Emerging from the bathroom, she stopped in the doorway and saw he’d created a Great Wall of Pillows in an engineering feat that NASA scientists would be proud of.
‘Like the border?’ He winked at her from where he stood on his side of the bed.
‘Impressive.’ She was so talking about the tower, not James in nothing but boxers. ‘That’s a very big...pile of pillows.’
His eyes danced. ‘I did ship in some extra. But it should hold.’ He rather awkwardly turned towards the bed and cleared his throat. ‘According to my boss I’m not going on another assignment for a fortnight.’
‘Oh.’ A fortnight? ‘So you’re on holiday too, then,’ she mumbled, her face scorching.
‘Seems so.’ He pulled back the sheet and slid beneath it.
‘Nice.’ She couldn’t think what else to say. She was going to have to sleep next to him for the next two weeks? How was she going to survive? She was too close to combustion as it was.
Hideously self-conscious, she crept onto her side of the bed. The tower was so tall she’d be able to sit up and still not see him. But she was acutely aware of his closeness, the image of him all but naked was seared on her mind.
She carefully clambered between the cool sheets and told her hyperactive senses to chill too. A fair amount of trust was required to sleep in the same bed as someone, but she was safe with James Wolfe. She’d already spent one night with him. Sure, last night he’d been too exhausted to do anything even if he’d wanted to, but she figured that—despite the light’n’teasy flirt—he really didn’t want to do anything. He was too honourable, way too much the hero, to make an inappropriate move.
And that was fine, right?
He switched off the light and plunged them into almost darkness. Energy buzzed in the room. Her sensual awareness grew super high. She totally regretted the no knickers. She was too nude—and growing too damp. She couldn’t really blame the shower. Get a grip, Caitlin.
She could lie next to him and not think about sex. She could keep cool and in control of herself. She could try to remember to breathe.
‘You had dinner before the theatre?’ he asked from the other side of the pillow ranges.
Caitlin swallowed a gasp. ‘Yes.’
At that moment, a prolonged gurgling sound rumbled round the deathly quiet room. Her stomach had just proved her a liar.
‘You spent your daily budget on your theatre ticket, didn’t you?’ He chuckled.
She sighed. No point in trying to lie now. ‘Yeah.’ Not just today’s budget, but tomorrow’s too. And the next day’s.
‘So you’re hungry.’
Yeah. She was. For a number of things.
She felt the mattress bounce as he suddenly moved. She heard rustling. Then a tearing sound—was that foil? Was he—?
She yanked her thoughts from the rampantly horny. Man, was she that wired, that turned on by his mere presence, that her brain had fried, thinking he was about to sate her sexual appetite? That he was undoing a—
‘Here.’
In the dim light she saw his hand stretching over their pillow wall.
She reached out and took the small rectangular-shaped thing he was holding out. It was slightly warm, slightly soft. And as she drew it nearer to see what it was the scent told her. Her mouth watered.
‘Chocolate?’ She felt almost faint at the divine smell.
‘I always have some with me. It has nuts in it, though—that okay?’
The man was an angel. ‘More than okay.’ She nibbled on a corner, savouring, resisting the urge to swallow it in one gulp. ‘So this is your secret stash? That’s what you keep by your bed?’
‘Uh-huh. Good, right?’
He was so good. She slowly sucked the chocolate lump, letting it melt over her tongue. She nearly moaned at the sweet sensation.
She heard his low laughter and he dropped another, much larger piece over the pillow wall.
No matter if he’d only ever been teasing, she was all his. A man who provided the necessaries of life—a roof over her head and chocolate after midnight? What more did a woman need?
She refused to think of sex.
A couple of minutes later he spoke again. ‘How bad is your budget?’
Caitlin smiled wryly. No point in trying to hide the obvious. ‘Pretty bad.’
Frankly she wasn’t bothered this instant because she’d seen that Broadway show tonight and she was staying in this incredible location, less than an arm’s reach from the hottest guy she’d ever met. A guy who slept in little and always carried chocolate with him—
‘A month in New York with no money?’ He summed up her life.
‘Yes, but that’s okay,’ she said doggedly. ‘I have a roof over my head. I have eyes.’
‘So you can do your seeing.’ James shook his head and passed the rest of his chocolate over the pillows. Hell, he wanted her to ‘do’ too. He wanted her to do him. And could anyone blame him when she was in one of his T-shirts again, all glowing from the shower with her long legs and sparkly eyes, full of smiles and simmering anticipation.
‘You should sleep,’ she said, sounding apologetic.
As if that were going to happen when she’d looked like that. Tired but flushed—excited. He listened to the soft sounds as she settled into the bed—so she was ready to snooze? At least she had a little something sweet in her stomach now.
Hell. He really wanted to lick the remaining taste of chocolate from her lips.
He drew a breath and held it as he tried to calm the riot inside his body. Good thing he’d built the pillows up so high, given the way his body was straining to attention. This was worse than he’d imagined it’d be. No way was he managing two weeks of this kind of torture. He’d phone Lisbet in the morning and insist on a placement somewhere—anywhere.
A few minutes later he heard Caitlin rustle again. Then again. Restless? As restless as he? He grinned in the darkness. He knew all about exciting days in foreign cities and sensorial overload. It took a while to relax, no matter how physically exhausted you were. You needed time to mentally unwind after such a stint of fierce sightseeing. The rustling sounded again.
‘You can’t sleep?’ he asked.
‘Sorry.’ Her soft voice filled him with warmth. ‘Am I keeping you awake? I can’t stop thinking.’
Yeah, he knew how that felt too. And he knew a cure—a focus on physical pleasure. Even the most stressed person could find that mindless relief that came after physical completion. But it wasn’t something he did when on assignment. A few of the guys did. Some of the things they saw when on task compelled a need to affirm life. Or find an escape. So they hooked up with nurses. Or maybe visited a local late-night lady. But some of those women the guys visited had no escape. They needed money desperately enough to do anything. Emotions were fraught. James thought it was easier, safer for all, to steer clear altogether. He encouraged his team to do the same.
But here he was. Home. Safe. And unable to think of anything but Caitlin and what he’d do to her the second he got the chance. He was out of control.
‘Tell me about the show,’ he almost begged her. Anything to stop the lusty images pelting through his mind.
‘It was amazing. Crystal Sugar.