Читать книгу Red-Hot Nights: Daring in the Dark - JENNIFER LABRECQUE - Страница 13

“COME ON IN. THE WATER’S fine,” Tawny said. She leaned back, welcoming the kiss of cool, smooth porcelain against her back.

“Give me a second.” He strode out of the bathroom.

They might be here through force of circumstance, but it was very romantic with candles bathing the room in soft light and contrasting shadows. She’d placed votives in saucers on the floor around the tub. Nothing quite like being inventive.

The candlelight lent a dreamlike air. But it was more than that. The entire night was surreal. Simon Thackeray was about to climb into a bath with her after they’d just had fantastic sex that had been both tender and explosive. She’d discovered a consideration behind Simon’s reserve she’d never anticipated, a quality that had never been part of her dreams yet had engaged her beyond the mere physical.

Simon returned, his camera slung around his neck. He should’ve looked sort of silly wearing only a camera, but there was nothing remotely silly about Simon naked. Impressive. Sexy. Drool-inducing. Heat flushed her body, regardless of the tepid water surrounding her. Nice—that was such an insipid word—muscular legs, nice package up front, totally nice ass. Wow.

Click.

She laughed. “Did you just take a picture of me ogling you from the bath?”

“Absolutely. Very sexy.”

And there was a bonus to carrying on a conversation with a naked man. When he told you he found something sexy, well, you got visual proof to back up his statement. Simon wasn’t lying—it looked as if he found her very sexy indeed.

“I’m not actually naked in the picture, am I?”

He grinned. “No. At this angle and with the water at that level, you can’t actually see details—which is something of a shame since you possess very nice details.”

“Careful, sir. You’ll make me swoon,” she teased in an exaggerated Southern drawl. Beneath Simon’s sober exterior beat the heart of a flirt, and it was all the more potent because he didn’t flirt indiscriminately the way some men did. She’d never seen this flirtatious side of him, even when she and Elliott had double-dated with him. Elliott. She didn’t remotely want to dedicate a brain cell to Elliott at this moment.

“What do you think will happen when I get in the tub with you, Tawny?”

He was a devil to tease her in that low, suggestive tone.

“Keep talking that way and it’ll be your own fault if the water’s heated up by the time you get here,” she said.

Simon laughed and kept firing off pictures. Tawny had lost her self-consciousness in front of the camera. She simply ignored it and flirted with Simon.

“You’re blowing your chance at cool and refreshing.”

“Wet and warm sounds even better,” he said.

“Getting warmer by the minute. Why don’t you come on over and find out just how wet and hot it is?” She sat up, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Don’t forget, you promised me a back wash.”

“I plan to fulfill that promise thoroughly in just a minute. That’s a great angle. Hold it for me.”

At one time she might’ve been impatient, but she knew Simon would join her sooner or later. She eyed his smooth, firm erection—sooner from the looks of things. Anticipation hummed through her and she smiled her anticipation at him.