pubic hair and wouldn’t have if she didn’t wax her bikini line.
She did it for the same reason she bought sexy underpants, so she would feel more feminine under her clothes. It had hurt like Hades the first few times, but it worked. She got a major mental boost knowing she had a tidy triangle of curls adorning her most feminine place.
And now her secret little habit made it possible to wear a pair of bikini bottoms that had less fabric in them than a handkerchief.
Her gaze lifted to Daniel. “If you expect me to wear this, you have to buy a Speedo.”
He shook his head, not looking even sort of repentant. “No can do.” He pointed to the area below his waist with his whole hand. “You can see what being around you in a swimsuit does to me. A Speedo just won’t cut it.”
The sales clerk coughed and turned away, her expression priceless.
Josie was too busy trying not to blush, herself, to laugh, but she had to admit she could understand Daniel’s dilemma. No way would a tiny pair of briefs hold his erection inside.
But, “The pool isn’t heated.”
“Ice cubes wouldn’t help with you in that suit.”
“Maybe I should get the blue one.”
“No.”
She smiled, really liking the buzz his uncontrolled reaction to her gave her. “Okay, I’ll buy the green one, but I get to pick out something for you to wear, too.”
“Not a Speedo.”
“Agreed.” She smiled, wondering what he would think of the leather thong made to look like a loincloth she’d seen in an on-line catalogue once.
By the time they made it back to the hotel after shopping, they were both hungry for dinner and decided to eat before their swim. They didn’t make it to the pool until a little after eight in the evening.
They were both used to getting a lot of physical exercise and started off swimming laps.
A hand on her ankle was the only warning Josie got before going under. She came up sputtering and glaring to be met by a grinning Daniel.
“You’ll pay for that,” she threatened.
He laughed at her, and no way was she going to let him get away with it.
Remembering his weakness, she attacked, tickling and trying to dunk him at the same time. She succeeded, only to get pulled under with him. She came up wrapped in his arms and with his lips locked against hers. They kissed and played and teased until she was so aroused from all the touching, she could barely stay afloat.
She anchored herself to his shoulders and wrapped her thighs around his hips, trapping the evidence of his excitement between them.
He grinned down at her, his hands gliding along her bare back and over her hips to cup her bottom in the water. “You surrender?”
She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed with contentment. “If this were really what surrendering was like, wars would end before they started.”
Chapter 15
“You feel good to me, too, sweetheart.”
She loved it when he called her that, and she rewarded him with a kiss against his neck.
“You ready to go back to the room?”
Darkness had fallen while they played in the pool, and no one else had come out to disturb their solitude. Summer wasn’t exactly high season in the Nevada desert. It was too hot, but she didn’t mind the heat, and she liked the fact the hotel wasn’t booked to capacity.
“I’d rather go in the Jacuzzi. Is that okay?”
“Will you make the delay worth it?” he asked with a mock leer.
This teasing Daniel was someone she could spend the rest of her life with.
She tipped her head back and fluttered her eyelashes at him, surprised at how naturally some things came to a woman. “Don’t you think I can?”
The kiss he gave her answered that question and any other she might have on her desirability.
“I’m counting on it,” he said when he lifted his head.
“Good.”
He started walking through the water to the pool steps, and she let him carry her, but when they reached the first step, she tried to unwrap her legs.
His hold on her bottom tightened. “No. Let me carry you to the spa.”
She looked around and didn’t see anyone, not sure that it would matter if she did. “All right.” She wasn’t sure her legs would hold her up anyway.
His resilience amazed her.
It was incredibly erotic being carried in such an intimate position across the pool deck. Her imagination drummed up some pretty interesting scenarios in the same position, but without any swimsuits to hinder them. He stopped at the whirlpool controls to turn on the jets before stepping into the now bubbling hot water with her.
Her body tensed in involuntary reaction to the shock of the high temperature after the colder water of the pool. “It’s hot.”
“You’ll get used to it pretty fast.” Then he dipped down, immersing them both up to their necks. “This is the quickest way.”
She gasped and tried to shoot up out of the almost unbearably hot water, but he held her tight. “Relax, it will get better soon.”
He was right. Within a second or two, it felt too good for her to want to get out. “It feels wonderful.”
“I know something that feels even better.” He unwrapped her legs from around him and changed his hold on her to one at her waist.
Lifting her through the water, he placed her on the cement seat running the circumference of the spa. A jet of water shot against her lower back, massaging her with a steady stream of water pressure.
Her eyes closed, and she reveled in the delicious sensation. “Umm…That is nice.”
“I know.” He sat down beside her and started kneading her shoulders with strong fingers. “I designed my house with a multiperson hot tub in the master bath.”
Tension drained out of her as a sense of utter peace pervaded her being. “No luxury like this for your guests?”
“I’d share with you, but there’s another, much bigger one in the backyard.” His fingers moved up her neck. “It’s fed by an artificial waterfall pumped up from a natural spring.”
“Wolf’s house has a hot spring under it,” she remembered out loud.
“I know. I incorporated it into his house’s design, too, but his is heated. I have to heat the water for mine. Summers are hot, and the rest of the year isn’t much cooler, so I leave it set at a low temperature most of the time.” He guided her into a position leaning with her back against his chest. “You can stay in it longer that way.”
“It sounds wonderful.” She let her head fall back onto his shoulder. “I’d like to see your house someday.”
“I’d like that, too.”
“I can’t believe you designed it and Wolf’s house, too. His is amazing. I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as the jungle room downstairs.”
“Thank you.”
“How did you learn to design like that?”
He shrugged, causing her shoulders to lift and fall in unison with his. “When I first joined the Rangers, everything was so intense, I realized I needed something to do between assignments that wasn’t related to
