As he sat there pondering her reasoning, one thing became very apparent. He was sitting in a bubbling hot tub with her soft, nude body pressed closely to his. The lighted waterfall cast a dim glow into the tiny room, which only added to the intimacy of the moment. His reaction was not only predictable, but it was also inevitable.
With only a fleeting thought to the consequences, Blake pulled Karly closer and lowered his head. The feel of her water-slickened body rubbing against his was enough to send him into orbit, but the moment their mouths touched, a smoldering heat filled his lower belly and quickly sent liquid fire streaking through his veins. He briefly wondered how he could burn to a cinder while sitting in a tub of water.
When she sighed and brought her arms up to encircle his neck, it didn’t even occur to him to resist deepening the kiss, and as he stroked her tongue with his, her sweet taste and eager response only heightened the need building inside of him. It was like nothing had changed since they were in Vegas. He was as hot for her now as he had been then. And he could tell she wanted him just as much.
Unfortunately, his timing was lousy. Making love to her right now could very well scare her into leaving the ranch without him getting to the bottom of what went wrong between them. Besides, he wasn’t prepared to protect her. He hadn’t come to the hot tub with seduction on his mind. And an unplanned pregnancy now would only add another wrinkle to an already complicated situation.
Easing away from the kiss, Blake held her close as he took several deep breaths. His hormones were racing through him like a herd of mustangs at a wild horse roundup and knowing there were no barriers between his body and hers wasn’t making his decision to pull away any easier.
“It’s probably time we got out of the hot tub and headed back to the foreman’s cottage,” he said halfheartedly.
“I—I think...you’re right,” she said, sounding just as reluctant as he felt.
Leaning back, he stared into her incredible blue eyes. “Karly, what...” He stopped and cleared his throat to keep from asking her what went wrong with them. Instead he declared, “I’ll get out and get dressed first. Then I’ll wait for you out by the pool.”
“That’s a good idea,” she agreed. “Thank you.”
Damning his nobility, Blake got out of the hot tub before he could change his mind, quickly toweled himself dry and got dressed. Picking up his boots and socks, he made it a point not to look back at Karly, who was still sitting in the spa as he left the man-made cave. If he had looked back, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to walk away.
As he sat down on the foot of one of the lounge chairs by the pool to pull on his socks and boots, Blake told himself he was doing the right thing—that making love to Karly again would only make things worse when he watched her drive away in a few days. But that reasoning didn’t do a thing to lessen the need for her that still burned in his gut.
Rising to his feet, he took a deep breath. He might as well face facts. He wanted her—had never stopped wanting her. If he hadn’t known that before, he sure as hell did now.
He rubbed the tension at the back of his neck. He could see a lot of cold showers in his near future and the first one would be tonight—as soon as they returned to the foreman’s cottage.
* * *
“Blake, I think I’ll leave to make the drive to Lincoln County after we have breakfast tomorrow morning,” Karly said as he drove the truck away from the log mansion.
“I thought we had that settled,” he said, staring straight ahead. “You were going to wait until the strike was done and fly to Spokane.”
“I just think it would be for the best,” she said, unwilling to admit out loud that she was in real danger of falling under his spell once again.
Sitting in the hot tub next to him, having him put his arm around her and feeling his naked body against hers had almost been her undoing. Even though she hadn’t been able to see much in the dim light of the little cave housing the hot tub, her memory had filled in the blanks. In her mind, she had seen every well-defined muscle, every plane and valley of his impressive physique. Remembering how his strong arms had held her so securely and how gently he made love to her was overwhelming, and she shivered as a wave of desire coursed through every part of her.