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Then the doorbell rang. Taking a deep breath, she opened it.
“Sorry I took so long,” Jordan said. “I stopped to pick up strawberries and champagne.”
“Sounds…good.”
He walked inside and glanced around the living room. “Still no furniture?”
“I haven’t had a chance to go shopping, so there’s just furniture in my den and the bed…room.”
There was a glint in his eyes, which she ignored. “This way,” she said, turning and walking toward the back of the house, trying not to think too much.
* * *
JORDAN BARELY BREATHED as he followed Nicole to a part of the house he hadn’t seen. There was a separate exterior door off a hallway leading to the spacious spa area. The water bubbled and tiny twinkling lights lit the space from above. Sliding louvered doors made it private and intimate.
To the side was a small refreshment area and he carried his purchases there.
After opening the champagne, he took a large strawberry and splashed the sparkling wine over it so the excess fell in the sink.
“I remembered you said that you didn’t drink much, so I thought this might be a unique way of washing the berries. I didn’t know this area would be so well-equipped.”
He came closer and held the berry to her lips. Nicole hiked an eyebrow and he grimaced ruefully.
“Don’t tell me that’s cheesy, too.”
“Not exactly, but I have experience. While it sounds pretty in theory, it’s a messy way to eat a strawberry.”
Her slender fingers took the dripping berry and she bit into the juicy red fruit while he prepared one for himself.
“I think I should mention,” she said after they’d finished the basket, “that unlike you with female guests on the boat, I don’t come prepared with men’s clothing or swim trunks.”
Heat surged into his groin. “I thought this was a skinny-dipping exercise.”
“I didn’t know whether you might be all talk, but modest in action.”
“If I recall correctly, you told me that modesty doesn’t fit me very well.”
Nicole sat on the edge of the hot tub. “But you might have gotten your invisible modesty suit from the dry cleaner after all.”
“Not since last night.”
“So what you’re saying is that modesty will be lacking this evening.”
Jordan started unbuttoning his shirt. The repartee between them had only made him hotter. “Judge for yourself,” he managed to say and shrugged off the shirt. It left his chest bare while her gaze lingered over him.
“Where did the scar come from?” she asked, pointing at the jagged white streak that sliced across his ribs.
“It was during my time as a reporter. I got too close to the action during a police standoff.”
“Looks painful.”
“Didn’t hurt as much as the way my editor ripped me up one wall and down the other for being stupid.”
Smiling, she loosened the sash on her wraparound dress and eased it off her shoulders. Underneath was a bikini…barely.
“I thought tonight was about skinny-dipping,” he choked out of a tight throat.
“I invited you to indulge, never promised I’d do the same.”
She stepped down into the gently steaming water and leaned back, closing her eyes, which was a good thing. If she’d kept watching him, Jordan feared he might have been in danger of the same sort of accident he’d had in his youth, when the hormones raged and he hadn’t learned control. At the moment, any of the control he had learned seemed utterly absent. He hurriedly stripped and sank into the bubbling cauldron, trying to chuckle as he did so.
“Three guesses about what I’m picturing at the moment.”
“Harry and the Hendersons,” Nicole said promptly.
“Right.”
Despite the silly image, it did nothing to slow the euphoria that was spreading through him. A private spa was rare in his experience, though he’d spent time on a few nude beaches. The advantages of privacy were extreme.
Half floating, Jordan nudged himself closer, his legs brushing against Nicole’s. She opened her vibrant blue eyes again and stared into his as he pulled her close. Even in the warm water he could feel her shuddering response.
