Page 20 of Flirting in Traffic

She rolled her eyes at his double entendre.

He grinned as he came toward her and switched on the whirlpool jets. “I told you I was going to bathe you. Then maybe I’ll join you.”

Esa sighed in pure bliss when she finally leaned back in the frothing water. “Heaven,” she whispered as her eyes closed. But she was too excited to remain in repose for long. The last thing she felt like doing when she was buck naked and Finn Madigan was in the room with her was fall asleep. Her family and friends might think she was lame but she wasn’t a fool.

Not by a mile, Esa added to herself as she watched Finn pull over a stool. He retrieved a thick white towel and a loofah from a linen closet and set them down on the stool.

“You weren’t serious about bathing me.”

“Do you have anything to hold up your hair?”

“Uh…yes, there’s a clip in my backpack, I think,” Esa muttered dubiously.

“I’ll be right back.”

She moved restlessly in the bubbling water when Finn returned and immediately scooped up her hair, fixing it into what Esa was confident was a haphazard mess upon her head. He whipped off his outer shirt and tossed it aside before turning off both taps. He sat down behind her head and picked up a thick bar of soap.

“This really isn’t necessary,” Esa protested weakly when he began to lather up her shoulders and chest. His hands were slightly roughened by calluses. They felt delicious against her smooth, wet skin. He alternated between massaging her shoulder and neck muscles deeply and merely gliding his fingertips along the sensitive surfaces.

“What’s wrong? Not used to being pampered, is that it?” he taunted in a low, resonant voice that made the hairs on the back of her exposed neck stand on end. He was right, of course. She’d never had a lover—especially such a beautiful one—treat her like she was a queen.

Esa wasn’t sure if she should allow herself to enjoy the delicious sensations coursing through her body. She’d always had to struggle a bit to “let go” during sex, always feeling like she owed her lover something extra in bed because she wasn’t model-thin and photo-ready for the cover of Cosmo. Not that her handful of past lovers had necessarily been ready for the covers of GQ either but…

Well, it was a man’s world after all.

She soon discovered that Finn wasn’t leaving her a choice about giving in completely to her desire about utterly giving in to him. He turned off the jets of the whirlpool and told her to rise up onto the deepest step of the tub. “Lean forward,” he directed.

She sat in the waist-deep water while he lathered up her back, massaging her until her flesh melted beneath the influence of the heat and his skilled hands.

She groaned when he transferred to using the loofah, gently abrading her flushed skin.

“You’re not pampering me, you’re spoiling me,” she murmured.

He chuckled while he rinsed off her back. Esa wondered with mild amusement if she even possessed a backbone a few minutes later when he put both hands on her shoulders and she sank back onto the edge of the tub.

“Ohhh,” she moaned when his hands suddenly were cradling her breasts, shaping the flesh in his large palms, massaging the beading nipples between soap-slick fingertips. Her hips squirmed in arousal.

“See? I have good motivation for spoiling you,” he rasped near her ear. The manner in which he played with her breasts and teased and plucked at her nipples, with such focused intent, left Esa speechless with desire. For a prolonged moment of unbearable tension he learned her shape and texture, determining precisely which caresses evoked whim

pers of longing from her throat, always refining his attack until Esa was sure she could take no more.

Her head fell back helplessly onto his hard thigh.

“Take me to bed,” she pleaded. She almost screamed in protest when he removed his hands from her breasts.

“In a moment. I can’t finish bathing you unless I get in there with you.”

When she glanced around and saw him whipping his white t-shirt over his head, Esa forgot about protesting. Her mouth went dry at the sudden appearance of the breathtaking masculine landscape before her, consisting of flexing, ridged muscle and golden-brown skin. She followed the hasty movements of his fingers on his fly hungrily. She bit her lower lip hard in order to suppress an agonized groan when his penis sprang free of his jeans and boxer briefs.

Oh my.

Her memory certainly hadn’t led her astray. He truly was every bit as beautiful as she recalled from their too-brief encounter last night.

More so.

She giggled when he rambunctiously clambered into the tub, splashing water over the sides. “Let out some of the water! You’re too big. It’s getting all over the floor.”

“So? It’ll dry.” He dropped to his knees in the tub and reached for her. Esa howled in laughter when he tickled her belly and waist. More water sloshed out of the tub in the tussle that followed.

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