Page 14 of Canvas of Lies (Spruce Hill #3)
Her mouth dropped open as she gave my naked body a slow once over, but she managed to shut it as I stepped in. With obvious effort, she forced her eyes to my face, smirking when she caught me in the same struggle.
She was nothing less than perfection. The coating of dust and dirt didn’t even begin to detract from the fact that this woman was a dream come true.
Our gazes locked and held for another beat, then I allowed myself a second perusal of her bare skin, watched as a pretty blush spread across her chest and cheeks, caught the way her breath lifted her breasts like an offering before me.
With immense effort, I kept myself from reaching for them and offered a crooked grin instead. “Turn around. I’ll wash your back. You look like you took a bath in those rocks.”
Shockingly, she did as instructed without any of the clever little quips I’d expect from her.
My hands came down gently on her shoulders, smoothing away the layer of dust as water streamed over her skin.
It would’ve been stunningly erotic if not for the pain radiating along my limbs, but when Kat let her head fall forward and allowed me to take care of her, I was overwhelmed by a flood of affection.
Even if landing flat on my back was certainly not the highlight of my day so far, I imagined she felt far worse after her climb. It had taken me too long to locate her, meaning she’d probably been trying to tough it out longer than she would admit.
I pressed my thumbs into the muscles just below her neck, easing the tension with firm circles until she dropped her chin to her chest and made a soft sound of pleasure.
In silence, I worked my way down her back, coaxing the sore muscles back to life even as I tried to ignore my reaction to the way she arched and swayed into my touch. When I paused to add another squirt of body wash to my palm, Kat peeked over her shoulder at me.
“You’re good at this,” she said .
I grinned and started back at her shoulders, this time moving my hands slowly down her arms. A tiny hiss escaped her lips when I rubbed her biceps, though I carefully avoided her injury.
When I reached her hands, I laced our fingers together and tried to keep a respectful distance between us, no matter how much my own body complained about the space.
“You’re stronger than you look. I thought for sure you were going to come crashing down any second from the moment I saw you hanging there. That was pretty impressive.”
Kat snorted and leaned back against my chest, effectively ruining my gallant effort to hide my body’s response to having her naked, glorious self so close.
“I’m sure it was pretty stupid, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
I gave up on chivalry and rested my chin on her shoulder, finally allowing my gaze to drop so I could look down the front of her. A droplet of water rolled slowly from her collar bone over the swell of her breast, then clung for a second to the bud of her nipple before dripping downward.
“Well, shit.”
“What?” she asked, turning her head to look at me.
The movement set her lips a fraction of an inch from my jaw. Her cheeks, already flushed from the steam, went scarlet.
“You have the most glorious breasts I’ve ever seen,” I informed her, unabashedly watching as the dusky pink tips peaked under my gaze. “And my father was French. I’ve seen a lot of breasts in my life, you know. ”
She snorted a laugh and wiggled a little, like she could spur me to finally touch her, but my hands stayed right where they were, linked with hers. “If anticipation could kill, I’d have dropped dead by now, Nico.”
“I told you teasing was all a part of it,” I murmured, then my lips replaced my chin on her shoulder, brushing lightly back and forth across her wet skin.
I released one of her hands to wrap my arm across the soft swell of her stomach. One tug brought her body flush against mine. Kat dropped her head back onto my shoulder as my lips traveled up her neck to nuzzle her ear.
With my arm supporting her, she shifted her ass backward to cradle my cock, drawing a groan from deep inside me.
When I lifted her other arm to hook it around the back of my neck, allowing me the freedom to slide my hand around to cup her breast, pleasure purred from her throat.
My thumb circled her nipple and she arched, filling my hand.
“Oh, Kitten,” I breathed against her ear.
This way lies madness, I thought, unable to keep from giving the same attention to her other breast.
Even as the hot water soothed my aching back, I didn’t think I was in any shape to take her here, like this. God knew I wanted to—no, I intended to, when the time was right. Her body, wet and soapy and so fucking perfect under my hands, was everything I’d ever dreamed of and far, far more.
Kat gave another breathless cry when I rolled her nipple between my fingers, then I released her to stroke both hands soothingly down her sides before gripping her hips.
With a gentle nudge, I set her away from me.
She spun, ready to protest, but I gave her a knowing smirk, so she simply glared instead.
“Not here,” I said, shaking my head. A spray of water droplets haloed my face. “If we’re doing this now, it’s going to be on that nice soft bed in the other room. This time, anyway. There will be plenty of time in the future for lifting you against this wall and driving into your hot, wet body.”
I just hoped it was true—that we’d find our way through this mess with the painting and come out on the other side unscathed, with the rest of our lives stretching before us, because I didn’t think any amount of time with Kat could ever be enough.