Page 72 of The Baby-whisperer and the Brute
“You should get out of that wet dress.” Grabbing another towel, he draped it over my shoulders. “Here, I’ll turn around, and you can take it off and wrap yourself in that. Can’t have you getting chilled.”
The truth was, I was having the opposite problem. In spite of being rain-drenched, I felt hot all over like I was running a fever, and the cause was no mystery.
It was being close to him again.
During the past few weeks, Sully had done precisely as I’d asked, pulling away and returning to an impersonal, professional, employer-employee relationship. He hadn’t touched me or even gotten within a few feet of me.
It had nearly driven me crazy.
I’d thought it was torture having him so close by and tempting all the time, but once he’d essentially removed himself from my daily life, I understood the true meaning of the word “torture.”
And now tonight, with the whole surprise birthday dinner, and the string quartet, the sweet things he’d said, and the way he’d looked at me... well, I was questioningeverything.
I’d told Sully we could never kiss again, never have a repeat of that intimate—and much replayed—scene in the kitchen. But this was our last night together—and I craved his nearness so much I could barely stand to be in my own skin.
I felt lightheaded, oversensitive, and very confused.
Oblivious to all of it, Sully turned his back to me. That didnothingto help my addled state. His back was as beautifully sculpted as the front, and it took all my strength to look away and quickly undress, replacing my sodden sundress with the bath sheet.
“Okay,” I wheezed. “I’m decent.”
Sully turned back around. His eyes dropped to my face then dropped further to the top edge of my towel where a little more cleavage than I’d intended was exposed.
I literally heard the air rush out of his lungs.
“You’re...” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple traveling the length of his throat. “... a lot more than decent. You are absolutely stunning. Forgive me for saying it. I know you don’t like it, but my God, Angelina. You’re a knockout.”
For a few moments I stood there, staring into his eyes, struggling for breath, struggling with my own battered conscience.
Then I whispered, “I don’t mind you saying it. I like it.”
Was I really doing this? It was pretty obvious Sully was a dry pile of kindling right now and I was striking matches like a pyromaniac. But I couldn’t seem to stop myself.
At some point during the evening, I had taken leave of my senses and become a creature of impulse, of instinct, and every instinct I possessed was driving me towardhim.
“You... look good, too,” I said in what might have been the understatement of the century. “I mean, you look like a superhero or something. Like a Greek god. Seeing you like this, it’s hard to believe you’re a real person.”
I placed my hands on his abdomen, finally allowing myself to explore the fascinating terrain I’d ruled strictly off-limits even while fantasizing about it daily.
A tremor went through Sully’s body. Heat radiated from his skin, and he began breathing like he was in the middle of a punishing workout.
“What are you doing?” he muttered in a voice that sounded like tumbled gravel.
“Touching you. Feeling you. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”
Now that I’d started, I couldn’t stop myself. Barely able to believe my own shocking behavior, I ran my hands up his sides to his hard chest then over the defined trapezius muscles he’d honed through hours upon hours of weightlifting.
Sully clenched his teeth, his breath whistling through them as if he was in pain. He didn’t touch me but kept his hands clenched at his sides.
“I thought you said—” His sentence broke off, replace by gasping breaths. “I thought you said it could never happen again.”
We both knew what he meant byit. Instead of being shamed by my own hypocrisy, I pressed myself against his body, memorizing the feel of him, craving every bit of closeness I could steal in these last few hours we had together.
“I know what I said. But you’re leaving tomorrow, and the summer is ending, and so is my job. This is my last chance to have...you.”
His eyelids flared in surprise, and if I was reading his expression right, with excitement as well.
“So then...” He licked his lips. “It would be okay with you... if I... kissed you?”
