“Lila?”
“Sorry,” she said, shaking her head. She wasn’t shy, but she did hate that she had lost so much weight. After pulling off her shirt and tugging off her board shorts, she let one eyebrow raise. He chuckled.
“You don’t ever do what I expect.”
“Why be boring?”
His hand was on the button to his pants, and she leaned up to kiss him. Just that simple brush of lips had another rush of heat rushing through her. Never in her life had she felt this way about a man. She wanted to jump him at the same time he wanted to cuddle. Lila did not cuddle. At least not normally, but with Ian, she wanted that.
She wanted it all.
That one thought had her heart squeezing tight. Ian wasn’t a man who would want forever. She knew that he was dead set against settling down. And she didn’t even know if she would survive this entire plot. But she wanted it almost more than she wanted her next breath.
“Why so serious?”
She sighed. “Because I am once again naked and you are not.”
His mouth twitched. “Don’t ever say that I don’t do this to please you. But first, put on the waterproof bandage.”
Another sigh. “So sexy.”
But she did grab one out of the bag that was sitting on the vanity, applied it, then slipped past him into the shower.
The water was hot, and it felt good. Better than good. As it pounded against her stiff back muscles, she watched Ian drop his pants. His cock was long and hard, curving up against his abdomen.
This man, he was put together as if the Gods themselves had a hand in it. The lean sculpted muscles, the dark hair, and those eyes. She knew a lot of people thought they were cold, but she had always seen them as blue fire. Appearing cold, but in the depths of them, you could see the warmth in his soul.
He stepped into the shower letting the door shut behind him. The clink of the door should have scared her. It was almost like she was stepping into another trap, one of her own making. This man was not for her. It wasn’t that he would never settle down. Lila had always known that would be some kind of insane pipe dream that would never probably happen.
Other than Sam, Ian represented the longest personal relationship she had ever had. Sure, he hadn’t known she obsessed about him. That so many times, she had been there to make sure bad things didn’t happen to him. And somewhere along the way, she had started to fall for him.
Lila didn’t know if she believed in love. In her personal life, she had only seen people use it to hurt each other. That was until her friends had started to fall in love. It was hard not to yearn for the same thing. For a man who would be there by her side to make her life easier.
But that wasn’t for her. For the rest of her life, there would probably be a target on her back. Or maybe not. Either way, she couldn’t think about what tomorrow would bring. What she could do was what she had been doing for most of her life. Preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.
“Love, why do you always look so serious?”
There he went again, calling her love.
“Everyone knows that I have an excellent sense of humor.”
He stepped closer, cupping her face with one of his hands. He always looked so well put together. The expensive suits, the perfectly trimmed hair, so she had been surprised at the rough calluses on his fingers. The man loved working with his hands, in more ways than one.
Maybe that’s what appealed to her the most. On the surface, he just let everyone see what he wanted them to see. The polished exterior that could charm anyone, but beneath the surface, he was grounded in reality. And while she loved that about him, she had had too much reality for the time being. She wanted a little fantasy…and a little control.
“You do, but sometimes, you are way too serious for your own good.”
“Call it the English side of me.”
His mouth curved as he bent his head to kiss her, but he paused just above her mouth. Every fiber of her being urged her to complete the kiss. Instead, she waited. Her breasts ached; her entire body was one big throb of need.
“I like all sides of you, Lila.”
Oh, God that voice. It washed over her, sending little bursts of heat pouring through her entire body.
“Right back at ya, Ian.”
He still didn’t complete the kiss. Instead, he hovered, waiting.
