He was nude all right, shedding water as he strode out of the shallow water. He didn’t know how she managed to give his skin the sheen of wetness with just some shading of her pencil. She had idealized his body, making him look like a male model, but the face was definitely his. He wasn’t sure he liked the tilt of his head; it held a touch of arrogance. True to her word, she had given him a nice big fish to cover his private parts.
“Is it a bass or a trout?” he asked.
She smacked his shoulder lightly. “Careful, or the drawing will go to the auction.”
A moment’s recklessness tempted him to tell her to go ahead. Then he thought of the ripples of shock and disapproval that would run through the crowd at the gala. It just wasn’t worth it.
He looked up to meet her green eyes and realized she was waiting for his opinion. “You’ve made me look a lot better than I really do. Except for my face. That’s all me. Do I really look that high-and-mighty?”
“Sometimes, but it works for you,” she said. She tipped her head and narrowed her eyes as her glance swept down his body. “I don’t think I made you look better at all. I need to make a few adjustments, but they’ll just add character to the drawing.”
Her frank assessment made a certain part of his body stir again. She jerked her gaze back up to his face as another blush swept up her shoulders and neck to brighten her cheeks. She worried her lower lip, and he wondered what she was thinking.
“I’m staying until next weekend,” she said, her gaze still on his face. “Claire’s giving a reception for my new work Friday night at the gallery. And I’m going to the charity auction. Are you?”
Elation surged through him. He’d been hoping for two more days with her. Now he’d have an entire week.
He would show her the sights of Sanctuary. Maybe seeing it through her fresh eyes would give him a new perspective.
“Well?”
“What?” He had forgotten what she’d asked.
“Are you going to the auction?”
“Yes, and I’m wearing a tux. I hear I look handsome in it.”
“Not as handsome as you look in nothing.” She waggled her finely arched brows at him.
He pulled the pad out of her hands and tumbled her backward on the bed. After that there wasn’t much in the way of conversation for some time.
Chapter 13
JULIA SAT PROPPED up in bed, watching Paul in the mirror as he scrubbed at his wet hair with one of the hotel’s towels. A slant of early-morning sunshine turned his skin to gold. His unbuttoned khakis sat low on his hips, and he was bare chested. Dropping the towel, he pulled a comb out of his back pocket and lifted his arms to work on the thick, damp waves. It made the muscles of his back shift and flex in ways that sent a yearning to touch him rippling through her fingers.
Yanking the sheet out to wrap around herself, she slid off the bed. She needed to buy a sexy nightgown or two. Her oversize T-shirt didn’t cut it now that she had an audience. She tucked the corner of the sheet in and trundled up behind Paul, laying her hands on the moving muscles she’d been watching. “I can’t believe I can touch you anywhere I want to,” she said, sliding her hands down his warm, satiny back and then around his waist to pull herself flat against him.
He stopped moving, and she felt him take a deep breath. “As long as the privilege goes both ways.”
“That’s the best thing about it.”
He lifted one of her hands and brought it to his mouth, turning the palm inward and tickling her skin with the tip of his tongue. The heat and slickness made her nerves sing, and she tightened her one-armed grip on his midriff.
“Sweetheart, I’ve got an appointment in twenty minutes.” His voice was a register lower than normal. “So you need to hold off on the touching privileges or I won’t be able to zip my trousers.”
She let her hand dip lower to find his burgeoning erection. “I bet it would take less than five minutes to fix that problem.”
“You’re on.”
She crowed with delight as he turned in the curve of her arm.
“Hey, you didn’t wear a sheet last night,” he said, throwing a disapproving frown at her toga.
“It was dark then. It’s daylight now.”
She saw his hand move toward the tucked-in corner and all of a sudden the entire sheet was whipped away from her and sent flying. She fought the desire to cover herself with her hands against his devouring gaze.
“I say we can do this in three minutes,” he said, placing her arms over his shoulders and sliding his hands down her bottom, to the backs of her knees. His fingers wrapped her legs like steel bands as she went soaring upward, her thighs spread around his hips, her hot, sensitive center pressed against the hard length of his arousal. As soon as they touched, moans tore from both their throats.