style="font-size:15px;"> “Hey, hold up a second.” He turned her round. “Sorry to step on your toes, but I don’t trust the guy. Something’s going on with him.”
“He was just trying to be nice.”
His gaze trailed over her face, stopping at her lips. “Maybe I’m afraid he’ll make a move on you.”
“And if he did? I’d think you’d be glad.”
His palms slid down her arms, creases forming between his brows. “And why would you think that?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Her voice dropped to a whisper, not wanting anyone to hear what she was about to say. “Poor little Chloe needs a tutor. Who wants to be stuck with that kind of duty?”
Certainly not her ex, who’d made his exasperation plain.
The corners of Brad’s eyes crinkled as he continued to look at her. “You make it sound like a death sentence.”
Chloe shrugged. “You said it, not me.”
There was a pause, then his fingertips stroked across her cheek. “You’re a beautiful, sexy woman. Any red-blooded man would give his right arm to be in my position. Even Coleman. It’s why I don’t want him hanging around you.”
“He’s not hanging around me.”
“Maybe he’d like to.”
Chloe tried to decipher his meaning. “And that would bother you.”
His eyes darkened, his smile fading. “Oh, yeah. It would bother me a whole lot. Because you’re all mine. At least for now.”
THE BATHROOM DOOR wasn’t locked.
As strange as she found his aversion to keys, in this instance it suited her purposes. Brad had said he was going to take a shower, and Chloe had stood there undecided. Her irritation about the scene at the hospital had faded, and anticipation had wormed its way back into her head.
Should she wait for him to get the ball rolling or try to hurry things along? Their last time together had been all about her—he’d seen to her every need. Maybe this time she could return the favor. After all, she knew the mechanics of it. And instead of waiting for Brad to ask for what he wanted—something she’d never had to worry about with Travis, because he always had—she could beat him to the punch.
Maybe this way she wouldn’t feel like a receptacle—there to be used at someone else’s convenience—like she had during her marriage.
She eased the door opened and slid inside, the dense moist fog from the shower enveloping her. The clean scent of shampoo filled her senses, and she relaxed, a smile working its way up from her chest.
Things were about to get interesting.
Pulling a towel off the rack beside the door, she padded over to the shower on bare feet and set the towel down on a nearby stool. She paused at the curved entryway that led to the interior of the stall and tried to plan her first move. Before she had a chance to do anything, a hand reached round the corner and snagged her wrist, hauling her through jets of water—which came at her from all angles—until she smacked into a bare, muscular chest.
She screeched as the warm spray continued to pelt her hair and her scrubs, plastering them to her body.
“What are you doing?” she spluttered. “How did you even know I was out there?”
“I have my ways.” He reached around her and adjusted the spray until it was less cyclonic and more mist-like.
“You do? That sounds a little scary.” She laughed to cover up the fact that she was only half kidding.
“Does it?” He leaned against the tiled wall and pulled her between his splayed legs, his already stiffening flesh pressing into her belly. He seemed unfazed by the fact that she still had all her clothes on. She, on the other hand, was aware of every inch of his nakedness.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“It should.” His hand slid into the wet locks of her hair and held her in place as he kissed her, before going to the bottom of her shirt, hauling it over her head and dropping it onto the black marble floor next to him.
She swallowed. Here it was, the test of her mettle. It was one thing to get carried away like they had on the couch a few nights ago and let things go further than she’d meant them to. It was another thing entirely to sneak into a bathroom intent on doing unto him as he had done unto her.
Only he’d turned the tables on her. Again.
Time to turn them back her way.
She took a step backwards, forcing herself to maintain eye contact as her fingers found her bra clasp and released it, feigning nonchalance as she tossed the garment on top of her shirt. She was rewarded by the darkening of his pupils as they slid over what she’d revealed.
So far, so good.
The best part was that he wasn’t directing her every move. She was free to go in whatever direction she chose.
And she chose this. Her thumbs hooked in the waistband of her scrubs and pushed them over her hips, then she stepped out of them. One corner of his mouth tilted, and when she chanced a glance down, she saw the spark of interest was holding steady. Okay, so it was more than a spark. Much, much more. The sight gave her a shot of confidence.
She could do this.
Measuring out another dose, her fingers plucked at the elastic band of her satin panties and she raised her eyebrows.
“Definitely.” His voice had dropped to a low growl.
Her cheeks heated, but she slid the underwear down, his eyes following her progress. Once off, her toes curled around the garment and nudged it towards the growing stack of clothes.
Now they were both naked. Both equal.
His arms opened up. “Come here.”
She moved back into the circle of his embrace and pressed her lips to his collarbone, adding a little bite like he’d done to her shoulder the last time they’d been together. A groan erupted from his chest when she moved over an inch and repeated the act, her tongue lapping over each spot. He tasted wonderful.
Brad’s hands went to her shoulders, kneading and stroking, his eyes closed as she made her way down his chest, licking beads of water from a masculine nipple as she went. His breath hissed through his teeth, fingers tightening on her for an instant or two before relaxing their grip, thumbs stroking the sides of her neck.
Lord, her body was already pulsing down below, and he hadn’t even touched her in any of those places yet. When he did...
She was going to go up in smoke.
Reaching his other nipple, she changed tactics, tightening her lips, her mouth tugging on it with slow,
