“What are you talking about?”
It would be easy enough to lift her up and set her back on the couch. Do all the things he’d wanted to do since they’d stumbled into the kitchen for coffee. Like open that robe and make her come with his mouth before he did it again with his cock. “The whole thing of you wearing my underwear while we wash clothes.”
“Oh, so now it’s only your underwear?”
He grinned. “It’s whatever you’re comfortable in. Although I think you’d be missing a rare opportunity to wear boxer briefs during a polar vortex.”
“So you’re asking me to be mostly naked for science?”
“Is there a nobler cause?” he asked. “I don’t think so.”
She barked out a laugh. “Pretty much every cause is nobler than that.”
“Yeah, well I’m just trying to be a nice guy.”
Jenna laughed. “I so regret telling you that. But I have a better idea.”
“What would that be?”
“I’m thinking we should go take a shower. Together. Naked. Wet. And most definitely not for science.’
“Oh, that is a good plan. We could go nuts with all the showerheads.”
She pushed her hips forward, knowing exactly where she touched him.
“Completely mind-blowing,” he said, walking her slightly toward his room. “There’s music, too. In the shower.” Another bump, and since he’d already started getting hard... “You can have any kind from country to...something else.”
Jenna flexed her ass. Both cheeks at once. Jesus. How was a man supposed to think when she did stuff like that? “Uh, it also has heated towels. And colors and scenes like...you know.” So much for her needing space. Or him being at all coherent.
Giving up, he finally pulled her right up against his poor hard cock, which was pressed so tight in his jeans he feared for his zipper.
Her eyebrows went up and her eyes widened, her smile so genuinely charming he could barely keep himself from dragging her to the bedroom.
“Although my idea trumped yours by a lot,” she said, “I still like the way you think. You’re not afraid to go off script. But you’re logical, with good common sense, and always thinking ahead, i.e. washing my clothes. Although, you’re a storm chaser, which is very illogical.”
“Only kind of illogical. I literally wrote a book on safety and storm chasing. Besides, it’s a major rush. Kind of like kissing you,” he said, surprised that it was true. Huh. Although realistically, he’d been monogamous for five years. It was the newness of being with her, that was all.
Jenna grinned. “If you’d kindly take your hands off my ass, we can get busy.”
He smiled. She was definitely a better idea person than he was.
9
THANK GOODNESS HIS mood had lifted. She’d realized quickly that he’d gotten dressed for her benefit, and that his weird behavior was because he didn’t want her to regret anything when the storm was over.
She knew that she’d have plenty to deal with regarding Payton, but that was for another day. When she wasn’t in a smart apartment. When she no longer had the perfect distraction in the form of Rick Sinclair.
When she was with him, and that included times when they weren’t having sex, she was completely present. Not thinking about the fact that she’d come here with only the clothes on her back. Thank God she’d never have to dress up like a Bond girl again. That she’d put up with it for five years? That would also be thoroughly examined another day, because she did not want to be that woman.
While he was busy with a call from his buddy Sam about the apartment, she decided to try on the clothes Rick had left out for her. The T-shirt was fine, but then she stepped into his Levi’s. To her surprise she was able to zip them all the way up, given his waist was so trim. Taking a seat on the bed, she rolled up the hems. It wasn’t very elegant. The hems were thick and they rubbed together when she walked. But that was all right. She wouldn’t be wearing them much.
The boxer shorts, now they were going to be a lot of fun. There were at least three ways she could tease Rick with them. Right now, though, she wanted to peel out of his too-big clothes, then let him distract her some more.
Had she ever been as daring and playful as she was with Rick? Not that she could remember.
Of course the man she was with wasn’t ordinary Rick Sinclair. Just like she wasn’t ordinary Jenna. They were squarely in the middle of a first-time bubble. He could pretend to be anyone he wanted as long as it didn’t hurt either of them. In fact, it wouldn’t hurt her feelings if they both wanted to get a little more wicked. Maybe in the shower she could...she wasn’t sure yet what she’d do, but she was open to suggestions.
