Pushing the thought aside, he tried to focus on the sensation of his soapy hand gliding down his sensitive shaft, then roughing his way up to the head, which he caressed with his roving thumb. He imagined Sasha touching him, arousing him. Tingles streaked and blistered through his veins. Excitement clawed through his system. His cock jerked in his grip.
Yeah, orgasm wasn’t going to take long. But he was quickly finding that wasn’t synonymous with satisfaction. If anything, he felt emptier beside Sasha when he’d just given himself temporary, hollow relief.
But it was safer than not controlling his raging need at all.
A click sounded above the din of the water. Nick paused mid-stroke. The squeak of the door filled the little bathroom next. The rush of cool air disrupted the steam swirling around him.
His heart stopped. The only person in the room with him was Sasha, and no way she would voluntarily come into the bathroom while he was wet and naked and wanting her.
Had Clifford’s goons found them already? Come to kill them?
Anxiety iced through him as he rinsed his hands and leaned to his left to peer around the shower curtain. He had to know his enemy, how many, how armed. If he survived, he’d curse himself for the carelessness of leaving his weapon on the nightstand. Would Sasha see it? Use it to save herself?
Or was it already too late?
Shifting his weight a bit more, he’d just visually cleared the edge of the shower curtain when he heard the sweetest, sultriest sound.
“Nick?” Sasha. She sounded jittery…but not afraid.
Maybe they weren’t under attack. But something had happened to prod her into the shower with him.
“What? You okay?” he asked, then pulled back the cheap plastic curtain enough to expose his face and clap eyes on her. His breath—and his heart—stopped.
She was utterly, head-to-toe naked. She met his gaze with hazel eyes full of resolution. And need.
Sasha Porter wanted him. She didn’t even have to say the words. He saw it on her face.
For a long moment, Nick could only stare. And ache. And marvel that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen without a stitch.
Her long hair, now dark, fluttered over the smooth skin of her slender shoulders, onto the swells of her naturally heavy breasts. They were tipped with delicate rosy nipples that stood ready for his lips to suck and tease. She tapered into a small waist and a flat belly, which soon gave way to the flare of her womanly hips and generous, creamy thighs. As a natural blond, she had a faint dusting of fair hair shielding her pussy. He imagined her wet and pink, legs spread, waiting just for him.
Her hands fluttered nervously to the scar bisecting her between the hip bones. A couple of faint silvery lines shot up around the point of incision, now mostly faded. “I’m not perfect.”
“You are to me.”
She smiled faintly and pressed on as if he hadn’t spoken. “But I’m hoping you’d rather have the pleasure we could share together than whatever you could give yourself…”
So she’d figured out what he did in the shower, huh?
“Always.” His heart hammered. “You offering?”
“Yes.”
“Because you owe me?” God, he didn’t want her to say that. If she did… He gritted his teeth, fearing he might lose his fucking mind. He’d have to turn her away again.
She shook her head. “Because I’m falling in love with you.”
Her words went straight to his cock. He hadn’t thought he could get harder. Nick was shocked to find out that he, in fact, totally could.
God, he couldn’t touch her quick enough, couldn’t reach her soft body fast enough. He cut off the water and grabbed a towel off the rack. With one hand, he rubbed at the droplets beading over his skin. With the other, he curled his fingers around her arm and brought her close.
“Be sure.”
“That I want you? I am.”
“That you love me. I fell for you the moment I saw you. That might sound dumb, but…there it is. If you agree to be mine now, I won’t give you up. You’ll stay mine.”
Sasha didn’t hesitate. She didn’t shake her head or frown, back away in objection, or tell him to pound his own cock again. She didn’t do or say any of the fifty things he’d imagined she might if he admitted how he felt.
