searched out the matching underwear, finding it halfway across the room.
Just as he’d discovered the previous night, beneath that prim, drab clothing, his little Helen liked to have silk and lace against her skin. It gave him hope that he could eventually find the sensuous woman underneath her shy exterior.
His body hard and aching, he walked toward the door she’d just entered. Not surprised, he found her sitting in a bathtub, the glass of wine half empty. When she sensed his presence, she turned her head and gave him a sleepy smile.
“I’m not sure you should be here in my bathroom,” she said and her smile broadened.
In response, Dimitri sat down on the tiny little pink seat that she stored underneath her counter. “So what’s with the wine?” he asked, picking up the bottle and noting that it was almost empty.
She waved one arm up in the air. “Oh, you know. It’s been a hard week so far and mean females just seem to get me down.”
“What females?” he asked, his stomach clenching at the knowledge that he’d been on the mark on Monday in suspecting that someone had hurt her feelings. Now that her defenses were down, he’d have the name of whoever had hurt Helen’s feelings and would ensure that the person never stepped foot inside the building again.
Helen smiled dreamily in his direction. “Does it really matter?” she asked airily. “I mean, they were right. So why should they be punished simply because they recognized a truth that I had failed to see myself.”
“What truths were they spewing?” he asked, transferring his curiosity from the identity to the crux of the matter.
She squinched up her nose and looked over at him. “I’m boring,” she whispered as if she were revealing state secrets.
Dimitri raised his eyebrows at her explanation. In his opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. “In whose mind?” he asked. Personally, he found her endlessly interesting, fascinating and too damn sexy! Especially when she was relaxing in a bubble bath, naked, with little bubbles popping away, teasing him with the possibilities.
She raised her bare shoulders and Dimitri almost groaned as one soft breast came precariously close to the edge of the bubbles that were quickly disintegrating. “In everyone’s mind, apparently,” she said and sipped again.
“Not everyone’s,” he murmured.
“What was that?” she asked, her eyebrows rising over the rim of the glass.
“Nothing,” he said and quickly diverted her mind. “Do you think you’re boring?” he asked.
“Yep,” she said and nodded her head so quickly that her hair flopped forward, a long lock covering the top of her left breast.
“So what are you going to do about it?” he asked, trying to keep his gaze away from that pretty curl. It was difficult and eventually, he gave up the struggle.
She put a finger on the edge of her lip, her tongue coming out as she considered his question. “First of all, no more suits,” she said decisively if also slightly slurred.
“What are you going to wear instead?” he asked, thinking she looked absolutely perfect just the way she was now. Or maybe a few less bubbles would be better.
“I don’t know exactly. I’m going to go shopping and find more feminine clothes.”
Dimitri nodded his head. He could go along with that. He’d even like to suggest some designers he’d like to drape her cute little derriere in. “Okay. What else?” he asked. Mentally, he was already ordering a dozen outfits that he’d make sure were delivered to her by tomorrow.
“Sex,” she said with a nod to her head.
Dimitri did a double take at her bald statement. “What?” he demanded.
She ignored, or just didn’t even hear, the instantaneous anger in his voice. “Yep. I’m going to learn to have sex.”
He didn’t like that at all. No one was going to touch his Helen except himself! “What the hell do you mean?” He tried to keep his voice to a normal tone but he was too furious. The idea of someone else touching her made his question come out more as a roar.
Helen drained her glass and held it out farther for him to fill up with the remaining wine. “I need to know how to have sex.”
He didn’t oblige her by filling up her glass. He was too intent on finding out what her plans were. “So you’re just going to go out and have sex with someone?”
“Of course,” she said, laughing slightly.
“Like hell you are!”
That caught her attention. She smiled mischievously. “Don’t worry. I won’t use