“You’re so soft.” That finger wandered down her stomach and rounded the curve of her hip. “I’m hard.”
Boy, was he ever. From head to toe, everything was firm, including his dick still encased in the condom, resting against her. “Umm-hmm.”
“Your skin is so fair, so pale, like the moon. I’m not.” His manner was so relaxed, soothing, that Josie allowed herself to believe he didn’t mind her heartfelt blurt.
She gave a little laugh, turned up on her side towards him. “You’re like a roasted marshmallow.”
His breath brushed her bare shoulder as he laughed with her. “I’m not sure that’s a compliment.” He twined his fingers in hers, sighing, eyes drifting closed. “And you talk with your hands, and you talk a lot. I’m quiet.”
Alarm awakened in her. Why was he pointing out the obvious unless it was a precursor to the “Why This Won’t Work” speech.
“That’s true,” she said, because she was naked and feeling satisfied with him and the world and she didn’t want to ruin the moment. And she wouldn’t argue with him if the time came for that speech. It would break her heart, but she would not beg and she would not coax and—damn it—she deserved a man who loved her, cherished her— wanted her with his whole heart, not a man who’s been talked into it.
“I love those differences in you.”
She sucked in a breath, appreciating how difficultthat must have been for him to say, to even mention love and her in the same sentence. She could actually hear the emotion in his voice.
The tears she’d been holding back rained down her face. Going up on her elbow, she leaned over to kiss him and halted an inch from his lips.
He was asleep.
Gorgeous and naked, his hand still resting on her stomach.
When Josie woke up, Houston was standing beside the bed, peering down at her. Struggling to keep her eyes open, she yawned. “Did you justblowon my face?”
Shifting on the balls of his feet, he grinned. “Must have been the wind.”
“The wind needs to brush its teeth.” Not that he had bad breath. She just wanted to tease him.
Josie stretched her arms above her head while Houston cupped his hand over his mouth, doing an obvious breath check.
She laughed. “I was kidding. You don’t have bad breath.”
“Since we’re being honest, I really did blow on your face. I was trying to wake you up.”
It occurred to her sex-and-sleep-fogged brain that he was wearing his swim trunks again and had the scissors in his hand. Oh, Lord, he didn’t really expect her to drag herself back to the beach, did he?
“Is your leg bothering you?” Rubbing her eyes, she gradually became aware that she was naked, flat out on the bed, her legs spread as wide as the Atlantic Ocean. She tried to work up some embarrassment, but just couldn’t muster it, not after the way he had touched her before.
Though she did cross her legs at the ankles.
His eyes followed the movement, the scissors slackening in his hand, jaw clenching. He took a step towards her. “Don’t bother hiding from me.”
And he dropped the scissors on the bed, lifted her ankle and tossed her leg back open again. “Much better.”
Though her mouth went moist and her breasts tingled, she merely raised an eyebrow at him. “Find me a shirt to wear and I’ll take out the rest of your sutures.”
His hesitation was gratifying. Then he pulled a T-shirt out of his drawer and gave it to her. “When you’re done, put your bikini back on. We’ll get something to eat, then I want to go back to the beach. I want to go in the water.”
The urge to pester him with a million questions was enormous, but Josie pulled the soft gray shirt on over her head and bit her lip to prevent spontaneous word eruption. Houston wouldn’t want her to question his actions and really, there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t go in the water, it just seemed like he shouldn’t. Her worry would be smothering and it was unfounded.
Besides, she was pretty sure he had seduced any resistance out of her. For anything he might ask. Sex on the roof? Sure, why not?
When her head popped through the neck hole and she took a deep cleansing breath, sniffing the aftershave and laundry detergent smell of his wrinkled shirt, she gave him a bright smile. “All right. Though let me throw my bathing suit in the dryer first. Nothing is worse than putting on a wet suit.”
Houston leaned forward, held the back of her head, and pressed a soft kiss on her lips that made Josie sigh.
“You’re the best, Josie.”