Flash Point - Savannah Kade Page 0,39

her grit her teeth, he put his other foot in, his hands still gripping the edge of the lovely porcelain lip.

Jo was in no position to look around, hunched over like she was, but she tried to do it. The bathroom was cream with stark white features. The pedestal sink seemed a bit impractical for being the only one in the house. But the tub was boxed in with a closet that seemed to have been added later. Though the molding around the door and the door itself matched the rest of the house, many of the features were far too modern to be original.

“It's a lovely place,” she said, trying to make casual conversation. She sat in her underwear next to a man in his own underwear. He'd not commented on her matching neon pink bra and undie set. They were hardly lacey seduction material, more of a sport set designed for the comfort one might need if, say, searching for a missing child in the Nebraska wilderness during a storm.

She did however, regret that she'd not gone full sports bra. There was a deep V in the front of this one. Nothing she could do about it now, she needed to get warm. Slowly, she slipped down the side, letting her whole body slide under the water. She was grateful the water felt cooler to her torso, almost too cool. That let her know just how cold her hands and feet had been.

“Leo, you need to get in,” she told him.

He only tipped his head one way then the other before conceding and slowly sliding down next to her. The tub was huge, but two adults just barely fit.

Lord. She'd not expected to be taking a bath with Leo Evans, of all people.

“Did you decorate the place yourself?” She was still trying to keep things casual even as she was aware that her now wet underwear was anything but casual. There was no way to do this gracefully.

But he seemed the perfect gentleman, kept his eyes up and shook his head and laughed at her question. “Somebody flipped it. I bought it this way. I am not handy.”

That caught her by surprise. “How can a park ranger not be handy?”

“I am excellent—I'll have you know—with a wounded bobcat. I can repair a trail trap with the best of them. And I can create a shelter out of anything. But home repairs are out of my league.”

She laughed, threw her head back and felt the smile form on her face. The casual conversation she was pushing was ridiculous self defense. This wasn’t Dallas. It wouldn’t ever be Dallas again, at least that’s what she told herself.

But laughing like that just drained her of all her energy.

Leo, too, she thought as she watched him lean his head back against the wall the tub was up against.

She was just getting ready to say they couldn’t go to sleep, but he popped up and pulled the chain to the plug, letting some of the water drain out as he claimed, “Time to add warmer water!”

Even as he turned the faucet on, he explained, “It’ll take a minute to get warm. It was a good remodel, but they didn't go for the instant hot water.”

“Not handy enough to add it yourself?” she teased, but he took it in stride and shook his head again.

Neither was she, Jo thought. She liked to believe she might have been better at repairing things had she been raised in any environment where people fixed any of their own appliances. She was certainly mechanical enough. But when the trucks or the jaws of life or the chainsaws needed repair, she was the assistant at best.

She leaned back against the sloped edge of the tub, created for exactly that purpose and she watched from under her increasingly heavy eyelids as Leo added hot water. She felt the tub and her own body temperature rise.

Her eyes slipped shut and his hand touched her arm, soft and warm as he tapped on her wet skin. “You can't go to sleep. You know better.”

So she sighed and sat up. He was close, too close. Leaning in. Worried maybe she'd actually fallen asleep for a moment though she would have sworn she’d just blinked.

She couldn't sit up like she needed to without getting even closer. And she couldn't help the way her heart kicked at the intense gaze that she saw in his face. Or the fact that she knew it was all