Black Ties and White Lies(53)

Her eyes flick to where I hold her. She shivers underneath my grip, just another nail in the coffin of the regrets I have for the day.

“No.”

“Yes.”

She attempts to rip her arm free, but I stop her, applying more pressure.

“Why the hell do you want me in the shower anyway? Is this your way of getting me naked?”

I roll my eyes at her preposterous reasoning. “If this was an attempt to get you naked, Violet, you’d already be naked and greedily taking my cock on that bed behind you.”

This stops whatever witty remark she was going to fire back at me. Her mouth snaps shut. Even with her silence, her anger is palpable by the defiant set of her shoulders and the look in her eye.

“Why does it matter if I take a shower or not?”

My fingers twitch against her wet sleeve. “Because your teeth are chattering and your body is trembling from the cold and if I have to watch you suffer for another minute because of the decisions I’ve made, I might lose my god damn mind.”

For a split second, I think she’s going to listen to me. My words appear to take her so off guard that she might actually do as she’s told. It was a nice thought while it lasted. Defiance sparks in her eyes moments later, her arms crossing her chest. “I’m fine.”

I sigh, running a hand down my face. There’s no way she’s fine. I’m fucking freezing and my clothing was thicker than hers. My coat on her provides her a bit more of a layer, but it still isn’t enough. She has to be cold, and her refusing to do something to warm up just to spite me is childish. I’m not in the fucking mood to deal with it.

“Just remember I tried to do this the nice way,” I growl.

Lines appear between her eyebrows. “What do you—”

Her words stop the moment I heave her over my shoulder. All of the water on her makes her heavier than normal, but she’s still light in comparison to other people.

She kicks her legs up and down as I step into the bathroom. “What the fuck, Beck!” she screams, hitting my back repeatedly. “You can’t just pick me up like a fucking caveman whenever you don’t get your way.”

Still carrying her, I step into the shower and let the steaming hot water cascade over both our clothed bodies. Her body slides down my front as I drop her, an angry look on her face when she looks up at me.

Water runs down both of our faces, steam billowing around our bodies. “You can’t just fucking freeze to death because you’re trying to prove a point to me,” I fire back.

Reaching between us, I yank on the zipper of the coat I loaned her. It falls to the ground, totally forgotten as I do the same thing with the thin coat she’d packed for herself.

Her hand smacks mine. “You’re not taking my clothes off.”

“You take them off, or I do, but keeping the frozen clothes on you does nothing to warm you up.”

She takes a step to the shower door, trying to retreat. I hook an arm around her middle, pulling her hard against my body. “For the love of god, Margo, stop fucking fighting.”

Her body is tense against mine. Layers of clothing separate our bodies from touching, yet I swear I can feel the heat of her skin against my fingertips. I hold her against me until I finally feel her body relax.

She takes a step away from me, turning around and moving the wet hair from her face.

“Fine. You win. But only because I’m cold.”

I let out a sigh of relief, waiting for her lips to turn back to their natural red color that drives me fucking wild. She stares at the ground, stripping one layer after the other until she’s wearing a lingerie set that’s way too fucking sexy for her to wear to a business trip.

“What the fuck is this?” I seethe, my eyes zeroing in on her hard nipples fighting against the black lace appliqués of the bra.

She steps deeper into the stream of the water, letting out a small moan as she’s engulfed in the heat.

This might actually be the worst fucking idea I’ve ever had. I’d only been thinking about getting heat back to her body but I hadn’t imagined what it’d be like being confined with her in a shower, especially after I’ve found what she was hiding underneath all those god damn layers.

“Margo,” I growl.

Her eyes pop open, looking down at her body. She has to know how fucking sexy she looks right now. “This”—she begins, running her hands through her hair as the water flows through the long strands—“is a little something you bought me.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, turning so my back faces her. Now that she isn’t shivering, my mind is becoming more clear. The primal need for her is returning. I’m no longer thinking about the cold from earlier, and instead I’m thinking about all the delectable ways I could warm her up.

My fingers angrily work at the buttons of my suit jacket. The custom suit had cost thousands of dollars and is probably ruined by the snow and mud it is now covered in. It doesn’t matter. Right now what matters is getting the hell away from her and the tiny scraps of clothing that are covering the parts of hers I’ve spent far too long fantasizing about.

The shower door crashes against the wall loudly as I swing it open. I’m lucky it didn’t break. It doesn’t stop me from slamming it shut behind me in frustration. I run out of the bathroom as fast my legs will take me, needing space from her.