“Lead the way,”shesaid.
He opened the front door and let her pass before closing it behind them. As she stepped into the chilly night, her lungs contracted in protest. She’d never inhaled air this cold. It had to be below zero. Was that cold enough to freeze your lungs from theinsideout?
She hurried to keep up with Cody’s long strides. Dressed in jeans, a flannel shirt, and a jacket, he didn’t seemed fazed by the weather at all. He was probably used to it since he spent all of his timeoutside.
As they rounded the corner at the back of the B & B, Cody veered off toward the woods. She’d expected the hot tub to be on the back deck. Why would they put it so far away from the house? She was going to freeze her ass off when she got out of thewater.
Just inside the tree line, a wooden deck appeared. A set of stairs led up to the three-foot-tall platform. When they reached the top, she gasped. A huge spa sat in the center of the deck. Steam curled up from the surface of the still water. Without waiting for an invitation, she slid out of the robe and laid it over one of the lounge chairs which encircled thehottub.
She poked a toe into the water to test it.Perfect.
After grabbing onto the handrail, she quickly descended the steps into the near-scalding water. She bit back a moan of pleasure. The muscles in her back relaxed for the first time since the jury had read theverdict.
As she slid to rest against the side of the tub, the sound of a zipper cut through the relatively silent night. She glanced up just as Cody dropped his jeans. Her eyes went wide. He wasn’t wearing anything but a pair of boxers, which left little to the imagination. She quicklylookedaway.
He padded across the deck to a spot just behind her. The scrape of metal on metal sounded just before bubbles spurted from jets in the spa. She yelped, shocked by the blast of air againstherback.
“Sorry, I guess I should have warned you,”hesaid.
“It’s okay. I just wasn’texpectingit.”
“I’m a man of many surprises,” hejoked.
“Apparently.”
He walked back to the front of the spa and hooked his thumbs in his boxers. Her mouth went dry. Was he seriously about to strip? She didn’t even know him. Maybe this was a Montana thing? Maybe naked hot tubbing in the middle of the night wasnormalhere.
“You don’t mind, do you?” heasked.
Unable to speak, she shook her head from sidetoside.
“I’m not a big fan of bathing suits,” he said. “I’m not really a fan of clothes in general. If it was up to me, I’d spend all of my timenaked.”
She blinked. Holy shit. He washuge. She couldn’t stop staring as his boxers pooled at his feet. As he stepped out of them, she mentally yelled at herself to look away, but she couldn’t. Every perfectly defined muscle rippled as he leaned over to retrieve his clothes. When he turned to toss them onto a chair, his butt clenched and the sides of his thighsflexed.
She’d never seen a man so incredibly ripped in her life. The men she’d dated in Dallas had all run in the same high political circles as her father. None of them could compare to Cody’s incredible physique. Did all cowboys get that muscular, or was he a special case? She’d briefly met Mack and Logan, but they hadn’t strolled around naked in front of her, so she had no idea if they were justashot.
As she suppressed a grin, Cody slipped into the water. He groaned and leaned his head back against the edge ofthespa.
“This feels so good,” he said. “It was my turn to muck the stalls today. But don’t worry, I took a showerearlier.”
“That sounds like a lot of work,” she said. “Not the shower part, themuckingpart.”
“It’s definitely not my favorite job on the ranch. What do you doforwork?”
“I’m… well, I was alawyer.”
“Was?”
“Yeah.”
“Sounds like there’s a story behind that,”hesaid.
“Not one I want to talk about.” She crossed her arms over herchest.
“Suit yourself.” Heshrugged.
As silence stretched between them, so did her nerves. Maybe she should talk to him about the case. He probably knew all about it already, so why hadn’t he brought it up? Maybe he had manners, unlike the staked-out reporters. She should have just rushed past them and gone home. No. Then she would have had to deal with her parents. It was a miracle they hadn’t calledheryet.
