wary of people they don’t know. My father would want to run a background check on her first.
“This is me," she says and opens the door to her right.
I walk her over to the bed and sit her down.
“Let me take a look at your ankle,” I kneel and lift her foot. Her sandals are pink with straps that lie across her toes and encircle her ankle. I unbuckle the straps and pull them off. Red groove marks line the places where the shoe had been in contact with her feet, like they’re too tight. She hisses when I stroke the slightly swollen inside of her ankle.
I look up at her, an apology for hurting her on the tip of my tongue. But that’s not pain on her face and when I run my hand down her instep her eyelids flutter and she sucks that plump bottom lip into her mouth.
“Do you like me touching you?” I ask in a low voice as I trail my hand up her leg. Her pink painted toes wiggle against their perch on my thigh.
“Very much, yes.” She shivers and then rubs her hands over her arms to warm up. “Can you grab me a towel from the bathroom, please?”
I’m such an ass. “Of course,” I hurry to the ensuite bathroom and grab a white towel off the stack by the shower and offer it to her with an apologetic smile.
Our hands brush as she takes the towel, and just that small touch makes me want more. She rubs the towel over her shoulders and chest and her nipples tighten and press against the thin, view ruining black fabric of her swimsuit. I wonder what color they are.
She pats the towel over her throat and turns to look out the window and when my mind starts wondering to places it shouldn’t, again I walk over to peer out and put distance between us. It’s still raging outside The sky had been clear without a hint of cloud before it got dark. “This storm came out of nowhere.”
“That’s summer in East Texas for you,” she says with equals parts affection and disdain.
I turn to face her just as she lifted her arms to twist the towel into a turban on her head.
Her skin is incredible, and even the artificial light doesn’t dim the sun kissed glow of it.
“You’re staring at me,” she chides reproachfully, but she bites her lip, trying and failing to hide a smile.
“You’re really hard not to stare at.”
Her hand comes up to cover the birthmark on her cheek, almost like she’s been slapped and her expression shutters before she looks down at her lap.
“Did I say something wrong?” I ask.
She shakes her head and drops her hand. But she doesn’t meet my eyes again. “Not unless you didn’t mean that in a good way,” she says after a few seconds in a voice that’s just above a whisper.
“I meant it in the best way possible,” I reassure her.
She tugs the towel off her head and hands it to me. When I take it from her, our hands touch and a crackle of something passes between us.
I run it through my hair and then pull my shirt off to rub my chest dry. When I look up at her, She’s leaned back on the bed, watching me.
“Now, you’re staring,” I tease her.
She flushes but, her gaze doesn’t waver. “Just wondering if you’re going to let me touch you, too.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” I toss the towel aside and hold my hand out to her.
Beth
Magic
I slip my hand into his and link our fingers. My mouth has gone dry, and I lick my lower lip. His eyes follow the movement and narrow like a hunter who has sighted his prey and is trying to decide the best way to catch it.
“I don’t know what your situation is, but I’m very attracted to you. I want to kiss you. And you can touch me, and whatever else you want.”
If my hair had been on fire, I wouldn’t have been able to scream because his words, and the heat in his eyes leaves me breathless.
In the face of my silence, he flushes and drops my hands and takes a step back.
“I’m an ass. I’m sorry, I thought that…I can come back tomorrow. Or not at all.”
“No!” I say it more sharply than I mean to and surprise registers on his face. “I’m not good with words…but I can show you.”