Why did a single man need all this space? And how long had he planned on staying?
As if he couldn’t get enough distance between them, he stomped past her, draping his jacket on the back of the couch before leaning on the wall across the room from her.
This hot and cold act from him was annoying her. One moment he couldn’t take his hands off her, and the next he kept his distance.
Maybe she wasn’t the only one who was confused.
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “Just because I lost billions of dollars doesn’t mean I’m not rich.”
She jolted. “I didn’t take billions from you.”
Just a few million dollars. It was still a crime, but it wasn’t as if he didn’t have money to spare. What did he mean that he’d lost billions?
“Didn’t say you did.” He rubbed his jaw distractedly and then gestured to the open door beside him. “Anyway, make yourself at home. You can take this room. Use the shower, and get some sleep.”
Clearly, he wanted to change the subject. She filed it away for later, along with the dozens of other questions she had for him. The problem with asking him questions was it opened the door for him to ask her questions. Questions she couldn’t answer, no matter how much she wanted to.
The sun had already risen high in the morning sky, its rays streaming through the wall of windows. Although she wanted to take a long hot shower to wash the creepy-crawly sensation of bugs from her skin, she couldn’t afford to be alone with her thoughts.
She decided to take a play from his rule book, avoiding eye contact and remaining detached as she went into her temporary bedroom and dropped the bag with her clothes on the bed. “I don’t have time to sleep. I have to get to work.”
And away from him before she did anything stupid like confess everything.
He loomed in the doorway, gripping both sides of it as if the entire room would collapse if he let go. “It’s Sunday. And I thought I told you to clear your schedule.”
“Yes, well, despite your insistence otherwise, you don’t own me. I need to go into the office and finish up some things if I’m going to take time off this week.” She headed into the bathroom, expecting him to give her some privacy.
No such luck. He followed her in and turned on the shower. “Anything changing between now and this afternoon?”
Other than losing a bit more control over her life? She sighed, too exhausted anymore to fight. “No.”
“Then you’ll get a few hours of sleep before you go,” he said decisively. “But first, let’s take a shower.”
He peeled off his shirt, gifting her with the first glance of what her husband hid underneath his clothes.
Her mouth grew dry even as the room filled with steam. When she’d known Sawyer before, he’d been toned and lean, but he looked completely different now. His chest was wider than she remembered, his arms thick with muscles. Her gaze followed the light trail of hair leading from his chest down his abdomen, where she could make out the sharp contours of those muscles. She wanted to lick a path down and see if she couldn’t sate her thirst from the moisture collecting on his skin.
Frankly, his body intimidated the hell out of her. While she’d tried to stay in shape, her body had aged over the last few years. Her breasts were no longer as perky or her stomach as flat. It hadn’t bothered her until now.
Would he still be attracted to her?
He must have sensed her apprehension. “It’s important you know you can use your safe word if you don’t want this.”
She nodded. “I know.”
But she did want it.
Wanted it more than anything.
Her pulse skyrocketed as he flicked open the fly of his jeans. “What safe word do you want to use?”
“Black list,” she said automatically.
The words held more meaning than he would ever know.
“That’s an odd choice. Care to share the meaning behind it?”
“No.” She forced her gaze to his face. “That’s a hard limit.”
He paused, his eyes locked with hers as they tried to uncover her secrets. She used to joke that all he had to do was give her his “Dom eyes” and she couldn’t refuse him anything. But today she held her ground, refusing to give into him. She almost expected him to walk out. Instead he resumed undressing, his nimble fingers doing the job she wanted to do. “Any of your other limits change?” His pants fell to the floor, and in a moment, his boxer-briefs joined them.
His cock was fully erect, long and curved, pre-come already dripping from the tip. He’d always kept himself so perfectly manscaped that she used to laugh.
She wasn’t laughing now.