Her Hometown Hero - Melody Anne Page 0,35

was cold.

Spence led her to the bathroom off the back deck, where his hot tub was located. The deck was covered, but a shiver still racked her body when she stepped up to the French doors with only a towel covering her modest underclothes.

She would have to step into the cold before she could enter the hot tub. “Come on. The deck is clear. Just walk quickly. I already have it open and ready,” Spence said as he stepped up beside her.

Taking a breath, she rushed through the doors, dropped the towel, and then quickly climbed down into the hot tub, the warm water stinging her frozen limbs as she submerged herself.

“Ah, this is exactly what we needed,” Spence said as he climbed in beside her, giving her a glimpse of his impressive chest before the water covered him to his neck.

Scooting to the far side of the hot tub, Sage eyed Spence warily, but he didn’t make a move toward her, so she leaned back after a minute, finally beginning to relax as warmth seeped into her skin and the cold finally evaporated.

The coolness on her face and the heat of the water were a perfect combination and she soon found herself feeling human once again. When she began to drift, she felt a wave in the water, and as her eyelids cracked open, she found herself looking into Spence’s eyes.

“Want to play a game?”

“I don’t think I could win any game against you, Spence,” she said. She couldn’t back away—he’d left her nowhere to go.

“Come on, Sage. Don’t chicken out on me.” He brought his hand up and rubbed the top of her shoulder, which was peeking out from the water.

“What game can we play in the hot tub, Spence?”

“Hmm, truth or dare, of course,” he said with a gleam in his eyes.

“Fine,” she said, shocking herself and him.

“Good. I get to go first,” he said as he leaned back, giving her a little breathing room. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” She hesitated for only a moment before uttering the word.

“When did you have your first kiss?” he asked.

Sending him a glare, she hesitated only a minute before answering him. “I was fifteen the first time. It was with Basal, the foreign exchange student my sophomore year of high school. He could really kiss,” she said, thinking back with a fond smile.

“Oh really?” His eyebrows went up in shock.

“I’m not always the innocent little girl, you know.”

“Come on, Sage,” he said in disbelief. “Since meeting you again, I’ve had a few flashbacks, and I remember your reputation. And from what I’ve heard recently, that reputation stayed with you in college.”

Bluff called! “You were checking up on me?” she asked, irritated, forgetting all about their little game.

“I’ve learned everything I can about you, Sage.”

The way he said it was a challenge. She just didn’t understand what the challenge was.

“Maybe I also know all about you, Spence Whitman.”

“Do tell.” He wasn’t at all fazed by her words.

“Some things should remain secret,” she said, not wanting to play games with him anymore.

“You can’t start this conversation and then just stop,” he said, moving closer once again.

“I wasn’t the one who started it,” she insisted.

“Yeah, but you don’t want to run, do you, Sage? You like exactly what’s going on between us,” he said, his arms coming up on either side of her, boxing her in. The problem wasn’t his closeness; the problem was the fact that she wanted him even closer.

Knowing she was falling for him, knowing she was about to cave, she spun around, kneeling on her seat, facing his spacious yard while leaving her back to him.

“Are you trying to hide, Sage?” he asked as his chest pressed against her back.

“Yes,” she said, not even recognizing her own voice.

“I don’t think I’m going to let you,” he said, his mouth grazing her ear and sending shivers down her spine that had nothing to do with the freezing night air.

“I’m not sure I can resist you,” she told him, and his lips, which had been grazing her neck, stopped in their tracks.

“Then don’t.” He resumed his assault on her neck, wrapped his hands around her waist, and pulled her back tightly against his chest. “Tell me to stop if you don’t want this to lead where we both know it’s going to.”

Sage leaned against the edge of the tub, the jets massaging the front of her while his hands trailed across the skin of her stomach and his mouth slid over her