers, not his. Water spattered on them from all sides as they moved across the marble floor, which was subtly ridged for safety.
“This feels like one of those trust games, where you’re blindfolded and let your partner lead you around.”
“Mmm, blindfolds. Kinky.” His balls tightened. “Want to try that after we dry off?”
“After the way you described this shower experience, I might need a nap afterward.”
“It’s possible.” He rebelled at that idea, and then his conscience pricked him. Just because he didn’t want to sleep while they had a chance to be alone didn’t mean she felt the same. “Okay, stop here, and turn this way.” He edged her around until she faced the jet from about two feet away.
“Oh.” She trembled as the water beat firmly against the tops of her thighs. “I think I get this idea already.”
“Move up a little and spread your feet apart.” He lifted her hand to the moist wall. “Brace yourself with your hands on the wall.”
“Oh, Luke. If you let this secret out . . .” She groaned and stepped a little closer.
That’s when he realized that two side jets were also stimulating her nipples. He hadn’t figured out that would happen. Bonus. He really didn’t have to do a thing. He could stand back and watch the jets do their work.
But that was no fun. Dropping to his knees behind her, he nuzzled her firm backside.