“Only because
She smiled to herself at the injured note in his voice. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Obviously not.” He ducked his head under the spray. “Do you want to join me?”
She yearned to say yes, but his voice held a silky seductive note that reminded her of a snake slithering up the Tree of Knowledge, so she pretended not to hear. While he showered, she searched through the drawers of the vanity trying to locate some antibiotic ointment.
She found a tube of Crest Tartar Control squeezed up from the bottom and a column of neatly capped deodorant. His black comb was spanking clean and still had all its teeth. The drawer also held dental floss, a pair of shiny silver nail clippers, shaving cream and several razors, along with Extra Strength Tylenol, and a large tube of Ben Gay. And condoms. A whole box of them. The fact that he would be using these condoms with someone other than herself gave her a pang so sharp she ached.
Pushing the image aside, she knelt to look under the sink and found more Ben Gay, three cartons of Epsom salts, and a tube of antibiotic ointment. The water shut off and, moments later, the shower door clicked.
“Tucker’s using you,” he said. “You know that, don’t you?”
“That’s not true.” She turned in time to watch him wrap a thick black towel around his waist. His chest was still wet, the dark hair matted.
“Sure it is. He’s using you to get back at me.”
The fact that he didn’t believe Kevin could find her attractive stung enough that it forced her to retaliate. “That may be true, but there’s also a subtle sexual chemistry between Kevin and me.”
He’d been in the process of pulling a hand towel from the rack to dry his hair, but his arm stalled in mid-reach. “What are you talking about? What sexual chemistry?”
“Sit down so I can fix your lip. It’s bleeding again.”
Droplets from his wet hair flew as he took an abrupt step forward. “I won’t sit down! I want to know what you mean.”
“An older woman, a
His eyes had narrowed into mean-street slits at her description of Kevin. “Is that supposed to be comforting?”
“Only if the idea of Kevin and me together is discomfiting.”
He snatched the towel and vigorously rubbed his hair. “You know he’s only interested in you because you’re wearing my ring. If it weren’t for that, he wouldn’t pay any attention to you.”
He’d found her most vulnerable spot, and, just like that, the fun went out of the game. His meaningless threats of violence hadn’t bothered her, but the fact that he believed she was too geeky for another man to find attractive stung to the quick. “No, I don’t know that.” She headed toward her bedroom.
“Where are you going?” he called after her. “I thought you were going to patch me up?”
“The antibiotic is on the vanity. Do it yourself.”
He followed her into her bedroom, coming to a stop just inside the door. “Does Kevin- Does he mean something to you?” He flung down the hand towel. “How the hell could he mean anything to you? You don’t even know him!”
“Our discussion is over.”
“I thought you believed in open communication?”
She said nothing, but gazed out the window, wishing he’d go away.
He came up behind her, and she heard a curious gruffness in his voice. “I hurt your feelings, didn’t I?”
She slowly nodded.
“I didn’t mean to. I just- I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all. You don’t have a lot of experience with jocks. They can be-I don’t know-hard on women, I guess.”
“I know.” She turned back to him in time to watch a crooked rivulet of water slide toward a flat brown nipple. “I think I’ve had enough high drama for today. You’d better go.”
He came closer instead, and when he spoke, his voice held a surprising note of tenderness. “We didn’t even get to the bare-butt spanking.”
“Maybe some other time.”
“How’bout we just do the bare-butt part?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to bare anything to each other for a while.”
“Now why do you say that?”
“Because it makes everything too complicated.”
“Last night wasn’t complicated. At least not ’til you got all snooty.”
“Me!”Her head shot up. “I’ve never been snooty in my life!”
“Oh, yeah?” Her renewed feistiness must have been what he was waiting for because the glimmer of battle once again flared in his eyes. “Well, I happen to have been at that drive-in with you, and, believe me, you were snooty.”
“When?”
“You know very well.”
“I don’t.”
“That
“I don’t know what- Oh, that.” She regarded him more closely. “Did what I said bother you?”
“Hell, no, it didn’t bother me. You think I don’t know how good I am? And if you don’t realize it, well, I guess that’s your problem and not mine.”
He looked sulky, and she realized she had hurt his feelings last night. The knowledge touched her. Despite his seemingly boundless self-confidence, he had insecurities like everyone else. “It was more than pleasant,” she admitted.
“Damn right.”
“I’d say it was- It was-” She regarded him out of the corner of her eye. “What word am I looking for?”
“Why don’t you start out with pretty damn terrific?”
Her spirits made a quantum leap upward. “Terrific? Yes, that’s a good start. It was definitely terrific. It was also…” She waited.
“Exciting, and sexy as hell.”
“That, too, but…”
“Frustrating.”
“Frustrating?”
“Yeah.”A combative thrust to that square jaw. “I want to see you naked.”
“You do? Why?”
“Because I do.”
“Is this a guy thing?”
His truculence faded, and one corner of his mouth-the uninjured corner-curled. “You could say that.”
“Believe me when I tell you that you’re not missing much.”
“I’m probably a better judge of that than you are.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true. You know those endlessly long legs you see on models? Those legs that go all the way up to their armpits?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I don’t have them.”
“Is that a fact.”
“My legs aren’t short, but they’re not exceptionally long, either. Just average. And as for breasts- Do you consider yourself a breast man?”
“They’ve been known to catch my attention.”
“Mine won’t. Now my hips are a different matter. They’re huge.”
“Your hips are not huge.”
“I look like a pear.”
“You do not look like a pear.”
