Taking Catie (The Temptation Saga 3)

She padded into Chad’s private bathroom, took care of necessities, and looked in the mirror.

What a sight.

Hair snarled from the night ride, raccoon eyes from the mascara she’d donned for the party.

Yuck. She rubbed at her eyes. No more mascara. Ever. Even for that damn rodeo queen contest. There was a reason she never wore the stuff. She’d just forgotten for a few brainless moments.

And her cheeks and neck and breasts, all ruddy from Chad’s whisker burn. Her nipples were dark and tender. She cupped her breasts and held them up. They looked, and felt, well loved.

She let out a quick breath. She needed a shower. A long, slow, hot shower to soothe her muscles and the tender spot between her legs. She’d ridden a little while she’d been abroad, but not nearly enough to stay in shape. Two rides on Ladybird yesterday had turned her thighs into throbbing jelly. Her shoulders ached too, and her neck. She shook her head. She should have known better, but she’d missed this life.

And then the ride Chad had taken her on—more muscles she’d never used before. Some were the same she’d used with Ladybird. Others, well, she hadn’t known she had so many muscles.

She opened the door to the oversize shower and turned on the water. When it was good and hot, she stepped in. The water pelted her aching muscles, soothing them. She chose a bottle of shampoo—Mane ‘n Tail? Trust Chad McCray to use horse shampoo—and squeezed some into her palm. As she massaged it into her scalp, she closed her eyes and inhaled the moist steam from the shower, clearing the dust from the night ride out of her nose. When her hair was thoroughly washed, she leaned back into the stream of water and let the shower rinse the lather away.

“Now that’s about the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”

She opened her eyes and faced Chad, his gaze raking over her. She hadn’t heard him open the shower door.

“Shut the door, Chad. You’ll get the floor all wet.”

“I have a maid, sugar.”

“Go away, then. I need to wash.”

“Not the right thing to say, sugar.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“The right thing to say is, ‘won’t you join me, Chad?’”

“You want to take a shower with me?”

“More than I want my next meal, I think.” He eyed her up and down. “I do believe I’m envious of those droplets of water meandering over your curves like that.”

She giggled. “Well, you can’t come in here like that.”

“Like what?”

“With your clothes on, silly.”

He chuckled. “I can take care of that quicker than a licorice whip.”

“Licorice whip?”

Before she could give his saying another thought, his clothes were in a heap by the bathtub and he was in the shower with her, his body pressing to hers.

“Damn, what you do to me,” he murmured, licking her earlobe.

His arousal grew against her stomach. She smiled to herself. He wanted her again. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around her hips, clamping her mouth to his.

The kiss was as hungry as it had been last night. A full contact, wet-tongued, body-melting kiss. Catie couldn’t get enough.

One of Chad’s hands fumbled with the shower knob, and the water ceased to flow. He stepped out, still holding her, and dragged her to the bed.

“Chad? A towel?”

“Can’t wait.”