Austen glanced towards the house. “Well, it’s getting late …”
“There’s no way you can drive home tonight,” he said. “You should spend the night here.”
She could see it written all over his face—boy, he really lovedthatidea.
“I was going to take a cab, actually,” she said.
“Nah, you can’t do that. Your clothes are all wet. You’ll catch a cold.”
“It’s a twenty-minute drive, Dane. I’ll be fine.” She put her hand to his cheek. “I had fun tonight. But really … maybe we should quit before we go too far. You know?”
“At least put your clothes in my dryer. Twenty minutes is a long time to be sitting in cold, wet clothes. I’ll feel a lot better knowing you’re not shivering on the way home.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Is this genuine concern, or is this a scheme to make me stay longer?”
He offered his hand. “Why can’t it be both?”
“Ugh,” she grumbled as she took his hand. “Fine, but I’ll only stay until my clothes are dry.”
“Works for me.” He led her back through the waterfall and out of the alcove.
Why can’t I stay away from you?she wondered as she swam closely behind him.
Chapter 24
Dane
Austen wrapped herself up in a beach towel while Dane gathered up her clothes—the big sweater, leggings, and the bra that he had to fish out of the pool. The two went inside, and he led her to his laundry dryer. He tossed her clothes into the machine.
“Gotta get you outta those wet panties, too,” he said, smiling wryly. “They’re soaked.”
She hadn’t missed the double meaning. “Oh, I’msureyou’d love to get me out of them.”
Austen stepped into another room to take her intimates off in privacy. When she returned, she pitched the crumpled-up ball of panties into the dryer.
Dane, on the other hand, stripped out of his boxer briefs right in front of her. He tossed his underwear in with the other items, pressed a button, and the machine began its mechanical whirring.
“There we go,” he said, dusting off his hands and standing in the buff. “Shouldn’t be too long. Wanna hang out on the couch while we wait? Watch a little TV?”
“Aren’t you going to put on pants?” she asked, averting her eyes—as if shehadn’tjust drained his balls five minutes ago. But then, Austen was kind of a funny girl like that.
He shrugged. “I’m used to being naked around people. But hell, I will if you really want me to.”
“Yes, please.”
Dane gave a small laugh, then marched upstairs to the master bedroom. He changed into a pair of joggers just like the ones he’d worn during their interview.
“Ta-da,” he said, keenly aware that his big dick was perfectly visible as he marched down the stairs.Especiallynow that he wasn’t wearing underwear. “How’s this?”
She swallowed, her eyes zeroing in right on his package. “Oh. Uh. Wow. That’s … better, I guess?”
“Good.”
He sat next to her on the couch and put a late-night movie on TV. It was a drama about a police investigative unit.
The two quietly watched, or pretended to watch. Dane noticed that, from the corner her eye, Austen kept stealing peeks at his dick—and all the attention was making him hard. His fat cock thickened, rising in his joggers like a submarine breaching the surface of the water.
“Dammit,” Austen muttered at last. She moved closer and cozied up to Dane, placing her hand on his thigh. Sensuously, she began to trace the outline of his throbbing bulge with the tip of her finger—alwaysnearingbut cruelly never touching his penis. He groaned, badly aching for her touch.
