and what they’d done and what she wanted to do again with him had been enough to leave her panties wet and her body aching. And he was just hanging out.
“Don’t let me keep you from your game. I’m just going to get my bike put together over here.”
She tuned out the two men’s good-natured bickering as she unpacked her bike. Merrilee had stowed it in the area by the front door where a couple of small bistro tables were set up.
Delphi was adjusting her seat post when the back door opened and Lars walked in. She focused 100 percent on the bike.
“Your girlfriend’s over there,” Dwight said in his megaphone voice.
Determined to play it cool—she’d be damned if she let him know she’d been annoyed in the least—she looked up and shook her head at Dwight’s well-intentioned but misguided announcements.
Lars nodded and strolled over to where she was.
“Hey, you,” he said with that smile that kind of made her feel like a chocolate bar in the summertime, all gooey inside. Even when she was out of sorts with herself and him, he still had the effect on her. It must be an involuntary central nervous system response to him because in her current frame of mind she wouldn’t willingly feel this way. “I was afraid you’d given up on me.” He brushed his hand over his head. “I got tied up on something.”
“No problem.” She smiled as sweetly as she could manage. She straightened.
“Nice bike.”
She leaned it against the wall. It was ready. “Thanks. Do you ride?”
She packed away her tools.
Lars shook his head, watching her, his eyes taking on a hot sexual gleam that sparked the same in her. “No, but I recognize first-class equipment when I see it.” His statement was chock-full of double entendre she would’ve appreciated some other time. Nonetheless, her body tightened and her nipples pebbled at the heat in his eyes. “Were you heading out for a ride now?”
He looked down at her bike shorts and a knowing smile tilted the corners of his sexy mouth when he saw her stiff points outlined against her shirt.
She tried to ignore the sexual energy bouncing all around them. “Yep. It’s a nice day so I’m going for a ride.”
Lars glanced over his shoulder at the two old men and then back to her. Jefferson and Alberta’s husband weren’t even pretending to play their game. They openly watched her and Lars.
“Could I have a private moment with you, upstairs, before you head out?”
She didn’t owe him an audience and her first inclination was to smile sweetly and say she’d chat with him when she returned. Whatever she did—if she just walked out the door with her bike or if she went back upstairs with Lars—they were going to be gossip fodder. However, now that she’d cooled down, she wanted to hear just what he had to say.
“Sure, I’ve got five minutes before I head out.”
* * *
LARS CLIMBED THE STAIRS behind her, enjoying the swish of her ass, which was enticingly right in front of him. She could smile all she wanted to, but Ms. Delphi Reynolds was pissed off.
He didn’t owe her any further explanation outside of that he’d gotten tied up. But he’d wonder if he was in her place. And he’d seen the way her nipples pearled and decided then and there that she might ride her bike later, but she was going for an altogether different ride now.
Besides, it had been a hell of a morning with his mom and then Dirk. He could use a little recreational relaxation.
His room was before hers. He slipped ahead of her and opened the door. “Ladies first.”
She stepped into the room and busied herself looking around as if she was checking out the furnishings. She stood with her arms wrapped around her waist. Lars closed the door behind them.
Damn, it was as if they’d passed Go and then he’d been sent all the way back to the beginning. Her body language screamed the same message it had when he’d boarded the plane on Friday—Off Limits: No Trespassing.
He leaned against the door, giving her space. “There was a family emergency.”
“No problem. I understand.”
No problem, his ass. And her I understand rang hollow. “Look, I can’t go into it, but I got back as soon as I could.”
She nodded as she walked over to look more closely at the framed print on the wall. She spoke without turning around. “It’s fine, Lars. Really. Last night and this