Page 53 of Girl in the Water
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Daniela
“Well, that’s one stupid rule broken.” Daniela couldn’t move.
Her body felt as if she was in the last mile of one of their ten-mile runs. When she was here, they often went for runs in the morning, to the Lincoln Memorial and back, up one side of the Reflecting Pool and down the other.
Her heart pumped harder; her blood raced.
She’d seen other women stare at Ian when he wore running shorts and no shirt, but to her he’d always been just…Ian.
And now… Now her heart wouldn’t slow down.
“What rule?” His words came out winded.
She could see him through the open bathroom door. He was facing the mirror, hands braced on the sink, his back to her.
She couldn’t look away from his wide shoulders, from his naked, muscled back. She was as bad as Crystal. When did that happen?
Over the summer.While he’d been in Jordan, and she’d missed him so much, she’d slept in his bed. And dreamt of him.
She’d dreamt of men before—those had always been nightmares.
But her dreams about Ian…
On impulse, she strode up to him, pressed against him from behind, and let her hands slide around him and up his chest, her palms resting against his hot skin.
She laid her cheek against his bare back. “Remember when you said we were never ever going to see each other naked? I think I hate that rule. I’m glad it’s over.”
She couldn’t touch anyone else like this, but she could touch Ian. She trusted him to the bottom of her soul.
“Daniela.” His voice carried warning. He was vibrating with tension.
Everywhere they touched, her body burned. She almost laughed out loud. She wanted Ian the way a woman wanted a man. Because she was…normal!
The pure, sweet desire that tingled through her was a thrilling surprise and an incredible relief. She wanted him, and she wanted him to want her too. She wanted to make him see her not as a waif, but as a woman.
If he didn’t want her because of her past, she could accept that. But if the only reason they weren’t together was because he insisted on seeing her as his responsibility, someone who needed his protection…
“Daniela.” He sounded strained as if he was struggling to move some great weight. “Please leave my room.”
“I want us to be lovers.” She tried on the thought by saying the words.
“Christ. No.” He twisted away from her and nearly ran through the room, dragging on jeans under the towel, grabbing a T-shirt to take with him, dashing out the front door barefoot.
The door slammed shut behind him.
Daniela leaned against the doorframe of his bedroom and looked out into the empty living room.
That hadnotgone well.
She didn’t know what to do with Ian’s reaction any more than she knew what to do with her physical attraction to him. But now she at least understood why her attempts at dating had been a disaster. Of course, the boys at college had never been enough. Because all along, she’d been comparing them to Ian Slaney.
Subconsciously, Ian was her measure of a man.
She didn’t want anyone else.
He’d always supported her in everything, understood her. So why not in this?
