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She wanted Seth. She was grownup enough to admit that. Just looking at him stirred urges in her that hadn’t been stirred in years.And he has just the stick for stirring. She laughed out loud at her own lascivious thought before slapping a hand over her mouth. In her mind, she knew wanting Seth wasn’t being disloyal to Kyle. She even understood that acting on her attraction wasn’t disloyal. Neither of those thoughts made her feelings any easier to understand.
Maybe understanding her feelings wasn’t the problem. She understood lust. What she couldn’t quite understand was how she could want this man she’d just met more than she’d ever wanted anyone else. Even her husband. Andthatfelt disloyal. But also confusing. How could she have been married to Kyle and not have wanted him the way she wanted Seth after just a few small brushes of his body against hers?
Or his breath against her skin. Her mind drifted back to the two of them at the top of the waterfall. She’d never been so distracted when treating an injury. Of course, she’d never felt a patient’s breath on her breasts before either. Although he hadn’t mentioned her hard nipples, she knew he’d seen them. With any luck he’d assumed the cold water had caused her body’s reaction. Only the water hadn’t been cold at all.
What would she have done if he’d closed the distance between them and put his mouth against her chest? Or if he’d actually shown her what it meant to motorboat someone? Heat climbed up her neck.
A soft knock on the door snapped her out of what was becoming a wicked daydream. It was late, almost midnight. She only knew three people on this entire ship. Maybe Ashley had misplaced her room bracelet. . . again.
Slipping from the window seat, she hurried across the small room and pulled open the door.
“Seth?”
At the sound of her voice, he turned. “Hi.” He smiled.
Damn that smile did funny things to her stomach, making it flip and flutter. “Hey. What are you doing?”
He’d gone back to his room after dinner, claiming his hand was bothering him and that he had some scheduling things he needed to work out with a sponsor. She’d assumed being a pro snowboarder meant he just showed up and rode, but so far, he was the only one who’d actually done any work on this trip. Even she’d been able to get someone to cover her classes for the few days she’d miss.
His smile wilted. “If you’re busy . . .”
She shook her head. “I’m not. I just thought your hand was hurting and you had work.”
“It’s midnight,” he reminded her, inching closer.
“Hands still hurt at midnight.”
His smile returned. His dimples popped. Her stomach flipped.
“Yes. But our roommates don’t care about my hurt hand, and they kicked me out so they could. . .” He wiggled his dark eyebrows.
Good for Ashley. Though part of Courtney thought her friend had probably been doing some variation of the eyebrow wiggle all day, she still cheered the other woman on now. At least someone was—had Seth come here expecting that he and she would . . .?
“Whoa.” Seth raised his hands in mock surrender and took a step back. “You’re doing a lot of thinking. What’s wrong?”
“Why . . . what brought you to my room?”
Understanding slowly seeped across his face, widening his eyes. “No, no, no. I didn’t come here for that. Not that I wouldn’t want to. . . I mean if you wanted, then I would, but I’m not expecting or even hoping. I was just . . .” Finally, he took a deep breath. “Let me start over. I thought we could hang out while our roommates are occupied and using my room. If you’d rather I—”
“No.” She padded back into the cabin. “We can hang out. It’s not a big deal.”
But as her gaze fell on the bed, she couldn’t make her head and her heart believe her mouth. She’d just admitted to herself that she wanted Seth, but she hadn’t yet determined what that meant.
She spun away from the bed to face him. “Actually, why don’t we go get a snack.”
“A snack?” Seth asked slowly.
She nodded. “It’s midnight. A midnight snack seems in order, right? My treat.”
Now a smile turned his plump lips up. “It’s an all-inclusive cruise.”
Slipping her feet into a pair of flip-flops, she sauntered toward the door. “You coming or not?”
He hurried after her. “Sure, but I’m paying.”
* * *
Courtney laid her head back against the lounge chair’s cushioned headrest and stared up at the night sky. Here on the back of the boat, most of the light and noise from the cruise could be ignored. What couldn’t be ignored was Seth’s warm presence lounging next to her. She’d been afraid to stay in her room so close to the temptation of the bed, but this wasn’t much better. Apparently, a bedroom wasn’t necessary to have bedroom thoughts about Seth.
