“I need a shower,” Shane said apologetically as they approached the lights of town. “Can you give me a minute?”
“Oh,” she breathed. “I guess.”
“You can’t wait one minute for me?” he asked with a huge grin.
Her heart thumped hard as she thought of what she really wanted. What she’d say if she were bold and brave and more confident about sex. “It’s not that,” she whispered.
He shot her a questioning glance.
“It’s just that I…” Oh, fuck. What the hell. She took a deep breath. “I’d like to see you in the shower. I’ve thought about it.”
“You’ve thought about it?” He sounded shocked, but surely he was a little pleased. He was a man, after all.
“Yes.”
“You’ve thought about me showering?” They’d reached town, finally, and she could see the surprise on his face. And the delight.
Wishing it were still dark, Merry decided that if she wanted to be seen as sexy, she had to be sexy. There was no way around it. “Yes. I fantasized about that. Watching you. In the shower.”
When he looked at her, she kept her face straight ahead, but she couldn’t stop the smile that spread over her face. His voice held an entirely different timbre when he spoke. “You fantasized about me, Merry?”
“Yes,” she said, her own voice hoarse with embarrassment and excitement.
“Did you touch yourself?”
“Um… Yes.”
When he had to stop at the first light, Shane’s thumb tapped impatiently at the steering wheel. Merry pressed her lips together and held her breath.
“Christ,” he finally cursed. He didn’t say another word as he drove through the crowded streets of town. But his thumb tapped. Over and over. Faster.
The truck jerked to a stop when he parked in front of the Stud Farm. He quickly circled to open her door.
Merry smiled up at him as she hopped down. He slammed the door and followed her into the building. She got her keys out and tossed him a look over her shoulder. “Anyway, did you want to shower or did you want to come in with—?”
She’d barely turned the key in the lock when Shane pushed her door open with a growl. His body moved her in. He slammed the door behind her and reached for the hem of her shirt. “Get naked,” he ordered.
Merry giggled. She couldn’t help it. Shane growled again and pulled her shirt up. A second later, he had her bra unclasped. “Stop!” she shrieked, laughing as she covered her bare breasts.
“Oh, sure,” he said, walking her backward toward the bathroom. He tossed his hat to the couch. “You tell me you want to shower with me. Tell me you’ve fantasized about it, that you fucking touched yourself and fantasized about it, and now you want me to stop?”
Oh, God. He backed her against the bathroom wall and braced one hand next to her head. His brown eyes burned, brushing her skin with heat.
“Did you touch your breasts, Merry?”
She opened her mouth, meaning to answer, but her throat dried to dust.
“Did you?”
She nodded.
“Show me.”
She couldn’t. She couldn’t. But she was already cupping her breasts, trying to hide, and Shane just put a hand over hers and slipped her fingers a little lower. “Show me, Merry.”
Her lungs couldn’t hold enough breath. There wasn’t enough air in the room. She was panting now. So was he. His eyes watched her hand as if she held the key to some treasure.
Merry brushed her fingers over her nipple and watched his jaw jump. Terrified power exploded through her body. She rolled her nipple between her fingers. His lips parted. She squeezed and gasped, and Shane groaned.