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Except for once, I’d fought the urge. Instead, I wound up sitting on the shower floor with my hand between my legs and thoughts of Chris filling my head.
But if that was what it took to keep myself from doing something stupid, then I’d masturbate my way across Europe, for all I cared.
I toweled off, briefly—and stupidly—wondered what Chris would do if I really did walk out of the bathroom naked like I’d forgotten he was there. Then I slipped on a pair of white cotton panties. With another pulse of guilt, I reasoned that my outfit would be fine without a bra. I also quietly hoped my decision wasn’t a subconscious attempt to draw Chris’ attention, even though I had a pretty fair guess about that one.A large family of very Britishly accented folks were chattering away somewhere just out of sight. The day was creeping toward evening, which had brought a pleasant chill to the air and made me glad to have brought along a jacket. Chris and I had just finished touring the inside of an ancient estate that had once belonged to British royalty.
We’d been led out to the gardens, which overlooked a pleasant stretch of rolling green fields as far as I could see.
I shot a look at Chris, who was feeling up a chubby little cherub statue with a confused look on his face.
I sighed at him. “I would’ve been happy to leave you at the hotel, you know. Acting like a bored child is just proving you were dumb to insist on tagging along.”
One of Damon’s demands for our trip was that Chris and I make a few public appearances. Chris had been happy to “spearhead” the planning for our outings, which he had taken to calling dates. Correcting him only seemed to amuse him, so I’d started pretending I didn’t care what he called the outings.
“I’m having a great time,” Chris said. “I just want to know why they had to make this statue so thick.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s a cherub. They are supposed to be like that.”
He pursed his lips. We were passing beneath a tall wooden arch lined with roses. After an hour of having the grown, tattooed, ridiculously attractive child named Chris Rose at my side, I knew what was coming.
Sure enough, Chris swung his arms back, ducked, and bounded upward to see if he could reach the arch with his fingertips. I wanted to be annoyed with him. I really did. Except there was something about his antics that I actually enjoyed. Being around him made me wonder if we could all use a little more Chris Rose in our approach.
“You know, most guys stop trying to see if they can jump high enough to reach things around eighth grade.”
“Yeah?” He surprised me by putting two fingers just below the center of my collar bone and pushing my back against a hedge. There was a wicked, mischievous flicker in his eyes. “Is that why you’ve been giving me bedroom eyes all evening? Because I’m not like most guys? Or is it because you’re just that into eighth graders?”
With a grin, I ducked under his arm, backing away to give myself some space from the gravity of his presence. “Those aren’t bedroom eyes. That’s me wondering how you managed to make it through so much life without growing up.”
Chris pursued me in a slow chase. I backpedaled, he stalked forward. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end and I could already feel the warmth of arousal starting to spread from my lower belly to every inch of me.
“Oh, I’ve grown plenty. Especially since I met you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Chris’ mouth twitched, then I realized he was making a joke. Of course he was. But I couldn’t stop my eyes from tracking down to see that—yes. He really had grown.
I made a sound of disgust. “You’re unbelievable.”
Chris laughed. “Jokes aside, when are you going to give up pretending, anyway?”
I ducked under a low hanging arch crafted completely out of hedges and found myself in an enclosure of flowers where a few butterflies flitted from brightly colored petal to petal.
Chris came in behind me, swallowing up the spare bit of evening light that had been coming through the entryway.
“I’m not pretending. I’m being smart, which you should try for once.” I ran out of space to back up as velvety flowers brushed the back of my neck and arms. The whole room smelled like an explosion of fragrances, and I already felt like my head had gone a little light.
“You want me. I want you. Why does it need to be complicated?” Chris was just a hair’s width from me now. He was so close I could feel the heat of his body spilling out toward me. I could practically sense the thumps of his heart, which I imagined was beating steady and calm. Mine, on the other hand, was pattering away like an animal trying to break from a cage.