Swishing her way to the full-length mirror, she grinned. The rolled up hems were uneven, but she didn’t mind, which was also something new. At home she’d have had the measuring tape out, but here? No rules. Once she was out of the shower, she’d put on the clothes again. It would feel good to wear clothes, although being naked under the robe had been exciting. Maybe she would carry this side of herself back into her world. That would be interesting, but unlikely. For one thing, she wasn’t going to be having this much sex. Or any sex, for that matter. Not right away, at least.
Her plan was to take a nice long break from men once she got home. Give a lot more thought to what she wanted. Who she wanted to be, with or without a husband. Why it was so important to her that she have the upper hand. As far as she could tell, she’d done everything she could not to be like her mother. She loved her mom, but she hated the relationship between her parents. Still, she didn’t want her future to be reactionary. All that could ever amount to was a small life.
She took off the jeans and laid them out on the bed, then put the rest of her après-shower wardrobe with them. Later, she’d put her clothes in the washer. There was no way to tell when she might get the chance to go home.
It was a pity she and Rick hadn’t met a long time ago. Although how could that have ever happened? Even if they had met, she’d never have gone out with a tornado chaser. God, how much she’d have missed.
Nope. No use going there. The object of the day was to keep her mind and body occupied. No time for soul searching or remorse. She’d found her line in the sand. Period.
She slipped on her robe, ready to go find Rick and drag him into the shower.
“Miss me?”
Jenna spun around to find him at the door, leaning against the frame. Even in the white robe, he looked like sin on legs. She had to admit that his looks were a part of what made this whole thing so otherworldly. He was out of her league in that department. Not that he seemed to mind.
“I did miss you,” she said. “Everything okay with Sam?”
“Yep.”
“Good. I believe we have a date with a hydra-headed shower?”
“Okay, first, I find it incredibly hot that you called the shower hydra.” He narrowed his gaze as he pushed off the door. “I’d heard about English teachers being hot, but I never imagined you. Hydra-headed shower, indeed.”
By the time he reached her, his eyes had darkened and his robe had opened completely, the tie dragging behind him. “May I take you on a tour of the facilities?”
“Yes,” she said. “Please do.”
He leaned in, but didn’t kiss her until he’d undone her robe so they were flashing each other shamelessly. This was very high on her scale of erotic moments. The kiss, when it came, made her toes curl while he made sure all their visible naked parts touched.
Somehow, without seeming to look up, he led her through the bathroom. The whole time his fingers ran through her hair just the way she liked it. He kissed her until she could scarcely breathe. And the way he used his tongue to tease and tempt, she became wet without touching water.
Magic.
Behind her, she heard music, soothing spa sounds, as well as the sound of gentle rain. They broke the kiss a few seconds later, and Rick pulled his cell phone out of his robe pocket.
“Are you really going to take another call now?”
“That would be very difficult,” he said, “since this is a remote control.”
“Oh. For the shower?”
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
The shower in this bathroom wasn’t like the one in the second bedroom, which was all kinds of awesome in its own right. This one, though, was luxury to the max.
There was no door. Instead, there was a gorgeous curved tile entry. The tile changed from sea-green to teal in the outer edges, where they hung up their robes, to a beautiful lavender and pink as they walked through to the shower itself.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered, spotting the rows of jets coming from three directions, the music getting a bit louder the closer they got to the heart of the system.
“Is the temperature all right for you? We can change it in a heartbeat.”
She stuck her hand under the waterfall. “Perfect so far.”
“Don’t be shy.” He pointed to a digital keypad next to a single sprayer that reminded her of a car wash. “You can change the temp or the flow to whatever suits you.”
There was no way to tell but to dive in. She moved to the center, where every jet hit her, and it was so glorious she wanted to stay right there until school started on Monday. Maybe longer. Closing her eyes made it easier to immerse herself in the sensations. When she opened her eyes again they were no longer in the bathroom.