The Private Serials Box Set(37)

Then I was treated to the front view when he came back out and walked to me. I swallowed hard and tried not to stare, but the man was so goddamned beautiful. He stopped at the edge of the bed and leaned down, placing both hands on the mattress.

“Wanna shower with me?”

I lifted my head once more from the pillow and felt my hair fall in a mess around my face. “I would love to shower with you, but I’m afraid I’m not ready to walk yet. So, go on without me.” Just after I’d dramatically flopped my head down onto my pillow once more, I yelped as I felt his arms slide under me, flip me over, and then lift me from the soft heaven that was his mattress. I squealed as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

He walked to the bathroom, carrying me in his arms, a stupidly handsome smile across his face. He plunked me down in the shower, which was the most gorgeous walk-in shower I’d ever seen, right in the middle of a steaming hot stream of water. It was even more heavenly than his mattress.

I sighed as I let the water run over me and moved to wet my hair, closing my eyes, enjoying the moment.

“This is like every wet dream I’ve ever had combined into one.”

I opened my eyes. Preston was obviously ogling me, watching every part of my body as the water cascaded over it. Then he moved into me, his arms coming to rest at my hips, and his mouth moving in toward mine. He kissed me gently, the beast I’d met earlier that morning apparently sleeping. This Preston was warm, sweet, and tender. If someone forced me to pick which Preston I liked better, I’d never be able to choose. Each one was sexy in their own right.

We kissed in the shower until I was wrinkled and then he washed me. Neither one of us tried anything besides stealing a couple of kisses, which I was thankful for. I didn’t think I could take another round with him if the beast made an encore appearance. I wasn’t too tired, however, to take in his glorious form as he rinsed the shampoo from his hair. Everything I’d admired about him the night before and even this morning, was only magnified and amplified by the water. The man looked good wet.

He led me out of the shower and handed me a towel.

“Is everything you own soft and fluffy?” I asked as I wrapped the towel around my shoulders. It might have been the softest towel I’d ever felt.

He chuckled. “I hope not.”

“Seriously. Your pillows are like clouds and your mattress is the most comfortable one I’ve ever been on. And now the towels.” I looked at him and smiled. “You like nice things.” My smile grew wider at my realization. I thought about it for a moment and then other things started popping into my mind. His car—perhaps the nicest car I’d ever seen. His fancy leather jacket. The scotch. It all made sense. What single, thirty-something man had towels this nice? I brought it up to my nose and grinned when I smelled the fabric softener. He either hired someone who furnished his house with nice things and a maid who used fabric softener, or he totally enjoyed all this stuff. “Did you buy these towels? And the pillows?”

“Yeah,” he said, wiping his towel through his hair, flinging water droplets everywhere.

“So, it’s true. You like nice things?”

He thought about it for a moment. Then he shrugged. “I guess. Who wants scratchy towels?”

I shrugged back at him, smiling. Walking back into the bedroom, I looked around for my clothes, trying to remember which way they had been flung the night before.

“What are you looking for?” Preston asked as he walked back to the bed and climbed in.

“My clothes,” I said as I walked around his bed.

“No clothes. Today, we lay around like naked, lazy people.” He threw the comforter down, opening up the side of the bed he wasn’t in, and then nodded me toward it.

“You want to spend an entire day naked in bed?” I didn’t move from my spot, feet away from the bed. I knew if I got in I probably wouldn’t get back out.

“Give me one good reason why not?”

“Well, I should go home, for one.” I watched as his smile fell away and the muscle in the side of his jaw tightened.

“You’re not going home. There’s no reason for you to be there.”

“It’s my home. And Derrek is probably already wondering where I am.”

“He’s not,” he said firmly.

“Preston,” I tried to reason with him.

“I want you here, with me. Fuck, Lena. I was inside you not two hours ago and now you’re just going to go running back to that life where you’re unhappy and unsafe?”

“I’m not unsafe and Derrek can’t know that I didn’t go home last—”

“HE DOESN’T CARE IF YOU CAME HOME OR NOT, LENA!” Preston was out of his bed and yelling as he stalked toward me. “He couldn’t care less what you do or whether you slept in your bed last night. He. Doesn’t. Care. But don’t let me stop you from running home to him.” He was right in front of me, loud and angry, but I didn’t feel threatened by his outburst. I was, however, confused by this new Preston.

“I’m not running home to him. I’m simply trying to manage the situation. You know what’s at stake for me, Preston. You and me. We’re the only ones who know what happens if he finds out I’ve been with you. But the only person it will affect is me. I thought we were on the same team.”