“Why shouldn’t you?”
I saw her swallow. “Lots of reasons.”
I wasn’t sure why I was pressing this, but I couldn’t stop. “Like what? List one or two.”
She stared up at me, eyes wide and unreadable, chest swelling with slow, deep breaths. “I…” She shook her head, and turned away. “I’m going to dress in your room, okay?
I nodded. “Sure thing.”
I watched her go into my bedroom and toss her pile of clothes onto my bed—which was unmade as usual. She glanced at me through the still-open door, and then smiled small and quick before closing it.
I turned away, rubbing the back of my neck, wondering how I was going to dry off, seeing as Liv had my only clean towel. I had one I’d used for my last shower in the hamper in my room, I remembered, and turned back to my bedroom door, intending to ask if I could grab it before she started dressing.
I’d forgotten one small detail: my bedroom door didn’t latch quite properly unless you pushed on it, and it had a tendency to slip open a few inches on quiet hinges.
When I turned to the door, it had swung open a few inches. And, in that moment, I caught an accidental, forbidden glimpse of Heaven.
Liv, caught in the act of having just dropped the towel, facing the cracked-open door. The towel was still settling on the floor, and her eyes flew open. It was a split second only, but it was enough. She gasped, one hand moving to cover her sex, the other arm crossing over her chest.
An instant, a split-second. I didn’t hesitate, didn’t take a moment to appreciate what I was seeing—I ain’t that much of a bastard. I turned around, saw her through the crack, and turned right back around.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I snapped. “Sorry—I’m sorry. Forgot to tell you that you have to push to get the door to latch. I live alone and don’t usually bother, so I forgot.”
I heard the door click closed, latching. “It’s fine,” she said, her voice oddly flat. “It was an accident.”
“Liv, I only—”
She cut in. “Don’t, Lucas. We both know you got an eyeful.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. “It wasn’t on purpose, Liv. I hope you know that.”
“I know.”
My brain was spinning, the image of her as I’d seen her emblazoned onto my mind. I went into the bathroom, closed the door, stripped out of my paint-covered coveralls and the clothing beneath it, and got into the shower.
I did my best to make quick work of getting clean, and to keep my thoughts away from Liv, but it was a losing battle.
God, she was fit. So sleek, slender. Like a gazelle, all long slender limbs, and a tiny torso. Her breasts were, as I’d surmised when I first saw her, small but plump, firm and round and perky despite being nearly fifty and having had five children.
“Goddammit,” I growled, trying desperately to keep that vision of her out of my head—to keep my libido from taking over.
It was difficult enough telling myself we were just friends, were never going to be anything but just friends—the last thing I needed was to let my stupid lonely horny male brain sexualize a perfectly good friendship.
I’d scrubbed my hair, face, and beard as clean as they could get and got out before I gave in to the temptation to fix my situation myself.
The only towel left in the bathroom was a hand towel, so that’s what I used to dry myself as well as possible, and then peeked my head out the door. “Liv?”
She was dressed and wandering around, using the towel to rub her hair dry. “Yeah?”
“Gotta run across to my room,” I said.
She gestured with the towel in her hand. “Was this your only towel?”
I grinned at her, just my head sticking out of the door. “Only one clean, yeah. Ain’t done laundry yet.”
She grimaced. “So you don’t have a towel.
“Well, I dried off with the hand towel.” I laughed. “Hell of a lot of real estate for that little thing, but it worked all right. I just need to pop across to my room and get some clothes on.” I couldn’t help teasing her, just to try to lighten the tension I felt between us. “Unless you’re interested in trading a peek for a peek.”
