AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hello?” a familiar voice calls through the downpour. “Ivy? You home?”
It’s Reeve.
10
IVY
“The power’s out here, too?”
Reeve is standing on my doorstep, a jacket held uselessly over his head. It’s only a short walk from next door, but he’s already drenched: his dark hair plastered to his head, and water running in rivulets over his cheekbones, and dripping off his jaw and onto his damp sweater.
He looks like Darcy, emerging from the damn lake.
He looks like my midnight fantasies brought to life.
“Ivy?” He’s looking at me strangely, and I realize: I’m staring.
“What? Oh, yeah, it’s out here as well. Must be the whole neighborhood.” I stand there, still dumb, as he’s buffeted by a massive gust of wind that knocks a plant pot off my porch railing with a crash.
I snap back to reality.
“Come in out of this!” I quickly stand aside and usher him into the house, slamming the door shut against the storm. “You’re soaked,” I add.Way to state the obvious. “Let me get you a towel.”
I go find one in the laundry closet. When I return, Reeve is in the candle-lit kitchen, stirring at my soup. He’s stripped off his wet sweater, but the soft looking T-shirt he’s wearing underneath is no better – at least, when it comes to reminding me how it felt with those arms wrapped around me …
“Thanks,” Reeve takes the towel and rubs at his wet hair, giving me a teasing grin. “I would pretend I came over to check that you were OK in the storm, but we both know, you can handle anything.”
I blink. He sounds admiring, like my boring practical streak is actually something sexy and cool.
“I think this is ready,” he continues, stirring at the soup.
“You think, or you hope?” I ask with a grin.
He smiles. “Okay, maybe I’ve eaten about as much junk food as I can take, and this smells incredible.” Reeve dips a spoon in, holding it out to me. “Try it.”
I move closer, and blow softly on the spoon before tasting it. “You’re right,” I agree, savoring the rich flavor. “It’s ready.”
There’s no reply. When I look up, Reeve is staring at my mouth with a breathtaking focus in his eyes.
Oh.
I swallow hard, blushing all the way to my bones. “I’ll finish it, you go sit down,” I tell him, waving vaguely towards the living room. “Cheese? Wine? Bread?”
“Yes, to all of the above.” Reeve agrees immediately, and practically bolts from the kitchen.
I catch my breath – and pour myself a glass of water to cool down. I consider dunking my whole head under the faucet, the way I feel so flushed and itchy. Maybe I’m coming down with something infectious, I think hopefully.
But I know, it’s just lust.
Down, girl.
Just because we’re alone in a power outage, it doesn’t mean we’re going to tear each other’s clothes off, I tell myself, as I top two soup bowls with bread and grated cheddar, and improvise a melted situation with the help of a cooking blowtorch. I arrange everything on a big tray, and carry it through to the living room. You’re a grown woman, with self-control. You spend your lifenottearing clothes of handsome, available men. What makes this one any different—?
I stop dead in the doorway. The fire is crackling. Candlelight flickers. And Reeve is sprawled on the rug in front of the fire, sipping from the extra glass of wine he’s just poured as the wind howls outside and the rain pours down in a relaxing drumbeat …
He looks relaxed. Rumpled. Thigh-clenchingly sexy.
Dammit.
