to give his dick room to stretch out, and realized that he wouldn’t be able to walk away again. He wanted her to look at him that way. Admit it, own it, act on it.
He looked at the house, every hunter’s instinct in him on alert. There was a naked woman in his shower, and he wanted to be in there with her.
Chapter Sixteen
Ben and the dog walked Sela down the steep driveway to where she’d parked her SUV. He carried his shotgun, his gaze alert and his head on a swivel, constantly looking around him. He was far more alert than she’d been on the walk up, she realized, and he was armed. She had simply walked up without taking much notice of her surroundings. The community patrol would learn from him but she should, too. It was everyone’s responsibility to help keep the valley safe.
She felt wonderful. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t washed every night with soap, but there was something about standing under warm flowing water that was downright miraculous. She smelled like his soap and shampoo, both of which were plain Jane without any perfumes added, and that was pretty great, too. She had sat in front of the fire and finger-combed her hair while it partially dried; she could have stayed indefinitely, but knowing her responsibilities waited for her made her antsy.
When they reached her SUV she took the remote from her pocket and unlocked the doors. She gave him a slightly guilty look. “I used your toilet, too,” she confessed, her tone a little shy but jubilant, too. “And flushed.”
“I know. I heard. I’d have been surprised if you hadn’t.” He slanted a look at her and this time she definitely saw amusement. “Flushed, that is.”
Before she knew it she’d lightly punched him on the arm, then realized what she’d done and clapped her hand over her mouth. She could feel her face heating. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled behind her hand. “I didn’t mean— I don’t . . .” she trailed off, because it was ludicrous to say I don’t hit people when she had just now hit him.
“Give people love taps?” he asked. He looked down at her and hooked his arm around her waist, pulled her against him. “It wasn’t even much of a tap, I barely felt it. That said, my feelings are hurt and you have to make it up to me.”
His . . . feelings were hurt? She was momentarily bewildered, then like the rising of the sun she realized he was flirting with her. Flirting! Ben Jernigan! Warmth flooded through her and a smile bloomed across her face. Rising on her toes, she wound her arms around his neck and brushed a light kiss across his mouth. “Does this make you feel better?” she asked, giving him another kiss. Even as she did she was astonished all over again that he was holding her, that she was kissing him. So much had changed today, things she hadn’t imagined would ever happen no matter where her imagination had taken her.
“Getting there,” he replied, and took over.
It had been so long since she’d felt attractive to a man, since she’d known passion. Ben made her feel as if she could light him up with the slightest touch, underscored by the thick ridge in his jeans. Looking back, considering how he’d sought her out, however reluctantly, she thought he must have been as attracted to her as she had been to him. The knowledge thrilled her, excited her. She’d be having sex with him soon—maybe not in the next week or so, because of Carol needing care, but soon. She hadn’t had sex since Adam had divorced her. Her confidence had been so thoroughly destroyed that she’d shied away from even dating, but soon she would be sleeping with a man who made Adam look like a Ken doll, and not even an anatomically correct Ken, at that.
He turned her and lifted her onto the hood of the Honda, stepping between her legs as naturally as if they had been having make-out sessions for months instead of . . . an hour? Sela’s breath went ragged as he settled that hard ridge right against her clitoris and rubbed it back and forth. “Oh,” she said in a soft, breathless tone, her fingers digging into the back of his neck.
He made a raw sound deep in his throat and eased away from her. Disappointment shot through her until she saw