Chapter 20
She froze. The breath knocked from her for a millisecond.
Instantly something like invisible lightning zig-zagged between them.
They stood across from each other like a pair of gunslingers.
And then he smiled. Slowly and crookedly.
An implacable smile.
She tipped her head, considering another few seconds.
Then she curled her fingers into the hem of her T-shirt. And leisurely, as if she was just rolling out of bed after a good night’s sleep and indulging in that first stretch, she furled it up over her head.
She gathered it into one fist. Dangled it for an instant.
And let it fall into a little pink heap on the floor. As coy as a maiden dropping a hankie.
She was a little chilly without it.
She wouldn’t be for long, that much she knew.
“Now,” he said thoughtfully, “I think you should take off your bra.”
He made it sound like an oh-so-reasonable suggestion. His voice had gone hypnotically soft.
They locked eyes.
He wasn’t blinking.
She hesitated.
But only for effect.
Then she reached around behind her. Her hands were already a little clumsy with anticipatory nerves.
And she slipped the clips free, and peeled the straps from her shoulders, and slid it down one arm to drop right on top of the T-shirt.
She stood, nude from the waist up, her nipples already going hard in the chilly air.
She had the pleasure of watching his eyes darken to black.
She half suspected wolves looked like that before they pounced on something delicious.
“Now take off your jeans.” He employed the same civilized, reasonable tone. Though it was a trifle tauter now.
The room suddenly seemed as silent as a vacuum. They were the only two people in the world. He stayed in the doorway. A sort of self-imposed distance, she imagined. His way of making it that much hotter for himself.
When she lowered her hand to her waistband, his eyes followed it as if they were on an invisible tether.
She watched him while he watched her hand settle on the snap. And then she thumbed it open. The tinyclickwas as momentous as a gong sounding.
She dragged the zipper down in a leisurely fashion.
She went at this in a very matter-of-fact way. She wasn’t going for burlesque. This somehow didn’t feel like a whimsical occasion.
And she pulled at the waistband and freed her jeans from her hips and managed to get them off without needing to hula-hoop them down. Magically, her underwear didn’t go along for the ride.
