Page 24 of Impossible Love

Something shoots up from beneath the surface and violently sloshes water everywhere. I scream. It’s Cal. He stands. Naked. He spins around. He stares at me as I stare at him. Water pours down his perfect body.

His perfectly naked body.

Chapter 15

Victoria

I see all of him.

That’s when I remember that he’s seeing all of me, too.

I scream again, reaching down to grab the towel I’d just dropped at my feet. My hands shake as I clumsily tie off the terry cloth under my arms. I’m breathing heavily.

What have I done?

Cal hasn’t moved. He remains standing in the center of the hot tub, his chiseled arms hanging loose at his sides. Water still drips down his skin. I should apologize and run back into the house and hide. But I’m frozen where I stand because I can’t seem to look away from the vision of male perfection in front of me.

He’s even more spectacular than I’d imagined, and I have a very advanced imagination. Is it the steak he eats every night? Is it the manual labor he does around the ranch? His years as a SEAL? It could be some kind of genetic anomaly, because this guy looks like he’s been carved from granite. His percentage of body fat must be in the low single digits. Or maybe zero, if that’s even possible.

I’ve never seen a man this perfect, anywhere. Not airbrushed underwear models. Not oiled-up bodybuilders. Not the hunkiest of movie stars. No one.

Cal MacLaine is flawless.

“You done yet?”

I rip my gaze from his below-the-neck playground to focus on his face. “What?”

“Are you done. With the staring. At my body.”

“No. I mean…yes?” My answer is nothing but a pitiful, confused squeak.

He laughs. Then I watch him raise his arms, close his eyes, and tilt back his head so he can use his fingers to rake his wet hair from his face. The gesture is so blatantly sexual that I think I may pass out. He grabs a towel from the railing and ties it low on his hips.

I guess the party’s over.

“I…” I try to form words. “I never would have come out here if I knew you were naked.” I shake my head and start over. “I mean if I knew you were in the hot tub. Naked.”

I sound as if I don’t have two brain cells to rub together. He’s so fucking hot I think he may have short-circuited my entire nervous system.

“I didn’t realize I needed your permission to soak in my own hot tub.” He steps out and stands on the deck about a foot away from me. Two puddles form at his feet. He stares at me with empty eyes. I decide his face needs one of those sentences I sometimes see on printed sales contracts: this space left intentionally blank.

“I didn’t see much.” This is a terrible lie. But I can’t think of a better one.

Cal laughs again. “No worries. I didn’t see much either.”

It’s time for me to walk away. I’ve just passed awkward and am swerving directly into mortification. So why don’t I walk? Why can't I move? Why am I still standing here in my towel like the brainless bimbo I’ve become?

Cal sighs and folds his ripped arms across his ripped chest. “Since we’re being so honest with each other, how about you tell me the real reason you’re here. Why do you want to get your money-grubbing hands on Sulfur Springs?”

Thank goodness he’s brought up business again. It restarts my brain and my vocal cords. “I explained all that at your father’s house.”

“I mean the real reason,” he growls. “And what the hell did you mean by high-interest loans?”

“I can't speak to your father’s finances. That’s for him to disclose to you if he wishes.”

His brow crumples in anger. At least his face has become something other than a blank slate. “You will not take advantage of my father. I’m in charge here, and it’s me you’ll be dealing with. And sweet cheeks, I got some bad news for you. I am no pushover. This ranch is not easy money. And I am onto you.”

“According to my report, your father is in charge of Yosemite Ranch. Not you.” I wag my finger at him for emphasis. “So maybe you’re the one taking advantage of James MacLaine.”

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