She’d slumped against the stone wall with an unguarded expression. Open and vulnerable and utterly lovely. Her fingertips brushed back and forth along her lips as if she still felt the echo of my mouth on hers. As if, like mine, they stilltingled with desire and heat. She tipped her head back to stare up at the ceiling, flustered and flushed, trying to analyze her wild emotions and whyour kisswas so fucking good. Small white teeth nipped her bottom lip as her smile broadened into a wide, delightful grin. A grin she couldn’t contain as she suddenly stamped her feet excitedly.
She liked the kiss.
A lot.
A fuck lot.
Nelle finally realized I was there, eyes widening in horror.
I stared at her, and she stared back.
The tumbling emotions swiftly shifted, mortification surging to the surface.
A thousand blades slashed my chest to see the alluring feminine thoughts crumble away. Beautiful, but so wrong.
“What the hells are you doing back here?!” she shrieked.
“The soap,” I croaked dumbly, pointing to the cake of soap that was melting away on the pebbled floor in the shower area.
She lunged downward, scooped up the soapy bar, and hurled it at me. “Get the fuck out!”
I dodged, ducking low as it whizzed overhead to smack the wall right behind me. She moved fast, going for the girly bottles and tubs on the floor.
They came in a barrage of strikes.
I sprang back, ducking and weaving, dashing through the doorway, and pulled the door shut, hearing a cascade of thuds against the wood.
I heard a shriek of frustration.
“There’s a place for the soap!” I yelled. A fucking recess in the shower wall. “Can youpleaseuse it!”
“I’ll do what I like, Crowther!”
“And the caps on the shampoo and conditioner. You need to close them after you finish using them!”
“You know you have a problem, right, Mr. Neat Freak?!”
“I like things just right!” I yelled back. Is that so fucking hard to understand?
Silence reigned for a long-drawn moment.
Then ahuff.
The door gently rattled as if she’d leaned against it, then came a low,“Fuck.”
She wasn’t cursing at me. It was the kind of tone that was directed at herself.
I twisted slowly around and leaned my shoulder against the bathroom door, too. A wide grin bloomed on my face. I couldn’t have hidden it even if I’d wanted to.
I’d caught Little Miss Fire and Brimstone out.
She’d ruined her move against me all on her own.
And now I knew that deep down inside, she didn’t entirely hate me.
But I also knew that she would be seriously pissed from this point onward.
30
