“You were almost naked in the lake. There’s no real difference.”
Yeah, she could see how he wanted to keep things platonic. Of course he and Tarka must shower together all the time because that’s just what good friends did, right? As she walked past him she rolled her eyes, not missing the sly appreciative glance he gave her breasts. She could almost feel him checking out her ass as she led the way into the bathroom.
Hell, if he and Tak did shower together she wanted to watch.
She threw her beach towel onto an empty space on a rack, then stripped off her bathing suit bottoms, doing her best not to make it provocative. If things went too far in the shower he wasn’t going to get to blame her. She was going to behave herself up until the point that he didn’t.
Since her toiletries were already in the bathroom, she stepped into the walk-in shower, enjoying the stone tile under her feet.
She felt Grant’s presence behind her but didn’t turn to look at him. After testing the water and cranking it hotter she stepped under the spray, groaning with the pleasure of having hot water sluicing over her cold skin.
She turned and tipped her head back, rinsing her hair.
“I never did understand the attraction of sharing a shower with someone. Either you feel like you’re hogging the water, or you’re standing around cold and bored, waiting for your turn.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine,” he said, not sounding fine.
Graciously, she stepped out of the hot water, secretly resenting having to give it up so fast. As she reached for her shampoo bottle, Grant stepped under the deluge.
My, oh my.
Between the stone and glass enclosure, the waterfall showerhead, and the too-pretty redhead with all the lovely muscles and the big pierced cock, Dex suddenly felt like she was in a super R-rated Irish Spring commercial.
He opened his eyes and caught her staring at him, and his gaze grew hooded.
“Forget how to shower?” he asked, amusement in his tone.
She opened her mouth to say something about how he was distracting, but decided against it. If they were just goin
g to be friends she needed to stop flirting with him.
He laughed softly, giving her a full-body shiver, and took the bottle of shampoo from her hands. After pouring some of the shampoo into his palm, he took a step closer and brought his hands up to her hair. He lathered her hair with slow, sensuous strokes, his fingers massaging her scalp and making her knees feel like water. At some point he turned her to put her back under the water and rinsed her hair for her—all of it more intimate than sex, somehow.
Next, he opened her bodywash. Part of her mind was screaming at her to get out of the shower and go put clothes on. This wasn’t what he’d said he wanted just a half hour ago, but as he brought his soapy hands to her shoulders she couldn’t find the willpower to leave. He smoothed the soap over her skin, rubbing it onto her upper chest and back, skimming his hands back upward to circle her throat. His hands rested there gently for a long moment, and in spite of herself Dex’s eyes slid closed, as she basked in the feel of his quiet dominance.
It had been so long since she’d let anyone far enough into her mind to fully dominate her. The last time she’d allowed it, it had been with this same man—and she’d bolted the next morning as though the bed had caught fire. As soon as subspace had cooled, subdrop had taken over, and she’d spent the next two days hiding in her bedroom eating Häagen-Dazs. He hadn’t done anything horrible or shocking—she was a little too experienced to be easily shocked—it was more that he’d managed to pry her wide open emotionally, even though she’d thought she was safe from that level of vulnerability. Knowing he’d managed to tap in to all that the very first time made her leery of going there with him again.
If it hadn’t been Grant, he never would have gotten so far into her head. She wouldn’t have trusted anyone else. But because it was Grant it made everything horrible and complicated. If things between them blew up in her face she’d have no one left—not anyone she was so close to.
He could be the best of both worlds if things worked out, or her biggest nightmare when things fell apart.
Chapter Ten
Arabella trembled under his hands. His dominance growled its way to the surface, determined to take her—to keep her. The way she responded to him was so real and raw, and he couldn’t seem to stop himself even though he’d just talked himself out of pushing her too far at the beach.
The woman was addictive.
For fuck’s sake what was he doing?
The wrong thing.
The right thing?
Maybe there was no such thing as right or wrong in this situation—only actions and consequences.
The only problem was if he kept sleeping with her, no strings attached, she’d never commit. It would be too easy for her to get what she wanted and walk away.
He let go of her throat, staring down into her warm brown eyes, wishing he didn’t have to stop. His body and mind were in complete disagreement, but it would hardly be the first time he got blue balls from Arabella.