Beth Ann peered. “Wow, check out that beard.”
He smiled a little. “ZZ Top would have been jealous.”
“Did you grow one, too?”
“Nah. Kept it neat and clean.”
“Just like when you were in the military, I take it? I noticed you still wear your dog tags.”
“Once a marine, always a marine.”
She smiled over at him, and continued her tour of his cabin, turning toward the corner of his cabin that held the vanity. Beth Ann froze at the sight of herself in the mirror. Her hand went to her cheek. “Lord have mercy. I look awful.”
She looked beautiful. But at least now they were talking about something other than his past. He stepped forward and knelt in front of the vanity and pulled out a fluffy white towel, handing it back to her. “Shower’s through that door.”
She took the towel with gratitude, then hesitated. “It’s your place. Did you want to shower first?”
“Go ahead,” he drawled, and thought it was worth it to see her face light up with pleasure. She stepped inside the door and disappeared, and a moment later, the water started.
Colt sat back in his chair, scratching his chest, his gaze fixed on the line of light underneath the bathroom door. By now she’d have stripped off his shirt. She would be sliding out of that slippery, spangled dress, letting it pool around her feet. She’d kick it to the side and step into the shower, nak*d, and let the water slide down her body. She’d raise her arms to push back her hair, and those tight little br**sts would raise up. And the look on her face would be ecstatic.
And f**k all if he didn’t want to go in there and shove his way into the shower. Roll on a quick condom, brace her hands against the tile wall, and f**k her all over again. His c*ck twitched in response at the thought, and he brushed his hand down the front of his pants, then stopped.
And if he did that, she’d think he was a f**king psycho pervert that couldn’t keep his hands off of her. He’d scare her off, jumping her every time she turned around. She deserved to have a goddamn shower in peace, didn’t she? Christ, he was a Neanderthal. He ran a hand down his face and groaned.
She just wanted to borrow his shower. She hadn’t indicated that she wanted more sex. Hell, he’d more or less pressed it on her this morning. If he jumped her now she’d think he constantly walked around with a goddamn boner.
He’d control himself. He’d let her shower, clean up, change into something warm, and then he’d go and shower, too.
And then he’d jerk off to the thought of her soaping up the slick lips of her p**sy, of her fingers skimming over her br**sts.
He was going to take a nice, long shower.
SEVEN
When he came out of the shower, she sat curled up on the center of his bed, dressed in one of his T-shirts, her legs tucked against her chest. Her wet hair tumbled over her shoulders and her face was scrubbed pink and clean. “I borrowed some clothes. I hope that’s okay.”
“Fine with me.” He’d have been fine with her remaining nak*d, too. He stood there for a moment, towel wrapped around his hips, and glanced at the neat stack of clothes she’d placed on the vanity for him. “Thanks.”
Beth Ann gave a shy little smile, reminding him a bit of a skittish colt. “Least I can do.”
He took the clothes and moved back into the bathroom to change, lest he alarm her by dropping his towel. It was too warm in the small cabin for a shirt, so he skipped it and pulled on briefs and a pair of pajama pants instead. Odd that she hadn’t picked out jeans for him.
Odd that she hadn’t taken the pants for herself.
He reemerged from the bathroom and found her leaning into his fridge. Her shirt—his shirt—had ridden up, revealing her curvy ass cupped in a pair of his briefs. They were a little tight over her rounded buttocks. He approved of that. “Hungry?”
She jerked up at his voice and gave him a sheepish look. “Starving. Your fridge doesn’t have much.”
That was because he normally didn’t eat in. “Suppose I’d better drive you home, then.”
She bit her lip.
“What?”
Beth Ann gestured to the bottle on the counter, then sauntered toward him, running her fingers down over his chest in a blatant gesture. “I kinda hate to get drunk for the first time all by myself.”
“You propositioning me?”
She looked up at him, tilted her head. “Maybe.”
His hands slid to her hips, grasped her ass, and pulled her tight against him so she could feel the erection that was returning even though he’d stroked one out in the shower. “Now’s not the time to be shy.”
Her thumbs brushed over his n**ples and she bit her lip again. “I just thought, you know…I don’t have anywhere to be until tomorrow. And even then, it’s my day off. If you’re not busy…”
Damn but she was having a hard time spitting out what she wanted. He decided to supply her with the question. “You mean, if I’m not busy, could I please toss you down on the bed and lick you until you scream my name?”
Her jaw dropped a little.
“Again?” he reminded her. “Repeat of last night?”
Her eyes gleamed and she grinned, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning in to lick his tattoo. “Something like that.”
Well hell yes, he was all about that. “Anyone going to be missing you tonight if I keep you here and f**k the daylights out of you?”
