Holding his breath, he backed up to let her pass and closed the door as he left her to it. Didn’t matter. He could hear her soft moan as the massaging spray of the shower washed over her skin. Could smell the lather of his soap as she ran the suds over her body.
Ignoring his deprived libido, Bennett tamped down the long-ignored lust. Making a move after sucking the life out of her? Sure, he’d been so… enthralled, he wanted her like nothing before. He’d kissed away the wounds, nothing more, knowing the feelings they had for each other still as fresh as the day she’d left, but the circumstances were still set against them.
He tugged the sheets off the bed and loaded the washing machine down the hall. Snagging a set of clean sheets from the linen closet, he made the bed, the breezy scent lifting the darkness from the room. By the time he finished tidying, he heard the water shut off. He heard Adair open the drawer, then brush her teeth.
Pulling out the bag of clothes, he knocked on the bathroom door. Okay, this was an even dumber idea. A towel pulled around her, water dripped from her wavy hair and trailed over her skin.
Her lips were pouty and lush, skin pinked from the heat… he felt like the horny kid he’d been the day they’d met. His gaze magnetically following the stream down between her breasts.
At a club, looking for trouble, he’d stumbled upon the best kind of trouble. Dressed in a snug black dress that barely covered the good stuff, drawing him to the dance floor, she’d been looking for trouble, too. “I never got to finish that dance with you,” he found himself murmuring.
Gripping the bathroom door, she lowered her eyes to his mouth. “You were too pleased to find somebody to slay.”
“True. I was an idiot.”
“That, I can agree with.” She grinned, her lips turned up in a full tease.
Lightness bubbled in his chest, a welcome relief. “Well, I’m still an idiot. Quinn thought you two might be about the same size, so she brought some clothes for you.”
She set the bag on the bathroom counter. Glaring at it, that notch furrowed between her eyebrows. “I’m not sure how I feel about wearing your ex’s underwear.”
“You were my ex long before she was.”
“And apparently the cop that lived in 708? And I heard a rumor about you and Lana’s sister. Didn’t you date that reporter for a while?”
“All true. You dumped me. Not exactly going to sit home and pine away for the vampire that got away.”
She winced. “I am sorry for the way I left. I never meant–”
Slap to the jugular, the memory struck him, hating that she knew what she’d done to him. “Yeah, well, it was for the best, I’m sure. Wear the clothes or don’t. Walk around naked or in that skimpy club dress if you prefer. I’m hungry,” he grumbled as he backed out of the bathroom, attempting to make it clear that he wasn’t leaving himself open again.
“Wait. Bennett. For whatever it’s worth, I still think about those nights we had together. More often than I should.”
Rubbing a hand over his face, he tried to mask his snarl and murmured, “And I moved on.”
Closing the bag, she pushed it aside and dropped the towel. Feet anchored in place, Bennett stopped fast, his jaw dropping to the floor. Hands on her bare hips, the corner of her lips turned up haughtily. “You know, showers are a fairly recent invention.”
Breath rushing from his lungs at the fucking gorgeous site, those perfectly rounded breasts on full display, the curve of her waist he wanted to wrap his arms around again. “I, uh…” he garbled.
“We used to go out whenever the weather was nice, the women of the clan, to the loch to bathe together.” She trailed a hand over her abdomen and graced over her soft curls. “It was nice to have someone to lend a hand now and again.” She bit the corner of her lip in a devious taunt.
What the hell was she doing to him? Every drop of blood in his body surging south, he struggled to find any sort of response.
“We’d inevitably get distracted and splash and play in the sun, naked and wet. Sometimes the soldiers would come back from a raid, dropping their gear and diving in while we were still out in the lake.” She reached for him and yanked him closer by the waist of his jeans. A devious look of victory teased at her lips as he lost the ability to speak. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I missed you,” she whispered, smiling at his apparent surrender.
Remembering the way she’d left, his heart shattering in her wake, he was brought right back to the fury that chipped away at the naivete that she’d tried to protect by leaving. If she’d had a damn clue how her exit had darkened him…
The memory flamed under his skin, entwined with so many better ones of their time together, of the last few days, fueling that damn lack of self-preservation that had gotten him into this mess to begin with. Hauling her against him, his hands gripped firm around her hips. He took her mouth and devoured, giving her more than the jaw-dropping reaction that she’d tried to provoke in him. Sliding his tongue along hers, he didn’t give her an inch, but shifted a hand and burrowed into her hair as he deepened the kiss.
Not holding back, he kissed her with a furious confidence, letting her know he was no longer the eager virgin. That he hadn’t sat at home alone each night, pining away for her all those years. As she sighed a desperate moan against his mouth, she slid her hands under his shirt and clung to his bare skin.
Half-mad with lust, he released her and stepped back. “Don’t play me again.”
She blinked, the softness in her hazy expression clearing as she realized he’d played her harder. Lips bit tight together, she stepped back and dug into the bag, the crease between her brow downright cavernous. Fury? Regret? Embarrassment?
Whatever it was… not his problem. “I’m not the naïve hunter you deflowered, thrilled to see a woman naked.”
She dipped into the bag of hand-me-downs. Under her breath, she muttered, “I’m not wearing your ex’s underwear.”
