She was a stunning woman from head to toe. Yes, even her goddamn feet were sexy, the nails painted a deep crimson color.
The tub was situated in one corner; the enormous, enclosed shower in the opposite one, with a loveseat and chair in pristine white separating them. Along with a coffee table and two end tables, both of which held tall floral arrangements. A striking crystal chandelier cast a golden glow throughout the room.
Nikki added gel to her bath, provided by the hotel’s spa. As it bubbled, Damen went to the shower and cranked on the dual heads as well as the overhead rain feature.
He waited for the water to heat. Then he yanked on the end of his towel, unraveling it. He tossed the thick material on a chair against the wall and stepped under the spray. Not bothering to spare a glance Nikki’s way, to see if she was stealing a glimpse at him.
Best not to know.
He was already fantasizing about what she’d look like when she dropped her own towel and sank into the tub. Wickedly dangerous thoughts to be having.
He kept his back to her. Not for vanity purposes—oh, hell, no. She could look all she wanted.
It was more for self-preservation purposes. In the event she really did possess enough restraint to keep from taking a peek at him. And because he wanted, with every fiber of his being, to leave this damn shower and slip into the tub with her.
His cock throbbed as he shampooed his hair. While attempting to block thoughts—no, images—of Nikki from his mind. In his peripheral vision, he had a lock on the laptop. Not that he expected her to spring from her bath, grab it and bolt.
She was naked.
And he had security all over the place.
And…she was naked.
He groaned.
His dilemma would only worsen, he knew, because even when the program completed its upload to her computer, he couldn’t return it to her until he’d downloaded the data onto the special, encrypted external hard drive his information technology people were delivering this evening. He knew that once he removed the dongle, the program and its full contents would be wiped from Nikki’s computer.
He prayed that was all that would be wiped from her computer.
Jesus Christ, if he lost her personal files…
Fuck.
How could he be so monumentally screwed? Forced into close proximity with the object of his desire—who was currently mere yards away from him with no clothes on—and be in limbo as to what was going to happen next. To them, to her prized possessions, to the intel his op team needed…
And what about later this evening, if the program was still running and still neither one of them would permit the other to be alone with the laptop?
Guess we’re sleeping with each other, after all…
10
Nikki waited for Damen to step out of the bathroom—knowing it’d be a brief pop-out, likely just to grab his toiletries. She quickly stood, rinsed off with the detachable showerhead and then carefully climbed out of the marble-encased tub. She was just wrapping the plush, hotel-issued robe around her when he returned.
He scowled.
“What?” she countered. “Did you really think I was going to wait for you before I covered up?”
“I’ve already imagined you naked, oh, I don’t know, two dozen times at least, so…” He shrugged an impossibly broad shoulder.
Without doubt, he was too hot for her own good. And when wearing nothing but a towel, the white material slung low on his hips, showing off cut abs and the defined swells of his pecs… It was a wonder she didn’t incinerate and fall to ash right there at his feet.
Her skin flushed and her insides blazed. Her gaze temporarily fixated on a drop of water that fell from his damp hair and hit his traps, rolled down to his collarbone…and continued to trickle along his chest, coating his small nipple, then curling under the hard ledge she burned to splay her palms over.
She wanted to lean into him and glide her tongue over his smooth flesh and lick the droplet from him.
In fact, it was all she could do to stand her ground. To drag her gaze from his chest. She stared up at him and heat flared in his eyes—because he’d been watching her watch the trickle. And she was certain he knew exactly what she’d been thinking.
Oh, for the love of God.