I pressed a gentle kiss to the sculpted flesh on his chest, and he groaned quietly in response. I caressed his cheek with my knuckles softly and lovingly, the feel of his stubble under my fingers sending a tingle of lust through me. Somehow it was rough and soft at the same time, and it left me wanting to feel it under my lips.
It left me wanting to feel it between my legs.
I left him to sleep in my bed instead of forcing him to get up and go back to sleep in the other room. I quietly moved around my dark room, grabbing clothes so that I could just get dressed in the bathroom after my shower.
I took my shower and then applied lotion and combed the tangles out of my hair, and as I went to get dressed, I realized I’d forgotten something pretty important: panties.
Shit.
I pulled the towel a little tighter around me, hoping that Jesse was either still asleep or that he’d gotten up and left my room. I was beyond embarrassed to exit the bathroom in nothing but a towel, but I had to get my panties. I couldn’t go commando to school.
I peeked out the door of the bathroom and saw that the coast was clear. The bed was empty and the room was lit. Jesse had gotten up and turned on the light, but he had also left the bedroom door wide open.
I snuck out stealthily and found the drawer that I had decided would be my delicates drawer just the day before. I opened it and bent over it, leafing through to find a pair of white panties that wouldn’t show through my light khaki pants.
“I brought you some orange ju—” Jesse’s voice startled me, causing me, of course, to drop my fucking towel as I jumped and turned around at his voice.
He stood in the doorway with a glass of orange juice in his hand, admiration in his eyes, and a wicked smile gracing those perfect lips.
“Well,” he said, his voice low and raspy and breathtakingly sensual as his eyes moved appreciatively down the full frontal show he was getting. “Good morning to you, too.”
“Shit!” I yelled, diving for my towel as I did my best to cover up all of my bits and pieces. I wrapped the towel back around me as tightly as I could. My face had to be the color of a lobster. I think the blush was spreading down my neck and into my chest, and if it was, Jesse just had a comprehensive view of it all.
“Don’t cover up for my benefit,” he said. “I think I like you better without the towel.”
“Oh my God,” I said, at once offended and totally turned on by his words. I grabbed the first pair of panties I could find in my drawer and ran back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me.
CHAPTER 9
I could not believe Jesse had just seen me naked. And it wasn’t like he just saw an accidental flash of a boob. He saw everything. I was as naked as the day is long.
For one brief second, I was thankful I’d kept up with my waxing appointments even though no one had seen me naked since the awful anniversary. And then I wondered if my line of thinking was really so ridiculous.
Jesse Drake had just seen me completely naked.
And that gleaming look in his eyes as mine met his for the briefest of seconds was most definitely admiring.
I finished getting ready, trying to focus on anything aside from my complete mortification. I thought about what I was teaching that day, and somehow my lesson plan on Canterbury Tales seemed a lot less important than the fact that Jesse Drake had just seen me completely naked.
Oh, what Quinn would have to say about that – not to mention the fact that Jesse and I shared one hell of a kiss the night before.
After I finished getting ready, I headed out to the kitchen, hoping to avoid facing him before I left for work. Even though, I had to admit, I still wanted to see him. I just didn’t want to have to face him.
I needed about a week to get over the humiliation.
But, as these things always seem to go for me, he was there in the kitchen, sitting at the table completely dressed for work, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, looking calm, cool, and collected in a shirt and tie. A tie, by the way, that I wanted to rip off of him with my teeth.
“There she is,” he winked, grinning at me as if everything was completely normal. As if we hadn’t shared the hottest kiss ever. As if he hadn’t just seen me naked. “Sadly, now fully clothed.” He mock frowned, and it was just about the most adorable thing I have ever seen.
“Yes. Fully clothed,” I repeated like an idiot. Coherent thoughts eluded me as I moved around the kitchen, gathering a travel mug to fill with coffee.
“I’m not sorry,” he said.
“About what?” I asked.
“Seeing you like that.” I could see the heat in his eyes as he gave me this smoldering look, and I turned red all over again as I took a deep breath in through my nose and blew it out through my mouth.