That was what I thought, until the only sound in the house was the shower spray that sounded like it was being broadcast over a loudspeaker. It was pure torture, listening to the water as it sluiced over her naked body, imagining her slowly soaping up and rubbing one of those fluffy loofah things over her skin to get rid of the dirt and sawdust. Seeing, in my mind’s eyes, her hand disappearing between her legs. To clean herself, or to thoughts of me, I couldn’t be sure, so I let my imagination fill in the gaps.
“All right, new idea.”
I gathered up the few items I’d managed to unload before thoughts of a naked Teddy left me distracted and made my way to the kitchen, scanning the room where I first tasted her sweet lips, where she melted into me for the first time.
“Nope.”
A backyard picnic was intimate enough.
“A picnic?” Teddy’s voice came from behind me, and I looked around to find her standing at the bottom of the porch steps in a pair of cutoff shorts with plenty of denim fringe high up on her thighs and a fitted tank top that hugged her breasts. And if a woman had to wear a bra, the one Teddy wore now, soft and barely there, was the perfect bra. It was thin and light and showed off the points of her nipples to perfection.
I nodded and stepped to the side so she could get a good look at my efforts. “What did you think the picnic basket was for?”
Teddy shrugged. “Expediency?” Her bare shoulders lifted and fell and her mouth pulled into a crooked grin that I wanted nothing more than to kiss until her clothes fell off right along with mine.
“Good guess, but no. You’ve been stuck inside working all day, so I figured you might want to relax and soak up some sun. Come take a seat.”
I couldn’t deny that the sight of Teddy’s skin, bronze and kissed by the sun, was my favorite way to see her. Aside from naked, of course.
“Wow, thoughtful, too? What is it, my birthday or something?”
“Not for a few more months,” I grumbled at her backhanded compliment and caught her giving me a curious but surprised look. “You did tell me the other day, of course I remember.”
I rolled my eyes to punctuate my point. I might have been a jackass to her back in the day, but Teddy had never, ever been invisible to me.
Without saying a word, she slowly inched closer to where I stood on the blanket laid out in the center of her backyard, where she could soak up maximum rays while we ate. She dropped down and stretched her long legs out in front of her before digging into the food, moaning with every bite.
“Roasted chicken, still warm? Impressive.” Teddy plucked up some of the juicy meat with her fingers before she slid them into her mouth. “Delicious.”
“Who doesn’t love chicken?” My voice croaked when I spoke, evidence of the effect this woman was having on me while she sat there, oohing and aahing over the food.
“So far I love it all,” she replied with a wide, knowing smile. “Antonio makes the best potato salad outside of Mississippi, so I totally approve, but the asparagus and zucchini fries are a nice addition.”
I leaned forward until our gazes collided and grinned. “I don’t know, I’m discovering a new fondness for prosciutto-wrapped melons.”
She held a half-eaten piece between her fingers, juices dripping down the back of her hand and arm, and, feeling bold, I wrapped my lips around the piece and groaned.
Teddy stared at me for a long time, her mouth wide with shock, her eyes heated with desire.
This was it—the moment days and weeks of flirting had been leading up to. Again.
Instead, Teddy sat back and dug her palms into the ground with a small smile. “It’s the mix of salty and sweet that makes it so irresistible.”
I licked my lips just slow enough to tease her. “Agreed.”
Teddy’s full lips tugged into a wide grin as her brown eyes continue to focus on me, to study me. “Suzie says you don’t want to run the emergency department.”
Well, that was one way to throw cold water on my flirting efforts. I sighed and waited until it was clear I couldn’t wait Teddy out, before I answered. “I like my job—no, I love it. But adding more paperwork and administrative tasks to my duties might change that. My ego can handle answering to someone else.”
“Until someone else comes in and start making changes you disagree with. No one knows the place better than you do, Cal. What’s holding you back?”
I objected to her perspective, but I didn’t say so. “Is this where you tell me I’m wasting my potential? That I can’t be happy unless I’m climbing the corporate ladder?”