Flirting with Temptation - By Kelley St. John Page 0,64
you some stuff for your sunburn. Where do you want me to leave it?”
“You’re just leaving it?” she asked, then another tear fell, and she sniffed noisily. “Why do you insist on making my life so miserable? First you take me away from the lifeguard, who I didn’t really like all that much anyway, but that shouldn’t matter to you in the first place, and then you tell me that I can’t date, or flirt, or whatever, for two weeks so you can see if women can commit, then you come in here looking all hot and all that in black, and now you’re going to leave the sunburn stuff and not even help me use it?” Another loud sniff. “Rose would’ve helped me use it.”
More tears fell, and Jeff suddenly realized that this wasn’t the Babette he knew talking. Something wasn’t right.
“Babette, have you been drinking?”
“No, my head hurts too much already. Why would I want to drink and make it worse?” As if to emphasize the hurting head part, she leaned her head back and let it drop on the back of the couch. “Ouch.”
Jeff crossed the room in less than a second and placed his hand against her forehead. “Babette, you’re burning up.”
“No, I’m not. I’m cold. Freezing. But I can’t stand the sheets on me, because my legs hurt.”
He looked at her legs, completely bare and totally red. All of her was red, in fact, and all of her was cooking with fever. “Come on,” he said, reaching for her.
“No.” She shook her head. “Don’t touch me. I’m hurting too much, and you look too good, but I don’t think I could take it tonight. Maybe tomorrow.”
He smiled at that. “Babette,” he said, easing his hand to hers, “Come on. We need to get you in a cool bath, and I’m going to find something to help bring your fever down.”
“I already did the bath thing. It didn’t work.”
“We’re going to try again.”
She let him help her up and, barely touching her, he guided her through her bedroom to her bath, where water was still in the tub.
“Did I forget to get in?” she asked, and her words were slurred.
“Looks that way,” he said, glancing around the bathroom to see if he could figure out where things were kept. “Do you know if there’s a thermometer in here?” He wasn’t certain whether a cool bath would work, or whether he needed to do something different, like take her to a doctor.
“No thermometer,” she said, bumbling the last two syllables. “I looked.”
He decided to try the tub first. “Listen, Babette, I’m going to unbutton your shirt and help you to the tub. Then I’m going to see if you’ve got any Advil or something to bring that fever down.” He began unbuttoning the silky shirt, and she put her hands on his.
“You just want to see me naked, don’t you?”
“As much as I have to say yes to that, because I’d be lying if I said no, I also don’t see any way around it, unless you’re going to undress yourself and get in the tub. And from the look of your first attempt, you didn’t do that so well.”
“Point taken,” she said, and moved her hands from his.
“I’m not wearing underwear,” she said as he pushed the buttons through the holes in the shirt, then let the fabric fall to the floor.
“I see that.” In fact, he saw everything, and she was as incredible as he remembered, even if she was completely red, save the oh-so-important portions that had been covered by her bikini, and thank God they were, or she’d really be in a world of hurt now.
She looked down at her chest. “Pathetic, don’t you think?”
“Here,” he said, helping her step into the cool water. She shivered instantly and looked pleadingly at him.
“It’s too cold.”
“You need it, honey.”
She bit her inner mouth—he could tell by the way her cheeks suddenly dipped in—and sat in the water. Then she let her breath out in a hiss and sank further in, until it came up to her shoulders and her long curls sank beneath the surface. “I never could resist you when you called me honey.”
When he was certain she was cooling down, he sat beside the tub for a moment, just to make sure she didn’t close her eyes and fall asleep, then slip completely in. Her shape was subtle, but superb, with lithe muscles beneath the surface and tiny curves that were extremely sensitive.