Page 14 of A Lady's Heart
She rested her chin on his shoulder to speak. “I made us an appointment this afternoon at the art studio.”
He leaned toward her. “Sounds fun.”
“We’ll see. Are you sure you won’t get in trouble with me taking over your schedule like this?”
He shook his head. “I’m pretty much my own boss unless Tyler is around.”
Which reminded her all over how confused she’d been to discover Justin had remained in Whitehorse. Glad—but confused. “I thought you were a bodyguard. How come he’s gone, and you’re not guarding?”
“Because he left on his honeymoon, and I was smart enough to know I wasn’t welcome.” He turned and offered her a secret grin. “He’s safe. I’ve got a surveillance team on him at all times.”
“That’s sneaky.” And made her a little nervous. “He doesn’t know?”
“Oh, trust me, he knows I’ve got someone watching him, even though he doesn’t know exactly who, but it’s not the same as having his best friend watching him make goo-goo eyes at his new wife. One of my jobs is to keep him safe, well, him and Caroline now, and he’s not allowed to argue with what it takes to get the job done.”
She nodded, but it still made her think back to less-than-happy times. “That was my least favourite part of being married to Todd. With all his political aspirations, it always felt as if someone was watching me.” A shiver escaped in spite of the heated water.
“It’s not always pleasant to think about,” he agreed “but it is the price of being a public figure.”
He leaned his head back on the pool ledge and closed his eyes, and she got to stare to her heart’s content.
Justin’s dark good looks were eye-candy to add sweetness to the ordinary, simple pleasure she’d already experienced. The heat of the water buoyed her as she considered his willingness to come jump up and down and basically make a fool of himself.
She held onto his arm, using him as an anchor.
People were entering and exiting the pool all the time, but they gave Justin and her a wide berth, especially as a rumble rose from his hairy chest. At first it was low enough to be a tickle in her ears, but as she checked him more carefully, the rumble deepened. Grew more intense, the kind of noise she could imagine him making as he ran his hands over her skin. Petting and caressing her. Pressing his lips to the spot under her ear that drove her wild as he stroked a hand up the inside of her…
Okay, that was letting her imagination run away a bit too far.
He groaned—an intensely sexual noise, as if he was in the middle of a wild fantasy similar to the one she’d been enjoying, and in spite of everything inside her that wanted to keep listening, she wiggled higher until she could lay her hand on his chest.
“Justin,” she whispered urgently.
He cracked an eye open. “Had enough?”
Not nearly enough if her libido had anything to say about it. But she nodded then offered a warning. “You’re making…noises.”
Dirty noises. Wonderful, panty-wetting, makes-me-want-to-melt noises.
He shuffled back to a sitting position, blinking when he discovered only one person remained in the hot tub with them. An older woman. Human, but obviously alert to the nuances of the shifter world as she glanced between the two of them, a mischievous smile twisting her lips.
“Y’all planning on coming to Aquasize on a regular basis?” she asked with a grin. “Because I think my ticker got a better workout watching you two for the last few minutes than it did during the entire workout.”
Mandy had no idea what to say in response.
Justin offered the old woman a wink.
She returned it enthusiastically. “You go getter’, boy. If I were only twenty years younger.”
“I’d have to be twenty years younger to keep up with you,” Justin returned.
A smile drifted in unbidden as Mandy exited the tub and waited for Justin to join her.
“Flirt,” she teased as they walked side by side toward the dressing rooms.
“My ego likes a little stroking,” he confessed. He picked up her towel and draped it around her shoulders.
The offer to stroke parts of himotherthan his ego hovered on her lips. Mandy hurriedly tossed out different words. “Meet you on the other side?”
