The Maverick - By Jan Hudson Page 0,16

and visitors who come to town never want to leave. We have lots of waiters in town with master’s degrees.”

When they arrived at his hotel, Griff asked, “Want to come up?”

“I’ll have to. I left my purse in your room.” Freudian slip? she wondered.

Of course not, her practical side said.

Of course, her libido declared.

After Griff unlocked his door, he asked, “Shall I order up a bottle of wine, or do you want to check the mini fridge first?”

Dare she stay for a drink? The smart thing to do would be to grab her purse and hotfoot it home.

Chapter Seven

Maybe it would be smart to leave, but Cass’s credo had always asserted smart wasn’t always the most fun. She had a powerful yen for Griffin Mitchell, and the margaritas had dulled her inhibitions. This might be the perfect opportunity to discover if he was everything her imagination had him cracked up to be.

Of course, all she could think of on the way up in the elevator was that she’d been tromping around in the bluebonnets half the day, gorging on Mexican food, and probably smelled worse than a goat. She couldn’t quite say, Hey, if we’re going to have a romp in the hay, could I take a shower and brush my teeth first?

Or could she?

No way. She was a modern woman, but she wasn’t that modern. She’d always been too cautious for casual sex. And, truthfully, she was a closet romantic. It had been a long time since she’d had sex of any kind. She hadn’t met anybody who’d lit her boilers until Griff came along.

“You’re very quiet,” he said. “Tired?”

“No. In fact, I’m kind of jazzed.”

“Me, too. I was just thinking a dip in the pool would feel great. Too bad you don’t have a suit. I wonder if the gift shop downstairs has any?”

Perfect solution to her dilemma, Cass thought. A nice swim, a shower…ahhh. “I’m sure they do.”

“Let’s check.” When the elevator door opened on his floor, Griff punched the button down to the lobby.

In the gift shop, he zeroed on a red patterned bikini. Cass checked the tag. It was her size, but the price on it was ridiculous.

He must have caught her frown. “My treat,” he said. “Payback for the day.”

She didn’t argue. Nor did she protest when he handed a matching cover-up and slides to the clerk and charged the purchase to his room. After all, she suspected Griff could easily afford it. If he’d been on a budget, he would have been at Motel 6 instead of in a lake-view suite at the most expensive hotel in town. Too, she thought, he was macho enough to want to make up for her having to foot the bill for the evening’s expenses. Men were sometimes goofy like that.

Back upstairs, he insisted that she take the bathroom while he changed in the living room. Cass took time for a quick shower and put on her new suit. It was a perfect fit, but a tiny bit of her appendectomy scar showed. Although it had faded considerably since she was fourteen and she rarely thought about it, she was suddenly very self-conscious. Why hadn’t she chosen a one-piece as she usually did?

She sighed. Oh well. If a scar turned Griff off, so be it. What was, was. She pulled on her cover-up, stepped into her slides and grabbed a couple of towels and terry robes as she left the bathroom.

Griff smiled when she came out. “Ready?”

“Yep. Let’s hit that pool.”

They went down the elevator again.

“I heard you taking a shower,” he said. “I must smell like a goat.”

She giggled—and couldn’t stop. They’d both had goats on their mind.

“Am I really that bad?” he asked.

“Not at all.”

“Then what’s so funny?”

Cass giggled again. “I’d been thinking the same thing about me earlier.”

He threw an arm around her neck and gave her a peck on the nose. “You certainly don’t smell like a goat. You smell like…bluebonnets.”

“For your information, bluebonnets don’t smell.”

He grinned. “Neither do you.”

“Is the pool indoor or outdoor?”

“Outdoor, but it’s heated so the water should be perfect.”

And it was. The full moon shimmered over the lake, just visible between the trees lining the shore, and sparkled on the surface of the pool.

“It’s like swimming in moonbeams,” Cass said as she did a slow breaststroke across the water.

“I arranged it just for you,” Griff said, pacing himself beside her.

She laughed. “Yeah, sure. But it is nice. And we have the whole pool to ourselves.” She glanced up