A really awesome view, too. She'd seen naked men in the movies.
Well, almost naked. And she'd seen naked statues. Beautifully posed, carved-in-stone statues that left nothing to the imagination. In person was definitely better. Oh, goodness, he looked good wet and without his clothes on.
Then she realized that while she'd been enjoying the view, he'd been watching her enjoying it. His gaze from the mirror locked with hers. That rush of blood returned to her face. She glanced away from his reflection in the mirror to her shoes just as he grabbed for a towel.
That's when she decided to explain again. "I ... I saw blood and I panicked."
"Yeah," he answered. "Chris gave me a bloody nose when he elbowed me in the face playing basketball."
She looked up to the mirror to check out his face. "How bad was it?"
"Just a bloody nose." Holding the towel around his waist, he reached for his jeans on the floor, and then he met her gaze back in the mirror.
"I'm gonna put on some pants. So you might want to look down again."
She did, and she blushed again, too. Only when she heard the zipper did she look up. He stood closer, right over her in fact, holding out his hand to help her up. She took it.
"Are you okay?" he asked as soon as she came to her feet. She rubbed her shoulder. "Just a little bruised."
"I would imagine."
She saw him look back at the door. "I'll tell Holiday I did it," she said. "It's okay." He picked up a piece of the wood and tried to bend it. When it didn't move, he looked back at her. Then he reached out and touched her arm and his touch shifted slowly up to her elbow.
His touch felt warm and moist, much like the air in the bathroom.
Tingles climbed up her arm and filled her chest. Her gaze went to his broad shoulders and she wanted to kiss him there, in the place where she had rested her head so often.
"You're still warm," he said. "Normally, a vampire doesn't gain strength until after they've turned."
Disappointment shattered the mood. His reason for touching her had been to check her body temperature, not because ... because he just felt compelled to do it, the way she felt compelled to touch him.
"I think that's the problem," she said. "I'm not normal." She bit down on her lip and then decided to just tell him. "Holiday said ... she said some female werewolves have"-she glanced down at her breasts-"growth spurts around this age."
"So she thinks you're werewolf?" he asked.
"No, not really. She said that ... nothing else seems to point to werewolf.
So we're back at square one."
"Sorry," he said. "I know you want to figure it out." He ran a hand up her elbow again, and this time she knew it wasn't to check for temperature.
The tingles and mood came back.
Letting go of a deep sigh, she met his beautiful green eyes. "That's why I came here."
"What's why you came here?" he asked. He moved out of the bathroom and to the first door on the right. She followed him and stopped when she realized it was his bedroom. She watched him grab a shirt from his closet. He held it to his flat stomach but didn't put it on. She had the craziest feeling that he'd left it off because he knew she enjoyed looking at him. He stepped closer to her. "Why did you come here?"
Focus. Focus. Quit thinking about his body. "To tell you I'm sorry. For being such a bitch this afternoon. I was ... confused. I mean, Trey ... He did me wrong and when you said what you did, I just jumped back to what Trey did. What he did really hurt me, and I think I just projected it all on to you."
He pulled her against him and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was hot, passionate, and she didn't want it to end. And when it did, he was the one who pulled away, not her. She was happy, however, to see his breath was as uneven as hers.
"The answer is yes." Derek's lips were moist and still so close to hers that she felt the words whisper across her cheek.
"I'm ... I'm not sure what the question is," Kylie said, thinking she'd missed something because she was drunk off his kisses.
"The last thing you asked me this afternoon was if I wanted sex. I want to make myself clear. I want you. I want you so badly that sometimes it's all I can think about. Some nights I wake up and I'm so..." He bit back his words and let go of another deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is while I want you really badly, the last thing I'd try to do is pressure you into doing something that doesn't feel right."
"It does feel right." She placed her hand on his chest. And oh my, did it feel right to touch his bare chest. The temptation to ask him to do it, to pull her over to the bed and teach her all about sex, was almost overpowering.