Claim My Baby (Crescent Cove 2)

Though she certainly seemed curious now.

“We’re in Vegas, right?”

She nodded.

“And on vacation. So, what happens on vacation in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

“When you put it that way, I’m in.” She crossed the rest of the way to the oversized hot tub and stepped in, pausing to let out a breath. “Whoa, that’s warm.”

“It is.”

She swallowed, eyeing me up and down. “You have on boxers?”

“Yes. Figured it was easier than grabbing my trunks. Okay?”

“Sure. Same thing, pretty much.” She sucked in a breath and slipped into the water, submerging all the way up to her neck in a surprisingly graceful slide. “That feels so good.” She closed her eyes and gripped the sides of the tub, her legs rubbing along mine before she moved them slightly away. “Bubbles are the best.”

“They are. We should’ve ordered you some champagne before we got in here.”

“Why? What are we celebrating?”

“Lots of things. You took your first cross-country flight today. You’re on vacation in Vegas. First stay in a hotel. You have probably never had champagne either.”

“Busted.” She lifted her voice over the bubbling of the tub. “But I’m not much of a drinker.”

“Vacation,” I reminded her, flicking my fingers over the back of her hand on the side of the Jacuzzi. Her eyes opened warily, but no fear resided in their depths. She might’ve been initially uneasy at getting in there with me, but her anxiety was already disappearing. “You’re allowed to do things outside your comfort zone. Even encouraged to.”

“The last time I drank more than a glass or two of anything was, hmm, probably at my parents’ going-away party after they sold the B and B.”

The mention of the B and B made me draw my hand back into the water. It reminded me of what she’d lost, and how much the business had meant to her. Easing away was my kneejerk response to anything emotional.

She frowned, as if she was surprised I’d stopped touching her. I definitely hadn’t wanted to.

And that was dangerous all the way around, friends or not.

“Did you get loaded?”

She smiled at that, idly itching her calf with the opposite foot. “No. A little tipsy, but I stopped after three. I’ve never been all the way drunk.”

“Not even at college? How is that possible?”

“Some of us went to school to study, you know,” she teased.

“I do know, actually. I wasn’t a partier either, not in prep school and not in college. And I didn’t have sex until I was nineteen, so before you think I was out there spreading my seed far and wide…not so much.”

Why had I shared that with her? It wasn’t relevant at all. Yet she leaned forward, her heavy breasts bobbing slightly out of the water. Big, taut nipples made my throat go dry, and much as I tried to keep my gaze above her neck, I simply could not.

“See, that’s the look.”

“Hmm?”

“That look, right there. The one where you get all wolfish.” Her teeth grazed her plump lower lip and my cock twitched. It was a miracle it didn’t pop over my damn waistband. “You really are attracted to me,” she said after a moment, almost to herself. “Me, specifically, not just because you’re horny.”

The thought that it could be otherwise was so ludicrous that I laughed. And kept right on laughing as she stared at me, until that lip she’d been tormenting trembled and she glanced away, hiding her face from my view.

“Sage. Look at me.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”