He pulled aside the lacy curtain and vinyl liner. Then he twisted the faucet to cold. If he wanted to sleep, he’d probably have to take a cold shower, so thoughts of her long curtain of black hair didn’t keep him awake.
With the water still running cold, he stepped inside the tub and pulled the curtain closed. But the porcelain was slippery, ridiculously slippery, almost as if... His foot flew across the slick surface and sent him tumbling. His head struck the tile wall. Black spots obscured his vision and something dripped into his eye. It was too thick and sticky to be water.
He was bleeding. He reached up to touch his head, but his limbs were tangled beneath him in the slick tub. As if...as if it was covered in oil. He struggled to move, but his vision blurred more until he couldn’t see at all. And consciousness slipped away.
* * *
SERENA HAD JUST undressed when she heard the crash. The sound came from the second floor.
But she heard no shout. No movement at all. All she heard was water running.
She pulled on a thin robe and then hurried down the stairwell. Mr. Tremont had left that morning with an overnight bag and Stanley had taken Annie for a walk, so there was no one else on the second floor. Except for Cody.
Her pulse quickened, but her footsteps slowed as she approached the door to the bathroom. She hesitated a long moment before lifting her hand to knock. She couldn’t just walk in on him in the shower.
After that crash she’d heard, she had to make certain that he was all right, though. It was her responsibility as the landlady.
So she knocked again. Louder.
Still no reply.
“Hello?” she called out. “Are you okay?”
No one answered her. Had he fallen and gotten hurt?
“Cody?” she called his name. But she didn’t expect a reply now. She gripped the knob and easily turned it. The door was unlocked. She drew in a deep breath and pushed open the door.
Water sprayed out of the showerhead, flying around the room and across the floor. The rod had been knocked down, the curtain and liner tangled beneath the naked body lying in the tub.
She gasped and hurried forward, but her bare feet slipped on the wet floor. She caught herself on the edge of the tub, so that she didn’t fall on top of him. Hand shaking, she turned off the water, which was running cold.
“Cody!”
He didn’t move. And blood streaked down his handsome face from a cut on his forehead. Calling upon the nursing training she hadn’t quite completed, Serena reached for his wrist and closed her fingers lightly around it. His skin was cold, but his pulse beat steadily beneath her fingers. His chest—so muscular with only a light dusting of golden hair—rose and fell as he breathed. That was good.
He didn’t need CPR. Then his pulse increased—pounding faster and harder. She glanced at his face to find his green-eyed gaze focused on her.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “What happened?” This was definitely no trick to get her inside the bathroom while he was naked. He was hurt. He was bleeding and his eyes looked dazed.
He just stared at her as if he couldn’t hear. Or couldn’t understand.
“I’m going to call 911,” she said. He needed a doctor. He obviously had a head injury—a concussion or worse. But when she started to move away, he caught her, his hand wrapping tightly around her wrist.
He hadn’t lost his strength, despite being hurt. And the cut and swelling bump on his head didn’t detract from his good looks.
He was so handsome it really wasn’t fair. His blond hair was slick against his head and nearly as dark as the shadow forming on his strong jaw. And his body...
Her mouth dried, and she struggled to swallow the lump of desire filling her throat. He was masculine perfection—every muscle defined in his arms and in his chest and down the rippling washboard of his abdomen. Her gaze dropped lower to his long cock. As she watched, it began to grow even longer as it swelled and hardened.
But he was the one who murmured, “You’re so damn beautiful.”
She was surprised that he could see her at all. He’d obviously been knocked out cold when he’d fallen.
“You need medical attention,” she said as she tried to tug her wrist free.
But he held on tightly, pulling her down so that she dropped to her knees beside the tub. Then he murmured, “I need your attention.”
“Cody,” she said in protest.
But he moved his other hand into her hair, pulling her head down. And his mouth covered hers. He kissed her with a passion she’d never experienced before.
His lips glided across hers. Then his tongue slipped out, swiping across her bottom lip, tasting her.
She gasped at the delicious sensation. His teeth replaced his tongue as he nipped gently on her bottom lip.
A moan rumbled in her throat. She wanted this—this physical contact. She needed it. It had been so long...
With the house and the lawsuit, she hadn’t had any time for dating. But maybe she didn’t need to date. Maybe she only needed a physical release. Cody could give her that. But then what would happen when he got bored? She would probably lose him and maybe even Stanley as boarders.
Men like Cody Mallehan always got bored.
Unfortunately they were never boring. His kiss ignited a new excitement in her. Her heart raced. Her skin tingled. She wanted him.
His fingers tangled in her hair as he held her head still for his kiss. And he kept kissing her—moving his lips across hers while teasing her with the tip of his tongue.
Just his kiss had her trembling as desire overwhelmed her. Passion heated her blood, had her breasts swelling, her nipples tightening. She felt the pull from their sensitive tips to her core.
One of his hands moved from her hair. His fingers trailed down the side of her neck and then lower—inside the opening of her robe.
“I’ve been so jealous,” he murmured.
“What?” There was no one in her life for him to envy.
His fingers slid down between her breasts. “I’ve been so jealous...of that damn ice cube.”
She shivered as sensations raced through her.
“The ice cube was colder than my touch,” he said, misinterpreting the cause of her shiver.
She was beyond hot for him. But his fingers were cold. And she remembered that he’d been lying under the almost icy spray of water. She reached out and touched the bump on his head. The blood was no longer flowing, but it continued to trickle from the cut.
“You might need stitches,” she said, “and a CT scan.” She’d taken enough nursing courses to know the consequences of a serious concussion. He could develop a bleed and swelling on the brain.
“I need you.” He moved in the tub, as if trying to get out, but he slipped again. “What the hell...”
“Don’t,” she said. “You shouldn’t try to move. You might have broken a bone.”
“It’s not broken,” he said.
She glanced down at his erection. And a wistful gasp escaped from her lips. He was so big. So hard...
She wanted to touch him. “You’re hurt,” she reminded them both.
He groaned. “I’m hurting...”
“Let me call for help—”
But he had her wrist again. When he tugged on it, though, he slipped and inadvertently jerked Serena into the bathtub with