The air between them was weighted, thick with vulnerability. Painful and yet, somehow, his vulnerability sent a rush of heat spiraling low in her belly.
Could he see how much she wanted him? Did he feel the same? She flattened her palm against his chest, sliding it across the inked skin that was slick with water. He tensed all over.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted, a rush of blood heating her cheeks. “That was too much, I shouldn’t have—” She moved, but he caught her around the wrist, stilling her.
“It was the opposite.” Water dripped from his firm chin. His chest rose and fell with his heavy breaths. He held her hand flush against his lower abdomen.
Had any person ever wanted someone the way she wanted Jordan right now? She couldn’t imagine it. Her heart was about to combust with its wild thumping.
Slowly, he edged her farther inside the shower, until she was pressed against the glass wall. Reaching above her, he grabbed a bottle and squeezed liquid onto his palm. She eyed him warily when he lifted his hand above her head.
“Relax, it’s only shampoo.”
She didn’t bother hiding her surprise. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
His amused chuckle did nothing to ease her apprehension, but then his hands caressed her head, silencing her next quip.
He massaged the shampoo methodically through her hair, his long fingers drawing the suds down the length. She didn’t want to overanalyze where or how he’d learned to do this. When he massaged the base of her neck, she stopped thinking altogether.
“Tip your head back.” Had his voice always been that sexy? Yes. Yes, it had. She’d just spent too much of her energy pretending it didn’t affect her. She did as he’d requested until the water streamed down the sides of her temples.
“Good girl,” he murmured gruffly against her ear, and she quietly surrendered to him.
He rinsed the shampoo from her hair, tugging slightly as he drew the foam from the ends. He repeated the process with conditioner, and by the time he was done, she was so warm and relaxed she melted against him with a soft sigh.
“Almost finished,” he murmured. He must have sensed her inability to keep herself upright, because he wedged a knee between her legs, and she half sat down on his thigh while he squirted body wash onto a sponge. The sensation of her pussy sliding against his thigh, while he circled the sponge along her lower back, was heaven.
Her hips rolled along his rough skin in slow but sure strokes, and her eyes drifted shut.
“Vanessa?”
When she met his gaze, his eyebrows lifted. No words were needed, she knew what he was asking. This didn’t have to end in the shower.
Her nod held no doubt or hesitation. She’d never wanted anything more.
He sponged her arms, and she fought back a shiver of pleasure, but when he moved over her collarbone, she gave in to it. Everything about his gentle touch was like fire licking her skin, heating her from the inside and chasing away the chill she’d picked up from the ocean.
After he was done with her arms, he dragged the sponge down her side to her hipbone, then across her lower belly before tracing it up her other side. He washed her slowly and carefully, his pine-scented soap blending with the steam and salty ocean breeze.
Surely, he couldn’t be as unaffected as she was. A quick peek at his groin told her the answer. She was definitely not alone in her feelings. The thick ridge of his erection pressed against the wet fabric of his briefs, making her want nothing more than to strip away the remaining barriers between them.
Trusting her instincts was still unfamiliar territory. The past few years had been so full of missteps and bad choices that she’d stopped believing in her own judgment. But over the last four weeks, something had shifted. She was finding her footing again. A lot of that change, she knew, was because of Jordan.
So, she told herself not to overthink it as she reached behind her and unclipped her bra.
Jordan fixated on the movement, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. “Vanessa?—”
“I normally don’t shower with my clothes on,” she said slowly. “Do you?”
When he inhaled sharply and shook his head, she let the material fall down her arms to the tiled floor. Her breasts tingled as the water sprayed over them, her nipples pebbling, but it wasn’t because of the cold this time.
She was scorching. Desperate. Needy.
Jordan stepped back, the low, rumbling sound he made hitting its target low in her belly.
Without taking his eyes off her, he dragged the sponge torturously over her breasts, rubbing it over her left nipple, before moving to the right.
The sensation was so incredible, she let her head fall back against the shower wall. “That feels so good.”
