He followed her into the lift and closed the gate that served as a door. She pressed the button for Floor Three and the rickety old elevator shuddered into movement. Her companion chose to lean against the wall farthest from her so that he could stare at her, apparently. She crossed her arms over her chest and surveyed the ancient elevator. It was nothing fancy, but she appreciated its antiquity. Except tonight her preoccupation was to keep her eyes busy…and off the man who did strange things to her sensibilities.
“My admiration disturbs you?” he inquired, seemingly sincere.
She chewed her lower lip and tried to think of a witty comeback. “Well, disturb isn’t quite the word. It makes me uncomfortable.”
He shifted his gaze immediately. “I’ll remember that.”
She shook her head and tried to find logic in this crazy attraction. How could he come out of nowhere and sweep her off her feet so completely?
She didn’t even know him.
She exhaled a tension-filled breath. But Lord have mercy, she was attracted to him.
At her door he hesitated. “Good night, Darby Shepard,” he said softly, his gaze once again falling on hers.
“Good night, Aidan…?” She lifted a skeptical brow. “I don’t even know your last name.”
“Tanner,” he told her. “Aidan Tanner.”
She reached for his hand and shook it. “Well, good night, Aidan Tanner.”
His fingers closed firmly around her hand as he lifted it to his mouth and brushed the barest hint of a kiss across her knuckles. “Until tomorrow.”
And then he was gone.
His apartment door closed behind him.
Darby was still trying to get her heart out of her throat when she locked her own door behind her. This just couldn’t be real. No way could he be real.
She stripped off her clothes as she headed toward her bathroom. Guys like him just didn’t exist. She pushed the drain plug into place and turned the water in the big old claw-footed tub to hot. A long, hot bath was in order.
The few minutes she took to scrub her face clean and to floss and brush her teeth was all the time required for the tub to fill. She added a couple of drops of rose oil and gathered two big, fluffy towels. Every woman deserved this kind of bath after a long day. She couldn’t help wishing she had a tub like this back at her apartment.
It might not be a whirlpool, but it was so deep that the water enveloped her clear up to her neck. The heat permeated her, immediately driving away the tension, forcing her muscles to relax.
“God, this feels good,” she murmured.
She closed her eyes and leaned back, relaxing fully. Without an exhaust fan, the bathroom filled with steam, making it as foggy as the cemetery had been tonight.
Thinking of the cemetery made her think of Aidan.
Now whenever she thought of him, she would immediately associate him with heat and silk, shadows and fog. Her feminine muscles pulsed, flexing and contracting with want. The man completely devastated her…on far too many levels. He made her hot just looking at him. And the sound of his voice…how could any man’s voice flow so slow and deep, sliding over her skin like warm honey?
Her nipples pebbled and her breasts hardened, ached for his touch. Hmmm. She smiled and imagined those long fingers stroking her skin. Heat swirled deep inside her.
The water felt so good, so welcoming.
She didn’t want to move, just wanted to keep thinking of him…of how it would feel to have him in this massive tub with her. A new kind of awareness went through her at the remembered feel of his lips on her skin when he’d kissed her hand.
Her mind conjured the image of him coming toward her, through the mist and steam rising around her. He slipped beneath the water, his hot, smooth flesh sliding against hers, creating a sensual friction that made her pulse leap and her heart pound. He was against her and all around her at once, shrouding her like steel encased in silk. Music, so soft it could have come from within her—the beat could have been her pulse—swirled around her, filled her. She felt his lips on her heated skin. She gasped, clutched at the sides of the tub as those hungry lips moved down her body, tantalizing her flesh. Her name whispered through her mind…the sound his voice. The touch all around her…his touch. Tighter and tighter, desire coiled inside her. Her breath grew ragged and her hips writhed beneath the water, beneath the weight of his presence.
She came. It pulsed deep inside her, throbbed through her soul and wrenched a cry from her throat.
For long minutes, she couldn’t move, couldn’t open her eyes. She could only lie there, sated and utterly vulnerable.
Slowly she became aware of a change, a shift in the atmosphere of the room.
His essence was gone.
She opened her eyes and the spell was broken.
The water that had felt so hot a second ago was cold, making her shiver uncontrollably. The steam and mist that had filled the room had dissipated.
She watched a bead of moisture slide down the mirror as her heart rate returned to normal.
It had felt so real…as if he’d been right here with her.
She pushed up out of the cold water and shook off the crazy notion.
Just a dream.
She’d likely drifted off to sleep and dreamed of him. He’d been on her mind, had gotten her all hot and bothered tonight. That’s all it could be.
As the tub drained, she dried her hair and skin, all the while chastising herself for getting so hung up on her new neighbor. A distraction was one thing, but this fantasizing went way beyond a mere distraction.
Not bothering to dry her hair, she wrapped a towel around it and wandered into her bedroom. She was beat. She’d deal with bed head in the morning.
As she drew the covers back she couldn’t help thinking of her neighbor just on
