“Colette.” A firm hand comes to hold my hips down. I guess I was shamelessly grinding up into him. I’m not sorry for that. “You’re going to make me…” His breathing is heavy as he yanks himself away from me.
My brain is moving too slow because by the time I try to pull him back to me, he’s already across the room, back to me with both hands on top of his head. His “fuck” echoes around the room.
Standing, I walk around Ben’s front, laughing at his scrunched up face.
“Not funny, Red.” But his smile says otherwise.
I lace my hands with his, guiding them off the top of his head. One more kiss sounds like a good idea so I pop onto my tiptoes and press against him again. He winds our tangled arms behind my back, drawing me in.
The puzzle imagery comes to the forefront of my mind again. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. A perfect fit.
I’m the one to pull away this time. “Baths,” I remind him when his brow furrows in concern.
“Baths,” he repeats, like it’s a brand new word he’s never heard before.
Stepping back, I let go of one of his hands but keep the other one hostage. We open the double doors that lead into the actual bathing part of the bathhouse and my jaw drops.
It. Is. Stunning.
The massive room is lined floor to ceiling with elegant green-grey tiles. There are skylight domes over about half of the baths around the room, casting magical rays of sunlight onto the small pools, making it look like the water is glittering. Six hot-tub-sized baths are dotted throughout the room, each wrapped in the same tile with a small set of stairs that leads to the bath itself. Little plaques with temperature information are fastened to the edge of each structure, but I don’t need to read each of them to tell which ones are the hottest.
Large billowing steam twists and turns out of two near the center of the room. Obviously, I beeline straight to those.
“No sauna?” Ben pouts.
“What? No, I hate the sauna. This bath, however, is calling my name.”
He looks like someone blew out the candles on his birthday cake before he was able to make a wish. “Why are you pouting Benjamin?”
“The sauna is the nude area.”
In lieu of replying, I untie the belt at my waist that’s holding my robe together. Slowly, the robe slides down my arms, revealing the fire-engine-red bikini that doesn’t do much in the way of covering all of my important bits.
Ben quickly assumes his favorite position: on his knees forme.
“Colette,” he groans, his lips skimming the waistband of my swimsuit. He bites at the fabric and tugs, letting it go with a resoundingsnapagainst my skin. His lips make their way to where my thigh meets my hip, planting more sloppy kisses against my inner thighs.
Tugging Ben’s head back, I pivot around him and into the water before he realizes what just happened.
The water feels phenomenal, and I relish being wet in more ways than one. I’ve never had a partner that can pull this reaction out of my body the way Ben can.
It’s terrifying.
I’m quickly becoming obsessed.
Ben gets his wits about him, finally disrobing to reveal—“You’re naked!”
I cover my eyes, and Ben’s responding laugh echoes around the room, surrounding me with his unfiltered joy. “You’re observant,” he volleys.
“Marcy said bathing suits in the baths!”
“Marcy is also being paid a pretty penny so that we have the ability to do whatever we want in this bathhouse.”
“If we actually do get murdered they are going to find you fully nude. Do you really want an investigative team looking at your flaccid dick?”
He chuckles again, and I hear him wade into the water. Said dick—very muchnotflaccid at the moment—pokes me in the stomach as he sidles up next to me. His hands slide up my arms, peeling my hands away from my face. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, Red.”
“Yes, but we are in public!” My reply is indignant.
