Warily, he asked, “What?”
“I’ll show you,” she said on a sigh. “It’s upstairs in your room.”
“Just where I wanted to go, anyway.” He dropped one arm around her shoulder and, pulling her in close to his side, headed for the staircase.
He didn’t want to think about the fact that being with Mia made him feel…complete. Didn’t want to acknowledge that the cold, hard spots inside him had been eased into warmth just by seeing her.
Because once he acknowledged any of that, there would be no going back.
Nine
Dave’s room held more oversized furniture, just like the rest of the house. The bed was massive. A light oak four-poster was positioned against one wall. A flat-screen TV hung on the wall opposite and a bank of windows, drapes open to the night, took up another wall. There were scatter rugs in dark colors spread across the gleaming wood floor, a fireplace crackling with heat and two comfy chairs pulled up in front of the carefully laid blaze.
When Mia had first moved her things into this room, she’d felt a little awkward, out of place. Now it was cozy, filled with amazing memories of nights spent in Dave’s arms and the promise of more to come.
He stood in the middle of the room and stripped out of his shirt. Tossing her a quick look, he said, “I’m going to jump into the shower, then we’ll talk.”
“Okay.” Was it cowardly to prefer to put off the conversation she knew they had to have? If it was, she was fine with it. A few more minutes to gather her thoughts couldn’t be a bad idea.
She heard the water when he turned it on and instantly pictured him in the shower. His long, rangy body covered in soap suds, hot water streaming across the hard planes and lines of the muscles carved into his skin by years of physical work. She pictured him tipping his head back under the rain showerhead, letting the water stream through his hair and down his back.
Swallowing hard, Mia edged off the bed. She didn’t want to think. She just wanted. Dave had been gone for days and she’d missed him. Missed his touch. His taste. His scent. She’d missed what he could do to her body and she knew that conversation could wait.
She didn’t want to waste a moment of her time with Dave. She loved him and all too soon, she’d be living without him. That thought made her heart ache as she walked across the room. So she put it aside for now. There would be plenty of time later for sorrow, for misery. Right now, there was only love.
She slipped out of her clothes as she crossed the bedroom and was naked by the time she walked into the adjoining bath. It looked like a spa in here. As big as her own living room at Alex’s place, the bath was done in shades of green and cream tiles. There was a giant Jacuzzi tub sitting below an arched window that offered a wide view of the front of the ranch. A double vanity stretched the length of one wall, and on the opposite side of the room was a shower that could comfortably hold six people. There was no door, and because the area was so huge, no water from either the overhead rain nozzle or the five side sprays could reach the floor.
Dave had his back to her as he washed his hair and for just a minute, Mia simply enjoyed the view. He had the best butt in the world. And the rest of him was just as good.
Quietly, she slipped into the shower behind him and the hot water sluiced across her skin as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her breasts against his back.
He groaned, turned around and cupped her face in his palms. “This kind of surprise I could use every day,” he whispered and dipped his head to kiss her, hard and long and deep.
Her mind fuzzed out, but her body leaped to life. Every inch of her skin was buzzing. Her insides lit up like a fireworks factory on fire and the sensation of the water coursing over them only added to the sexual heat stirring between them.
“I decided I’d rather not talk right away,” she said when he came up for air.
“My kind of girl,” he murmured, smiling into her eyes.
Mia wished it was true. Wished that what they had was more than a signed contract and a promise to lie to an entire town. She wished that what they felt when they came together would be enough to keep them together when the month was over, but she couldn’t fool herself. Couldn’t hang on to false hope. Couldn’t set herself up for more pain than was already headed her way.
So, instead, she told her suddenly active mind to go to sleep. She didn’t need to think. She only needed to feel. For now, that would have to be enough.