“Knock knock.” He spoke softly so as not to startle her.
She turned to him and smiled. “Hi.”
When she looked at him that way, he felt powerful, and he wanted to conquer worlds for her.
“Hi, yourself.” He shoved off the doorframe and moved toward her.
Her eyes remained on him, and when he stopped next to her stool, she tilted her face up to him, exposing her long, graceful neck.
Boone leaned down to kiss her—keeping it light—then straightened and turned her stool so that her back was to him. He slid her ponytail over her shoulder to hang down one side of her chest, then began rubbing his thumbs and fingers into her neck and shoulders.
Her head dropped forward on a long moan, and he was instantly hard.
“Ready to go?” He bent to kiss the back of her neck, then continued massaging her tight muscles.
“Not if it means you’re going to stop doing what you’re doing.” She looked at him from the corner of her eye.
“How ’bout this?” He moved his thumbs in a circular motion. “Let’s do like I suggested earlier—grab some food on the way to my place and go for a quick ride—then we can soak in my new hot tub.”
“Wait a minute.” She sat up and spun to face him. “Since when do you have a hot tub?”
“It was delivered while the team was in Denver.” He’d had it on order for the longest time, and it finally arrived. “I installed it a couple of days ago.” He leaned forward so his face was inches from hers and propped his hands on his knees. “Does that plan work for you?”
She draped her arms lazily over his shoulders. “That plan sounds perfect to me.”
“I thought it might.” He turned his head to kiss each of her arms and lifted them from his shoulders. “Are you done here, or do you need some more time?” He checked out the workbench behind her.
“I’m good to go.” She set the phone aside. “Viking’s sat phone needed a new battery, but he left for the day to spend time with Marigold before … well, you know. He’ll pick it up tomorrow.”
Before we leave, was what she couldn’t bring herself to verbalize.
Boone remembered her earlier worries about this mission and expected they would need to talk in more detail about thatat some point. But now was not the time nor place for that conversation, so he steered toward something less ominous.
“Have you eaten anything today?” He’d looked in on her a few times throughout the day. Each time she’d had her head down, working on something, and he hadn’t wanted to disturb her.
“I’m pretty sure I had a banana earlier.” She put away a couple of tools, stood, and clicked off the light over her workspace. “But now that you mention food, I am kind of hungry.”
“How does Chinese food sound?” He pulled his phone from his back pocket. “There’s a really good place on the way to the ranch.”
“Sounds perfect.” She gave him her order, and he called it in while she was packing her laptop into her backpack.
“Okay, food’s ordered.” He slipped his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. “Here, let me carry that.” He relieved her of her backpack and looped the strap over one of his shoulders.
“Sheesh, that thing looks so small when you hold it.” She reached up to fix the strap where it was twisted on his shoulder. “Oh, do you mind if we stop by the training facility on our way out? I keep a bathing suit in my locker for when I swim laps.”
“Sure.”Bummer.Hoping she’d be naked had been wishful thinking on his part.
Boone was struck by an all-too-vivid image of her wet skin all slick and shiny, bubbles churning around them as she straddled his lap and he sucked on her nipple. The thought went straight to his dick and nearly threatened his ability to walk straight.
“You were hoping I would go in the hot tub naked, weren’t you?” Her smirk told him it wasn’t really a question, but he answered it anyway.
“Honestly? Yeah, I was.” He wrapped his arm behind her back and led her to the elevator. “Can’t blame a guy for dreaming, can you?”
She stopped at the elevator and pressed the button. Then she moved to stand in front of him and looked him dead in the eyes. “Ya know, some dreamsdocome true.”
Ding. The elevator door slid open.
She patted him on the center of his chest, casually turned, and stepped inside.
