‘Great!’ She hoisted herself out of the water, aware her bikini-clad body was in full view again. ‘I’m going to rinse off.’
And as she showered off the chlorine, the one thing Alicia couldn’t, and didn’t want to, rinse away was the feeling of Jamie’s gaze on her. Her nipples puckered into expectant beads as the water drenched her breasts. A delicious fluttering cut across her belly then down into her core. Arousal wriggled inside the gold bikini bottoms that Jamie seemed rather taken with. Hopefully, the time wasclose when he would be more than happy to remove them.
There was no one else in the sauna. Alicia sat on her towel and closed her eyes. The mist of hesitancy around Jamie was well and truly dissipating, a battalion of hormones making sure of that. By spending time with him, the sun was breaking through. But there were still questions encased in the remaining hazy droplets. What if this was all a set-up? What if someone had planted this guy to keep shaming her on the internet? All Alicia wanted was a quiet life and, one day, a quiet boyfriend. But what if drama had followed her to Scotland? That would be just her luck.
Jamie would have to be an excellent actor for all this to be a set-up. Chad’s made you paranoid. Don’t let him control your life when you’ve met an amazing guy you’re practically alone with in a remote Scottish hotel.
The door to the sauna opened and the man himself entered, an imposing presence with slick wet hair and dripping fresh-from-the-shower skin.
Jamie sat on his towel on the bench opposite Alicia and smiled, the blue of his eyes accentuated by his darkened, wet lashes, rivulets of water dripping onto his solid, sculpted chest. What she’d give to be one of those rivulets rolling down that body. Down into…
‘You know you’ve still got your swimming cap on?’
Alicia threw her palm to her head. She’d kept the cap on when there might be people around and been too distracted by Jamie to remove it. How embarrassing.
‘I completely forgot.’ She peeled the rubber hat from her head and her blonde hair tumbled down, Jamie watching all the while.
‘Want me to put it outside?’ he asked. ‘So it doesn’t melt.’
‘Thank you.’ Alicia’s fingertips brushed his as she passed him the cap. God! Their body parts had to stop meeting like this.
As Jamie stood and opened the door, she admired the expanse of his back, as wide as Alaska. His muscles flexed as he placed her swim cap on the ground, his swim shorts tightening against his butt. Hot moisture pooled between her legs.
‘Is there still nobody out there?’ she asked, as innocuously as possible.
Jamie dipped his head out the door.
‘Still just us,’ He closed it again. ‘Were you expecting anyone?’
‘Oh, no. On the contrary, I was hoping there would be no one.’
‘Aye, it’s better that way,’ Jamie agreed. ‘All the benefits of the private sauna without having to go from pool to snow to get to it. That’s one fault of this hotel, though. Each private sauna needs a private pool as well.’
‘That would be incredible.’ Alicia imagined the joy of being able to swim in a private pool with this man. ‘Decadent.’
‘Aye. Decadent.’ Jamie’s low burr summoned heat. Every syllable was like water poured on hot coals. Speaking of which…
‘Do you want more water on?’ he asked. The sauna was so compact that he was standing right in front of Alicia as he asked her this question. ‘Hotter or hot enough already?’
Oh, God! He must know what he’s doing.
‘Put some more water on, please. I’d like it to be hotter.’
‘With pleasure.’ He scooped water from the bucket onthe floor over the dark coals. A steam plume hissed, the coals sizzled and the temperature in the sauna ratcheted up a notch or ten.
Alicia leaned back and inhaled generously, her breasts heaving with her breath. As she exhaled, she was conscious that Jamie was still standing over her, examining her in a cloud of dry heat. She kept her focus on his face, although it was a contest between that and his abs or hovering lower.
‘You know,’ he said huskily, far earthier now, ‘I think the heat in here could be getting too much for me already.’
‘It is?’
‘Aye.’
‘Are you going to leave?’ Alicia’s reply was languid but fuelled with intent.
‘No,’ he said, firmly. ‘I’m definitely not going to leave.’
‘Should we open the door and let it cool down a bit?’
