Page 78 of Impossible Love

Leaning back, I close my eyes and relish the moment, letting my hands float in the rolling bubbles, until I almost fall asleep. I decide I should get out. I open my eyes and see the deepening sunset, on fire with pinks and reds and golds.

“Beautiful.” Cal has come to stand by the hot tub. He’s smiling down at me.

“Isn’t it?” I agree. “The sunsets go on forever here. I know that it’s the same sky and the same sun I see in San Diego, but everything is bigger and better here.”

“I wasn’t talking about the sunset.”

“Oh.”

“I saw you working on the pier, but I didn’t want to bother you. You were very focused.”

I nod. “I took care of something important.”

“Do you miss your office?”

“What?” I laugh, taken aback by the question. “Not particularly, but I could use a printer and a stapler if you’ve got them lying around.”

His face darkens. “I know we don’t have all the creature comforts of the big city here.”

“Creature comforts like a stapler?” I turn and rest my folded arms on the side of the hot tub so that I can look up at him. I’m not sure what he’s getting at.

“You’re probably chomping at the bit to get back to your place.”

“And my staplers?” I laugh. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“Of course not. But I’m sure you miss your place, your routine, your designer wardrobe.”

“What woman wouldn’t miss my wardrobe? My walk-in closet’s bigger than my bedroom.”

This makes him smile, which is a relief. He’d been so serious that it was making me nervous.

“You do have a nice wardrobe,” he agrees. “You’re wearing the sexiest bathing suit I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m not wearing a bathing suit.”

“Exactly,” he says, stripping down.

Chapter 40

Victoria

“I have an important question for you, Cal.”

He gives me a sideways glance. We’re still in the hot tub, leaning back against the padded headrests and looking out from the deck onto the dark, star-filled sky.

It’s a good thing the roof overhang and all the strategically placed trees provide privacy since we’ve sure spent a lot of quality naked time out here, at all hours of the day and night. In fact, we've just wrapped up another incredible sexual romp. Only now am I catching my breath.

Which brings me back to my question. I clear my throat. “Is this normal for you?”

One of Cal’s eyebrows arches high on his forehead, and he leans back to get a better look at me. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Sure.” I don’t want to sound like a crazy person or some sort of prude, but by now I’m seriously stumped. “Do you always have this much sex?”

The eyebrow goes even higher. I shouldn’t have brought this up.

“Seriously?” he asks.

I reach behind me and remove his arm from my shoulders. He doesn’t have to be a dick about it.

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