He slid his ankles around her backside, his body erupting with need when his bare feet met nothing but her skin. Okay, so the jeans might not have been a good idea after all. He was going to have a hell of a time getting them off when the time came. Especially since he could well imagine which parts of her body were now resting against his lower half.
Trying to forget about that, he cupped her face and leaned in to kiss her, taking up where they’d left off in the other room. Maddy’s hands went to his shoulders, her wet fingers warm from being submerged in the water.
“You need to take your jeans off.”
The whispered words echoed his earlier thoughts.
“I will in a few minutes.” Some kind of long beige sponge lay to the left of them along the edge of the tub. He touched it, surprised to find it wasn’t soft and spongy at all, but firm.
“That’s the loofah.” She took it from him and poured some kind of liquid onto it. “Turn around.”
“Not a chance.” The last thing he wanted to do was face away from her.
She leaned in and kissed his cheek, her chin rubbing along his jawline. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”
Dammit. Now she had him thinking all kinds of crazy things. Unhooking his ankles from behind her, he stood, turning to face the far wall, which had a large mirror attached. He sank back into the water, his eyes meeting Maddy’s. This time, she was the one with the smile.
“Back up so I can reach you.”
He did just that, her legs coming around his, feet tucking beneath his thighs. The sponge connected with his back and she scrubbed with just enough pressure to make his nerve endings stand up and sing. “Hell.”
Maddy laughed. “Really? Because I always thought it felt like heaven.”
Heaven. Hell. They were kind of all squashed together in his head right now.
Leaning forward a bit, he closed his eyes, unable to keep a low groan from coming out. She continued to move the sponge over him, gradually working her way up until she reached his shoulders.
Then something soft pressed against the skin of his back and his eyes popped open just as he realized what it was. Her breasts. Before he could do anything, Maddy looped her arms over his shoulders, sliding the top of the sponge down his chest and over his abdomen until it dipped beneath the water. Then it pressed against a part of him that was beginning to protest. Loudly. Insistently.
He grabbed the sponge from her and set it back where it came from.
“Now, Maddy,” he said, staring at her in the mirror and realizing he was fighting a battle he had no desire to win. “Now it’s time to lose the jeans.”
* * *
Something was tickling her ear.
Not physically, but...
Sound. The gentle trill of...an alarm clock?
No. She shifted her hand and met warm flesh. She snuggled closer, an arm coming around her waist and dragging her fully against him.
And there were no jeans to come between them this time.
The noise came again. Melodic. Distant.
A phone? She blinked her eyes open for a second. Her hand slid along his bare arm, enjoying the rough feel of masculine hair against her palm.
The singsong tune morphed into something not so pleasant. She didn’t want to listen to it anymore. In fact, she didn’t want to listen to anything except...
Something banged repeatedly against a hard surface.
The figure behind her sat up and turned her onto her back, a slight smile playing around the edges of his mouth.
Kaleb. Wow. So it hadn’t been a dream.
None of it. Heat swept over her body as she remembered the second he’d lowered that zipper.
Light peeked around the edges of her curtains. It was morning.
Something pounded again. It was a little too early for repairs, wasn’t it?
“Someone’s at your door.” His thumb came out to slide along her lower lip. A shiver went over her.
She stretched, enjoying what met her eyes. His chest was naked, the sheet just barely covering his...
...at the door?
“Maddy? Hello? Are you home?”
A voice... The sound was no longer outside, but inside the apartment!
Inside!
Wrenching herself upright, she stared at Kaleb, no longer in admiration, but in abject panic as she recognized the sound. “It’s my sister,” she hissed. “You have to get out of here. Now!”
He leaned closer, that lazy grin sliding across his face. “Do you want me to leap from your window?”
“No, I just...” She cleared her throat and made her voice loud enough to be heard. “Just a second, Roxy. I’m just now getting up.”
Scrambling from the bed, she stripped his shirt from her chest and tossed it at him. “You. Dressed. Now!”
Maddy dragged her clothes on as fast as humanly possible, not caring that it was the same outfit she’d worn yesterday. Then she yanked her fingers through her tangled hair. “Coming.”
She didn’t stop to check whether or not Kaleb was doing what she asked; she simply whisked through the bedroom door, pulling it shut behind her. As long as she could keep Roxy—or, worse, Chloe—from discovering that Kaleb McBride had spent the night in her bed, she would be fine. She hoped.
The man had to have known he rocked her world. No one had made love to her like that in...well, forever. There were no comparisons, and that scared the hell out of her.
She strolled down the hall and into the living room, wearing the biggest smile she could muster. “Hey, you two...”
Her voice died. Because, yes, Roxy and Chloe were there. In fact, her daughter launched herself into her arms and hung on tight. But standing just behind them was someone she hadn’t expected.
“Mom? What are you doing here?”
Keeping one arm around Chloe, she glanced back at the bedroom, hoping against hope that Kaleb was not going to pull that door open and let everyone know he was there.
Roxy, she could handle; her sister had had her share of lovers over the years. Not so much recently, but in their younger days. Maddy could have even come up with some kind of funny explanation for Kaleb being here—although nothing sounded particularly humorous to her at the moment.
But her mom?
Oh, no. She would see right through the ploy. She would know. She always did.
Her mom laughed and came over to kiss her cheek. “I’m happy to see you too, dear.” She glanced around the room. “You’ve been trying to get me to come out here for a visit for a while, and after...well, what happened with Matthew, I wanted to see where you lived. I would have come for your birthday yesterday, but Roxy told me she’d promised you a night alone.”
Oh, Lord. She’d definitely not been alone. Not then. And not now.
“Mommy? My head hurts.”
The words came from Chloe, and while she did her best to concentrate on what they meant, she was still trying to figure out why her mom had really come. Today of all days. How was she going to get Kaleb out of that room?
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Maddy said. “Do you need some medicine?”
“No. It’s not a sicky headache, just a normal one.” Chloe got migraines from time to time, but it had been months since