And I never said I wouldn’t.
* * *
I leave my phone,wallet, and keys under the floormat in my Bronco and run back inside the hotel lobby to change out of my snow clothes into my swimsuit. Summer’s already in the women’s bathroom, changing, but I still make it out first, walking toward the floor-to-ceiling windows while I wait.
Large snowflakes slowly drift from the sky. It’s not the kind of snowfall that will collect on everything. Mostly, it makes the day magical and, dare I say,romantic.
“I can’t believe I’m wearing this.”
I flip around, expecting to see the deer bikini, but instead, Summer stands in her white coat zipped up over her chest with her bare legs hanging out from under the hem. She still has on her black snow boots and beanie. The rest of her clothes are rolled up and bundled in her arms.
It’s like winter-sexy-cute. I didn’t even know that was a thing, but it just became one of my favorite looks.
I’m flustered by her exposed legs barely being covered by her coat, but I avert my eyes as any good brother would do. “It’s a memory.”
She lifts her brows in a teasing way. “Wearing a rack over my rack is a memory?”
“When in Telluride.” My smile hitches at the side. “Besides, I have a rack over my crotch.”
She lifts her chin, glancing away. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“Come on.” I laugh. “Let’s sneak into one of the hot springs.” I lead the way outside, feeling the freezing air against my legs.
“There’s a fence around the hot springs, and we don’t have a hotel key card to unlock the gate.”
“Maybe someone can let us in with their card.” I glance over the property. There are a few people in the springs on the other side, but the tub up ahead is vacant. Having a hot spring all to ourselves sounds much better than crowding in on the others, so I lead the way to the empty spring. “We’ll have to climb the fence.”
“If we do that, won’t everyone know we’re trespassing?”
I throw her a smile over my shoulder. “Are you scared of getting in trouble?”
“Did it look like I was scared last night when I used the pharmacy speakerphone?” She marches ahead of me with indignation in each step, like she’s proving a point. She drops her pile of clothes on a lounge chair and removes her coat, keeping her boots on to trudge through the snow to the fence.
And suddenly, visiting the hot springs was the worst idea I’ve ever had—or the best, if you forget about the fact that she’s my brother’s girlfriend. Because my brother’s girlfriend looks pretty phenomenal in that ridiculous swimsuit.
I know because I looked.
And then I looked away.
I mean, there’s still a level oflookingthat has to happen to see what the heck she’s doing, but the studying and the admiring of her curves has stopped. Scout’s honor, and I’m not even a scout.
Summer attempts to climb the fence—attemptbeing the best description of what’s happening. I remove my coat and meet her by the fence, assisting where possible. But there’s really no way to assist her besides pressing my hands on her butt and pushing upward. As tempting as that sounds, I decide to forgo the butt-grabbing.
“Here, let me go first.”
She steps back, giving me room. I grab the top of the fence and pull my body up, hoisting myself over until I hit the ground on the other side.
She tilts her head at me. “Show off.”
“Me? Showing off to impress you? I would never.”
I totally would, and right now, I’m hoping it worked.
She grabs the fence like I did and climbs until her body reaches the top. I raise my arms, placing my hands on her body, helping her get down over the other side.
It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.
My fingers glide across her hip to her back, holding her body to me as I carefully lower her to the ground. It’s a slow and sexy—I mean, painful. It’s a slow andpainfulprocess with lots of drawn-out eye contact and skin-to-skin contact as her feet steady herself.
