He nodded.
“Because I think we both know we want it.”
“True. It’ll happen,” he said confidently.
“I just hate the waiting game.”
“Me, too. But we’ll get there, V.”
“I know. But it’s my fault that we have to wait.”
“It’s not your fault. We’ve both got our reasons.”
He was right. I had my ingrained reasons, and he’d told me he didn’t have sex with married women.
“We’re building anticipation, and when our time comes, it’ll make it that much better,” he said.
I felt a surge of love course through me for him. I kissed his chest just over his heart, and I felt him tighten his arms around me.
“I can’t wait,” I whispered.
“Neither can I,” he murmured back, and then his fingertips found my chin and I scooted up in his arms. His mouth covered mine and I knew that the wait would be well worth it.
He used the restroom first while I got up and started gathering clothes to take a shower (not forgetting my panties this time). A quick check of the clock on my cell phone told me that we’d slept in; it was almost 10:30, and I felt rude as a guest to sleep so late. Jesse assured me that it was fine, though, and then I set to looking through my bag for my cell phone charger. My battery was already down to twenty-four percent, and in that haze of lust produced by naked Jesse, I completely forgot to charge it the night before. I went through my bag three times. I took everything out and put it all back in.
No cell phone charger.
Jesse had an iPhone, too, so I’d just borrow his. When the bathroom door opened for his exit, my mouth somehow failed me as the words to my question died on my lips.
Holy fucking hell.
Jesse was wearing a pair of shorts and nothing else. No socks on those sexy feet. No pants covering those perfect calves. No shirt concealing his broad chest or that washboard he called a stomach.
Beads of water clung to his chest. Who knew I could be jealous of water?
His hair was still damp from the shower, and he hadn’t put any product into it yet.
Jesse Drake fresh from the shower was surely a sight to behold. As I stood there staring, jaw dropped open, I felt like if I died right in that moment, I would have died the happiest girl in the world just for the eye candy staring me in the face.
He grinned over at me, clearly catching me in the act of ogling him. “Your turn,” he said.
“Uh,” I muttered, and some other sounds incoherently fell from my lips. I forced my gaze from his body and back to my clothes, and then I turned to head to the bathroom.
“Hey,” he said softly. I glanced up at him. “Can I watch?” he asked, and then he grinned sinfully.
“Soon,” I said, thinking that it wouldn’t be soon enough. I smiled as I walked by him, and he grabbed me into his arms and gave me one of those Jesse specialty double kisses.
“Have a good shower.”
“Oh, can I borrow your cell phone charger? I can’t find mine.”
He nodded. “I’ll find it while you shower.”
“Thanks, Jesse,” I said.
He sighed.
“What?”
“I just like hearing the way my name sounds passing through those gorgeous lips of yours,” he said.
“I like saying it,” I said. “What’s your middle name?”
“Ethan.”
“Jesse Ethan Drake.”
Jesse and Veronica Drake.
Veronica Drake.
Wait. No, it was Jesse Drake. I shook my head and headed to the shower, perplexed by the direction of my thoughts.
I was still married. Certainly I wasn’t ready to jump into a second marriage before my first marriage was dissolved.
Besides, for as much as Jesse made me feel like we had a future together, his reputation as a ladies’ man preceded him. I was afraid to get my hopes up too high only to have them shattered later, when I fell even harder for him. Because I was falling harder every second we spent together, and deep down I was terrified that this was going to end badly, that it was going to end in heartbreak for me. All I could cling to was the hope that Jesse Drake would treat me right, that he would hold onto my heart and take care of me. Allowing myself to think any other way was only going to cause pain, so I wouldn’t even imagine that situation.
After I finished getting ready, I found Jesse waiting for me on the bed. He stood and pulled me into his arms.
“You look beautiful, V,” he said.
“I love it when you call me ‘V.’”
A smile curled the corners of his lips, and I ran my fingers through his hair, still soft from lack of product. It stuck up where I touched it, and it was even silkier and softer than I’d imagined it would be. He leaned into me and buried his face in my neck, and when he held me like this, when he displayed this emotion for me, I knew it was his way of telling me that he’d fallen as hard for me as I had fallen for him.