“Well…what?” I swallowed. It wasn’t the chlorine that made my mouth go dry.
“When was the last time you had sex?”
“Wow.” I awkwardly laughed.
“Yeah. Wow.”
“That’s a…very personal question.”
“And you think impregnating you is just like a handshake?”
I wondered how quickly I could drown myself if I positioned my nose right over the jets.
“It’s obviously a little more intimate than that,” I said. “But what difference would it make if I told you how many times it’d happened?”
“It’d make a big difference.”
I knew this man.
I knew this man couldn’t handle the information.
And I knew this man would freak out if I told him the truth.
“Maybe I have a secret lover in…” I picked a random flight hub out of the air. “Denver.”
“A Denver lover.”
“Mile high sex. All the time.”
Adrian narrowed his eyes. “Right.”
“Just…hot, hot totally naked, grindy and passionate sex.”
“Sure.” The word was short. Gruff.
“And when I see him, we just…can’t keep our hands off of each other. As soon as we get to the hotel, he just rips off my skirt, tosses me onto the bed, and starts—”
“Okay, stop!” Adrian clenched his eyes shut. “Fuck. That’s the last thing I want to hear.”
“You asked.”
“And you’re lying.”
I sure as hell was, but it didn’t seem to be working. “What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know!” His voice turned tense. Not angry.
…But jealous?
Huh. That surprised the hell out of me. Adrian Alaric. Envious of a fictious mystery lover taking me to bed.
His scowl darkened as I grinned.
“It’s not funny,” he said. “You know I’ve been…active.”
“And I know I’ve never been allowed to meet your girlfriends.”
“For good reason. This…” He gestured with a frustrated hand back and forth. “Has always been kept a mystery.”
“Why?”
He refused to even acknowledge my question. “I’m more experienced than you. I get that. But I need to know how much more before I take you to bed.”
“Why?”
“So I know which circle of Hell I’ll spend eternity.”
“Chivalry is great when you’re opening doors for a lady, but not for spreading her legs,” I said.
He relented, though his rippling muscles had yet to relax. “When was the last time you had good sex?”
Easy enough answer. “Never.”
“Damn.” His secret smirk revealed dimples he’d forever deny he possessed. “That’s a goddamned tragedy.”
I lounged in the water, letting the bubbles kiss every inch of my skin.
“Can I count this as good sex?” I asked.
Adrian was always honest with me. “Fuck no.”
“I don’t know. This feels pretty good…” I summoned a bit of courage and uncrossed my arms, trusting the roiling foam to protect my bared skin. “This is hotter than my last few dates.”
In fact…
It was getting a little too intense.
The heat invigorated me from head to toe, inside and out. Lapping water licked at my flushing skin. The heat and intensity tickled the secrets hidden beneath the water. Every popping bubble fluttered like a teasing feather exploring my most delicate of areas.
Within a few pounded heartbeats, the simple indulgence of the hot tub had become a desperate indiscretion. My mind twisted and twirled like the current of water, washing over me with a sudden pulsing excitement.
Jeeze.
Maybe I was a little hard up for some attention.
The rush of water knotted my wrists and ankles like silken ropes.
Exhilarating.
“If you think that’s good…” Adrian twisted half-out of the tub and reached for the controls. The hardened muscles of his back flexed. The thick cords rippled beneath his skin, begging for a curious touch to examine if his hockey-toned body was real or a perfectly divine illusion. “Wait until you see how much power they packed into this bad boy.”
The jets kicked into overdrive.
And my afternoon turned from good to sensational.
A flurry of water cascaded over my unprepared body, torrenting from the jets positioned behind my aching shoulders, along my spine, against my lower back…
And one which accidentally concentrated on a very delicate, incredibly sensitive spot.
And I loved it.
Which meant…I probably should’ve hopped out of the tub like a boiling lobster making a break for freedom before someone drew the butter.
Then again…I was naked.
Naked…and in front of my best friend.
Naked…in front of my best friend…and suddenly squirming.
Adrian spread his arms against the back of the hot tub and enjoyed the rocketing jets as they massaged his sore muscles.
“Pretty cool, huh?” he said.
Cool?
Not in the least.
The water was suffocatingly, mind-meltingly intense.
And the drumming pulse of the jets sent a cascade of crippling shivers straight to my core. My body shimmied, twisted, then centered itself over a perfectly delicious jet which teased a rhythm over a part of me that had forgotten how to do that particular tango.
Oh…it was bad.
Not the all-consuming, sinfully decadent sensation which assaulted all my senses, but the incredibly awkward, desperately uncomfortable situation with Adrian.
He’d asked some freaking hard questions—ones I wasn’t prepared to answer.
When was the last time I’d had sex?
Had I ever had good sex?
Obviously not.
Wasn’t like I’d ever looked for such a night. Not when my goal was to visit the world’s beautiful cities and architectural marvels. I traveled anywhere that wasn’t my own backyard.
Which meant I never explored the places close to home.
…Like my bedroom.
The bubbles danced across my body, fizzling with ragged pleasure and secret promises. God bless the jet concentrating the water exactly where I needed it. The current struck between my legs, punishing that soft and wanting area begging for attention.
But it was too much. Too embarrassing.
I couldn’t let myself get distracted by the pulsing delights of the hot tub.
I shimmied away.
And, oh boy, was that a mistake.
My thighs spread just a little too much, and the frothing bubbles struck directly over my slit.
The sensation nearly destroyed me. I didn’t just see stars—they crashed around me—fuzzy little haloes of lovely light that careened into my core and smashed me to smithereens. My nails dug into my legs, and I bit my lip as a quivering whimper escaped from my parted lips.
Adrian relaxed with his eyes closed. “What did you say?”
God.
This was mortifying.
And terrible.
And the most pleasure I’d felt since the one day I’d climbed on my wobbily dryer to reach the fabric softener and decided to tumble dry my way to bliss.
I swallowed a soft mew and forced an innocent smile. “I said…it’s nice.”