“I don’t know what to call it,” he said suddenly. “I mean, was it an accident? Was it an attack? People ask me what happened and I say I was bitten by a shark, and they get these horrible looks on their faces.” He played with the fork lying on his used dinner plate and shook his head.
“I was on the news, you know. It’s embarrassing.”
“I heard, but I didn’t see it.” It had seemed almost rude to watch it. Invasive. “Did they have footage of you while you were in the hospital? I didn’t know Acadia Inlet would allow that.”
“No, they had random footage of the beach, and interviews with witnesses. They threw my hospital staff picture up there.” He gave a soft laugh. “My mom saved it on her phone.”
“You’re kidding!” Josie laughed. “That is something my mom would do, too.”
“I’m just sorry she had to worry about me.” Houston reached back and tapped her hand. “Thanks, that’s good. I’m going to back the chair up.”
As Josie stepped away so he could stand up, she told him, “She always worries about you, shark bite or not, because she’s your mother.”
Pulling himself up by the edge of the table, he hovered until he got his balance. “I wish she wouldn’t. I’m a big boy now.”
His eyes smoldered suggestively as he turned to her, but Josie ignored the attempt to distract her. What Houston either didn’t know or refused to admit was that his mother was going to worry about him until she decided that he was happy, something age and success had nothing to do with.
Josie took a risk. “She said she had a bad marriage and it wasn’t healthy for you.”
Anger flared in Houston’s eyes, his grip on the table tightening. He crumpled up the paper plate in front of him, resting against the table with his thighs. Silent, jaw clenched, he stood there.
Josie moved around him to clear the table. “Here, let me get your plate.”
When she tried to take it, he pulled his hand back. “Don’t clean up after me. I don’t need your help.”
“It’s not a big deal.” She made another reach for the garbage.
He held fast to the plate. “Everything is a big deal. Josie, damn it if you keep coming around here like this I’m going to hurt you. I don’t want to do that.”
Chin up, she stared him down. “I’m a big girl, just like you’re a big boy. And I want to be here.”
By the time he was back at work and her residency over, she’d probably be a sobbing sack of lovesick lust, but hey, you only lived once.
Which was why, with determination, she showed up at Houston’s condo the next day after her shift and let herself in the front door again without knocking. And was greeted with the bib-requiring sight of him bent over the kitchen sink in black briefs and nothing else, attempting to wash his hair.
Water was sluicing down his bronzed back as he bent over, struggling with the little metal sprayer, his hair piled high with an excessive amount of bubbles. Josie almost had an orgasm standing in the doorway.
Well, not actually, but it sure felt close as her thighs twitched and ached. And all moisture evaporated from her mouth, while an equal and opposite reaction occurred in her panties. Her nipples sprung up like spring tulips and rubbed against her white tank top. If he turned around, kissed her, and just swiped one little finger anywhere in the area between her waist and knees, she was going to come.
Not that he even knew she was there. He was too busy swearing at the sprayer and trying to stretch it farther than the metal hose would allow.
“Damn it,” he said, swiping at his eye as an errant bubble slid past his dark eyebrow.
The sharp jerk made his butt tense up, the muscles flexing and clenching, and Josie knew she had to get the hell out of there before she was tempted to do some spanking of her own. Given that his kitchen was tiny at best, he was within grabbing distance and she just didn’t trust herself.
Covering her mouth to contain her drool, she backed up and misjudged the archway to the kitchen. She slammed into the wall with all the force of her ass. The bump could be heard even over the water as Houston’s wall clock rattled and threatened to hit the floor.
Houston turned, grabbing the counter for leverage, dragging the sprayer with him. Lukewarm water hit Josie in the chin and shoulder before he let go of the button and the water flow returned to the faucet.
She sputtered, wiping water off her chin, while his expression shifted from startled to amused. “Argh, Houston, you got me wet!”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” he said, stretching up to his full length, favoring his bad leg.
There was truth to that, but she ignored it.
Shampoo was still clinging to his head, and a small rivulet of sudsy water slid down the right side of his cheek, but he still looked incredible. All hard and golden and broad, a confident man with a new vulnerability.
Shoot, she was an idiot. A big, Josie Adkins idiot. She couldn’t resist mint chocolate chip ice cream, what made her think she could resist Houston?