up from his chair. He moved, hands outstretched, and almost walked straight into the sideboard. “If this was my old place, I’d know where everything was without needing to see.”
“Let me help.” Cora got up and took Trent by the hands. Walking backward, she guided him to the main bathroom and turned the taps on. Unfortunately, the shower was one of those tub-combo things. “I, uh… You might need a hand getting into the tub. I don’t want you to slip and fall.”
But it seemed he wasn’t as perturbed by that idea as she was, and Trent had already ripped his T-shirt over his head, sprinkling glitter all over the bath mat. Then his belt buckle clanked as he yanked it open. The sound of his zipper lowering was like a knife through the thick air, and Cora’s knees almost gave out on her as he shoved the denim down over his hips.
Holy shit.
There was perfection and then there was Trent’s ass. Clearly cricket and whatever he did at work were doing amazing things to his body. The board shorts he’d worn to the beach didn’t do it justice at all.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to take my jocks off,” he said, sticking his hands out again. Cora helped him step one foot and then the other into the bath, where he bent forward slightly and stuck his head under the spray.
She tried really hard not to look down at the water running in rivulets over his body. Not to mention the bulge in the front of his underwear. Did the guy carry some extra stuffing down there for good measure? Good Lord!
Wrenching her gaze away and feeling hot enough to rival the surface of the sun, Cora made her exit from the bathroom under the guise of finding some coconut oil to help get the glitter out of his hair. That’s apparently what all the girls used post-Coachella.
When she passed the table in the living area, she cringed. Glitter was liberally dusted all over the carpet and table, with a hefty sprinkling on the scrapbook itself. Was she destined to ruin everything in this house?
Scouring the kitchen, she found a tub of coconut oil in the pantry and a roll of paper towels on the countertop. Now all she had to do was face Trent again and try not to ogle his junk. No biggie.
It was definitely a biggie.
She needed to stop that, right now. This whole situation was a disaster because Cora seemed to attract hot messes wherever she went.
“What’s the common denominator, huh? Maybe you’re the hot mess.” She knocked on the bathroom door, and Trent called for her to come in. “Don’t look at his junk, don’t look at his junk, don’t look at his junk…”
With a deep breath, she pushed the door open and found Trent still under the spray. He was magnificent…and shining like a Christmas tree ornament.
“I feel like I’m pushing it around,” he said with a frustrated growl. “How is there more glitter now than when I started?”
She stifled a laugh, because this was all her fault and really, laughing would be like salt in the wound. “Turn the water off. I think we need to get some oil onto it and then try wiping it off with tissues.”
“First you make me look like a cupcake and now you want to oil me down?” He raised a brow but complied with her instructions and wrenched the taps off. “Is this some weird kink you have?”
“Just wait until I bring out the horse bit and the tail,” she quipped.
Trent threw his head back and laughed. “I guess I opened myself up to that one, huh?”
“You sure did.” Cora went to the edge of the tub. “It’s probably best if you stay there while you do the oil thing so you can wash off any residue afterward.”
“This is going to be delightful.” Trent groaned. “Told you arts and I don’t go well together.”
Cora dug out a glob of the oil and mushed it onto some paper towel. “Here, rub this over the glitter until it starts to stick and then use the towel to collect it all.”
“This is ridiculous,” Trent muttered, but he did as he was told.
Eventually most of the glitter was removed, and Trent looked like an oiled-up body builder minus the fake tan and bulging veins. Cora had turned to the side, so she wasn’t tempted to stare, carrying on a conversation with Trent and handing him new paper towels and