Page 29 of Untouchable

She couldn’t accurately read his expression in the dim light, but she thought she noticed his eyes focused on her hair, which was hanging loose for the first time he’d seen it.

But she’d lost the moment, lost all her momentum. She couldn’t even begin to get the sexy act going right now, so she decided to wait for another opportunity.

“I had a… small mishap,” she explained when the silence stretched on even longer. “An unexpected collision with a vase of flowers. So I raided your pantry for supplies. I hope that’s okay.” Seeing his eyes shift to the broom in her hand, she shrugged and added, “I was just about to return them.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Caleb replied with so much composure that she decided perhaps she had misread his earlier reaction. He sounded as cool as he always did. “Just leave them here. Someone will find them.”

That was exactly like him. Spoiled and lazy and inconsiderate to everyone else. He probably thought people only existed to wait on his every selfish demand. Composing her expression, she propped the broom and mop up against the wall and laid down the dustpan beside them. Gave Caleb a questioning look. “That’s okay?”

He gave a half-hearted shrug. “Sure. Why not?”

Now she was rethinking her conclusion about having misread him because his expression was definitely distracted. And his eyes were still crawling over her face, hair, and body.

It was unnerving, and she wondered if he was so weak-willed as to be undone by some long, gold, unbound hair and a length of bare legs.

Needing to get some momentary distance from him so that she could hide her reaction, Kelly turned around and went back into her room, leaving the door open so he could follow.

Staring at the floor, she saw that there were still a few leaves and petals scattered around and a damp spot still visible from the spilled water.

That broken vase on the floor might as well be her entire life.

With a sigh, she went to get a towel out of the bathroom, kneeling down on her hands and knees and rubbing at the residual water.

She felt like an idiot. She would have done much better if she could have arrived unexpectedly in his room in a flurry of fluttery prettiness. Now everything was all fucked up.

Then she remembered that Caleb had evidently been coming to her room just now, so she glanced up and began, “What did you?—”

When her eyes focused enough, she saw that he was holding her bracelet. The one she’d left at the spur of the moment in the bathroom. “Oh,” she mumbled, reaching up and snatching it out of his grip. “Sorry. I was taking a bath there earlier and must have forgotten it.”

She couldn’t even remember why she’d left it there. She’d thought it would do something, when clearly it hadn’t.

She stifled a groan. Furious. At Caleb. At herself. At this whole unnatural, brutally ironic situation.

Why had she ever thought she could succeed?

She scrubbed at the floor roughly, taking her frustration out on the remaining moisture, although by now the wood was almost totally dry.

When she heard Caleb make an almost inaudible sound, she glanced up at him and gulped. She had to look down again to compose herself—to hide both her disgust and her surprised satisfaction.

Caleb’s eyes were hot and possessive. The look was absolutely unmistakable. His face was slightly flushed, and his breathing had picked up momentum.

Kelly knew when a man was aroused, without even having to check his crotch.

She felt a surprising wave of dominance wash over her as she realized that this might actually work after all. It would have to be done a little differently now, but her overall plan might still be in play.

Scrubbing more vigorously at the floor, she realized that the neckline of the T-shirt was hanging very low, revealing a substantial expanse of her jiggling breasts, which were bouncing from her motion. Her hair was hanging down in a swinging fall of gold, and her ass was displayed to good advantage.

With her eyes downcast, she kept rubbing the floor at Caleb’s feet.

“Kelly.” His voice was rough and thick with the unmistakable note of desire.

“What?” she mumbled, pleased when the T-shirt slipped to expose her shoulder. “Sorry I broke the vase.”

“I don’t care about the damned vase. You don’t have to do that.”

She was overly hot from her exertion on the floor, but she could feel a dark kind of pleasure well up at the knowledge that he was falling for her after all. “I don’t want the water to stain. The floors are beautiful.”

“Kelly.”