Page 18 of High Seduction
He set his teeth to stop from growling as those damn fingers went lower, teasing the top line of his swim trunks. He bent a knee to hide his rising erection because her touch was setting him on fire.
“So, let me get this straight.” Erin leaned all the way over, folding her hands on his chest and resting her chin on top. “You think you’ve changed enough that you’d agree to fool around with me at my speed, within my limits. You won’t attempt to steer us toward something stupid like what happened years ago.”
“I apologized for that at the time,” Tim pointed out. “While it was wrong, it was also a misunderstanding, and I knew it as soon as it happened. We both did.”
“And now?”
He walked that fine line between the complete truth and what she needed to hear for them to move forward. “I will go at your pace,” he promised.
Nothing mentioned regarding how far they would eventually go, or what type of pleasures, because while he’d allow her to dictate how fast they moved forward, they both knew they weren’t talking about chaste kisses and hand-holding.
She stared into space as she considered his offer.
Did she have any idea she was still stroking him? The repetitive brushing of her fingertips sent flickers of electric desire over his skin, offering a taste of the heat to come.
Erin sat up suddenly, shivering for a moment in the icy air. “If this thing between us gets... awkward, I want you to leave.”
He blinked in surprise. “What?”
“I have a good thing here, Tim. With Lifeline. With my friends, and my home. I’m happily established. If things don’t work out, I’m not the one going wheels up this time.”
“You’re playing hardball.”
“Damn right, I am. I think I deserve that assurance after the crap you pulled years ago.” Erin adjusted herself until her shoulders were submerged again, her chin raised high. Determination in her expression.
Tim loved it. He didn’t want a woman who would cave in and let him run roughshod over her, no matter what she’d mistakenly thought before. “You have yourself a deal.”
It didn’t matter that she was back in the heated water, Erin’s shoulders still shook briefly. He liked knowing he affected her that hard.
“I have a request of my own,” Tim added.
She raised a brow, the exquisite arch making her look positively edible. “And that would be?”
Tim flipped on the charm to flash his brightest smile. Turned up the accent and gave her a dose of his best Irish-slash-Newfoundland drawl. “Now, kitten, I’d be needing a ride home, if you would.”
She laughed, then impulsively swooped in and gave him a hug. Tight. Friendly. As nonsexual as the earlier pat on the back he’d received from Tripp. “You are one of a kind, Tim. One of a kind.”
CHAPTER6
She took her time getting dressed, partly to mess with him, partly to consider exactly what she’d agreed to.
This was not a situation to go into without a game plan or she’d end up fucked, and not in the good way.
It was tempting to phone Alisha and beg for an intervention, but she refused to allow herself to lose control like that. She had been the one to accept his challenge. She could do this.
If their relationship stayed on the surface, there was no reason she couldn’t slowly work them toward some hot, satisfying sex. The man used to play her like a Stradivarius violin. She could imagine he’d only gotten more talented in the years they’d been apart.
And frankly, she wanted to know if he was on the level. If he was going to ignore her wishes, whip out his dick and start shaking it like some mighty he-man ruler of them all, she wanted that to show up early in the game.
Before her heart got involved.
He was waiting for her outside the pool looking as if he belonged there. Leaning on a railing, his towel under an arm. Legs crossed at the ankle as he stared at the gondola tower on Sulfur Mountain and the mountain valley beyond. He’d tucked most of his dark hair under a knit ski cap, but the ends sticking out had already frozen in the cold temperatures.
She resisted touching one of the white frosted tufts, pointing instead toward the parking lot. “This way.”
“It’s a beautiful place, Banff.” Tim took a deep breath as he paced by her side. “I miss the scent of the ocean, but that wind fresh from running over the glaciers is just this side of heaven.”
“I’m in love with the location,” Erin admitted. “The winters are clear and cold, but no matter how brutally frigid it gets, the crystal blue skies are enough of a reward to make me never want to give up living here.”
