Wyatt disappeared into what Charley assumed to be the master bath. As she passed the armoire to the side of the entrance, she stopped and drew in a breath.
“Wyatt?”
“Yeah?”
“Uh… will you come here for a sec?”
“Hang on.”
The splash of a shower’s spray began before he popped his head back out of the door.
She pointed to the painting. “You kept it?”
He emerged, hands on the frame of the door. “Yes. No matter where I’ve lived, I’ve brought it with me.”
“Why?” she asked in a whoosh of breath she hadn’t realized she’d held.
“Because you created it.”
“But you didn’t know that… yet.”
“It didn’t matter. It was the only thing I had from you.” Wyatt took one of her hands.
Charley shifted to re-cover her breasts.
“You know I’ve already seen them, right?” He winked at her. “Come in here.”
She walked into the Taj Mahal of bathrooms. A massive whirlpool tub on a raised platform took center stage, and the spray she’d heard before pointed into it, not in a shower. A wall of windows would welcome the sun if it weren’t dark, and three sinks, with vanity chairs between them, added to the regal effect.
“This is the ultimate female bathroom, Wyatt,” she said. “Are you really a girl?”
He smiled as he sat on the edge of the tub, his hand in the midst of the running water. “Hot or warm?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Bubbles or no?”
“Oh yeah, bubbles,” Charley said.
Soft towels lay folded on a shelf. Wyatt’s razors and shaving cream hid behind the mirrored medicine cabinet she opened out of pure curiosity. Fresh flowers, presumably placed there by Sheila, sat arranged in a beautiful golden, inlaid vase on the counter.
“This room is as gorgeous as the rest of the house.”
“Thank you. I had a designer redo most of it. Are you ready to get in… uh… to fix my face?” He pointed to his nose where the color bloomed into and around his right eye.
The jets roared to life. Water gurgled in bursts of air and spray. A stream of gel frothed into miniature white clouds, spilling rainbows of color and adding a sweetness to the air.
Wyatt stood, hooked his fingers into the waist of his pants, and began to push them down. “I’ve already seen you naked, so I figure I owe you the same.”
Charley stifled the moan as she stepped to him, stopped his efforts. “Payback… is not necessary.” The muscles under her palms flexed. She ran them up his chest and across his shoulders, taking in the ripples, softness and hardness that encompassed him.
Her eyes stayed fixed on his.
She let her hands follow the line of his arms to his fingertips and back up, covering the length of his torso until she slipped a finger between the warmth of his skin and the waistband. Her hand slid around to the side, drawing his covering down toward the floor.
Wyatt caught her hair in his fingers as she moved lower until he could no longer hang on.
She sank to her knees in front of him. He stepped out as she touched each ankle. Fingertips slid up the inside of his leg, around, and over every facet of his body, every inch of which she had wanted to savor for so long-the texture, warmth and tenderness.
Wyatt’s groan made her smile.
His hands found her hair again as she rose. He tugged her upward as her tongue followed from his middle to his lips. She pulled back, let her lips dance across his to his cheeks and ears until she lowered again. He guided her mouth down until she released and slid back up, pressing herself against him.
His hands found the buttons of her jeans, undoing them one by one. As he reached the last, he moved one hand behind her head, pulled her lips to his, and slid his other between skin and cloth.
Charley moaned in pleasure as his fingers enticed, aroused and offered satisfaction in a manner she’d only ever dreamed.
Their lips met again with a ferocity Charley had experienced once before-with the same man.
He pulled back, pushed her jeans toward the floor. She slipped from the folds of cotton as their mouths continued to tease and torment.
He lifted her to his waist. Drunk with anticipation, she wrapped her legs around him and grinned between the embraces.
The water beside them sputtered as bubbles threatened to overflow.
“Skip the tub?” Wyatt asked in a breathless catch as he nipped along the edge of her lip.
Charley shook her head, kept her eyes locked on his.
Wyatt shifted to the lip of the tub, spun so they stepped in, over and within the bubbles, together. Charley rested her knees on either side of his hips, moved lower until, within the water, she and the bubbles encompassed the whole of them.
Her pleasure built to a scream, but she withheld as Wyatt tormented her with hands, lips and teeth. The passion she always dreamed of rose to the surface.
Water and bubbles dripped from a hand that found its way to her face again. Wyatt pulled her toward him, their lips touched and retreated, converging as their tongues slid against the other.
“I’ve always wanted you, Charley.” He mumbled against her.
“I’m yours, forever.”
Her hands gripped his shoulders, nails digging into tense muscles as she levered and took all of him inside her body. Under the warmth of their liquid cover, they fit together-two pieces cut from the same picture, rejoined by a puzzle master.
Charley moved against him.
His body went rigid as he groaned. “What about-”
“It’s okay.” She whispered into his ear while she let her body fall against his and away. The water of the tub sloshed against its rim. “I’m not… ah… fertile until I… ah… blend.”
“I have no idea what that means, but it works for me.” Wyatt’s hands found their home again at Charley’s breasts, which he caressed with soft lips.
She continued the pace at their hips and elicited moans-sounds she’d wanted to pull from him. She tingled with each new touch, bracing her hands against the tub to give him better access. Vibrations of love and lust mixed within her body as they continued.
Charley sped up as Wyatt’s breathing accelerated. His eyes met hers as she drew her body up and back down. The power of her movement sent waves of water over the edges of the tub.
He bit into her flesh as she timed her movements to counter his thrusts from below. With her hands in his hair, she drew in his scent-a combination of bubbles and male-erotic, sensual and sweet all at once.
Her head fell backward, the tips of her curls reaching into the water. Small echoes of times past ran through her mind as she writhed in pleasure against the strength of their movement. The power grew until it exceeded that of even a transformation-full of love and carnal need.
Surrounded by bubbles that crept their way up and across his broad shoulders, he wrapped his arms around her. She rocked and ground her hips, straining for a release. With a last thrust, he followed her lead, and together they slid down the rainbow and reached the pot of gold.
They stayed connected until the last of the translucent soap merged with the water and the temperature