She sighed and lay her head against his chest, her fingers trailing up and down his back in ticklish motions. She was a cuddler. He liked that. More opportunity to press her body against him. “I guess I should check my messages.”
“Me, too.”
She reluctantly pulled from his arms and crossed the room to where she’d left her tiny purse. “It didn’t have service out in the woods, so I’m not sure if it’ll have service here.” She pulled it out of the purse and water dripped from it. She wiped the screen with a finger, then sighed and dropped it back into her purse. “Or I could need to replace it entirely.”
He gestured at the phone hanging on the wall. “Use mine.”
She smiled at him, then picked up the phone and dialed her voicemail. He watched her face as she listened to the first message. Was she going to hear something that was going to take her away for the evening? Admit it was a mistake?
He wanted to rip the phone out of her hand and throw her back down on his bed and kiss the daylights out of her.
But all she did was wince as she listened, her head cocked. “One of my Saturday appointments called. She’s pissed. Guess I’m going to have to squeeze her in on Tuesday when I open again.” She tapped a button on the phone, deleting the message, then listened to the next. “Another client.” Tap. “Another.” Tap.
When she got to the next message, her demeanor changed and she hastily deleted the message as soon as the loud voice on the other end started to talk. She hung up the phone.
“Another client?” he asked, even though it wasn’t his damn business.
“Allan,” she said shortly, and offered nothing else.
“Your parents ain’t much worried about you, are they?” She’d disappeared for the weekend and they hadn’t even bothered to call? Pricks.
She shrugged. “They probably think I’m hiding from them at the salon again.” Her gaze slid to her ruined dress and her purse, and he could almost see the thoughts turning in her head.
She should leave. Go back to reality. Say goodbye to her one-night stand. Be the responsible, upstanding Beth Ann everyone thought she was.
“You want to order pizza?” he found himself volunteering.
A smile lit her face. “Does that go well with cheap rum?”
“Absolutely.” He grinned.
“You’ve got to actually get the quarter into the shot glass,” Colt pointed out.
Beth Ann giggled and tried to bounce it across his table again. The quarter smacked into the wall. “Do I get to drink now?”
“Not exactly,” he said, trying not to smile as she stood up and trotted across the room to get the only quarter they had between the two of them. When she bent over, her luscious ass looked damn hot in his briefs. She eyed the quarter, then eyed the glass again.
“Maybe we’d better take a break on the drinking games,” he told her, grabbing the shot and swigging it down so she wouldn’t drink it.
She pouted up at him, sticking out her lower lip like a child. “Cheater.”
“You’ve had enough to drink, darlin’.” She was giggling at everything. It was incredibly cute, but he could tell she was drunk. When she walked, she weaved.
And judging from the way her face was lit up, she was having a grand time, too. He’d only drank a little of the alcohol, more to keep her company than to get drunk himself. He had a feeling that if they were both drunk, well…he didn’t want to scare her off. Drunken declarations tended to do that.
“You know what would be fun?”
“What?”
“We should go skinny dipping,” she said, smiling at him as she moved to sit back down in his lap. She’d been sitting there to play quarters, oblivious to the hard on that had been killing him for the past few hours. But she was drunk, and he wasn’t going to take advantage of that. If she wanted him, he wanted her to want him while sober. Not when plastered on cheap-ass rum.
“You want to?” She looked at him expectantly, her eyelids heavy with drunkenness. “We could get nak*d together and slip and slide against each other like fishes. It’d be fun. I’ve never been skinny dipping.”
“Not tonight,” he said. Damn. “You should probably drink a glass of water and sleep this off so you don’t have a headache in the morning.”
“Oh, Colt,” she said, slapping his bare chest. “You’re so silly.”
“Silly,” he agreed, then grabbed her by the ass and stood up, cradling her against him. Her arms latched around his neck and she cuddled close. One hand pulled his dog tags, and her mouth was suddenly on his neck, hot and wet. And f**k if his c*ck didn’t jerk in response.
“Time for you to go to bed, Beth Ann,” he said, laying her down on top of the blankets.
She rolled her eyes at him but when he lay her down, she grabbed his pillow and hugged it close. “I’m only a little tired.”
He went to the sink, got a glass of water, and then returned to her. “Drink this first.”
She drank it and immediately lay back down. He put the glass back on the counter and glanced over at his chair. Seemed like a good a place as any to spend the night.
Beth Ann patted the bed. “Come lay beside me?”
“You need to sleep—”
“I will,” she said quickly. “If you come lay next to me.”
Colt knew he should tell her no, but she looked sweet and soft and inviting. He lay on the side of the bed and she immediately snuggled up alongside him. He wrapped a loose arm around her and was absurdly pleased with her sigh of contentment.
“Get some sleep,” he murmured.