Daring Time

"What?" Hope asked when he seemed to hesitate. He turned away, finding the soap and dipping his hands in the water.

"We have to sit tight for a while. They're not going to bother us until dawn at least.

Diamond Jack locked us in here," he murmured as he washed his hands.

"But how will—" Hope began more loudly.

"Shhhh," Ryan interrupted her. He'd kept his face turned away from her while he'd hushed her, the resulting sound so soft it'd barely interrupted her question. Hope watched silently as he washed his face, her gaze moving hungrily over his flexing back muscles, trim hips and tight buttocks. His legs looked impossibly long in the black pants he wore.

He picked up a towel from the bureau and dried his face and hands, being extra tender around his cut brow. Hope opened her mouth to question him about his actions when he finished, but a warning seemed to flash in his cerulean eyes when he turned toward her.

His handsome face looked rigid and shadowed, but his eyes seemed to glow in the dim light.

Hope bit her lower lip anxiously.

"I know this is frightening. But you have to trust me when I say that you're safe right now. And I will get you out of here."

"I do trust you," she whispered.

He gave a small smile and tossed aside the towel. Hope stared in rising awe and sexual awareness as his delineated abdominal muscles rippled subtly at the small movement.

Perhaps he was aware of the way she examined him because she sensed a sudden stillness, a rising tension in him. His gaze toured her face and lowered down over her body, causing Hope's nipples to stiffen and prickle against the cool sheet.

He slowly approached the foot of the bed, reminding her of a stalking wildcat.

"So ..." Hope asked. "We have several hours before we can act?"

"That's right," he rumbled softly. His lips twitched as he regarded her steadily. She watched his hand, mesmerized, as he dropped it to the sheet next to her bound ankle. His fingers flexed, pulling the sheet an inch lower over her chest. "You've suffered a head injury. Perhaps you'd like to rest until I awaken you before dawn?"

Hope's eyes widened when he pulled slightly again and the sheet slipped lower, this time revealing the top curves of her breasts. "I... I am not tired. And my head does not at all pain me as it did."

His smiled warmly. "That's a good thing. Have you any idea, then, how you might like to spend the.next few hours?"

He tugged. The edge of the sheet lowered until it perched directly above the stiff peaks of her breasts.

"I... we could spend it. . . getting acquainted with one another?" she squeaked.

Her nipples popped out of the sheet, the crests looking rigid and pointed in comparison to the curving mounds of her breasts.

"You know, that was my thinking precisely."

Hope's startled gaze flicked up to Ryan's face. When she saw his expression she snorted softly with laughter. He twisted his mouth as though he was trying to prevent joining in her mirth.

"Untie me," she said.

Without speaking he unfastened her ankles from their restraints. Hope sighed in relief as she bent up her knees and then straightened into a taut stretch.

"Better?"

"Yes," Hope whispered, her voice nearly stolen by Ryan's fixed gaze on her exposed breasts as she arched her back into a stretch.

She sunk back again onto the bed although every muscle in her body was tense with anticipation. He leaned down over the bed and pulled the edge of the sheet down to her knees. For a taut, full moment he looked his fill at her naked body. A tingling sensation of heat flamed beneath her skin wherever his hot stare trailed. Her sex flooded with liquid warmth.

"Ryan," she whispered, desire making her whisper hoarse. He met her gaze. "Untie my wrists. I want to touch you so much."

She saw his throat convulse as he swallowed,

"I want that, too, Hope," he said so quietly she almost didn't catch the words. He came down next to her on the bed, the front of his big body pressing to the side of her. She gasped at the sensation of his bare torso sliding against her naked skin. She could tell by the rigid expression of his face as he encircled her waist with his arm and gently caressed her that he wasn't unaffected by their closeness, either. "But would it be all right if I left your wrists restrained for now?"