Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(76)

“Sit down.” Clamping his large hand on her shoulder, he pushed her back into the tub. “Ten minutes ago you were quite enamored of my pawing.”

Her spine stiffened as she felt him step into the water behind her. He sat down, crooking one long leg and stretching the other out beside her. There was a soft exhalation of comfort, and then his arm reached around her, extricating the soap from her hand. Lily stared at his feet and felt the brush of his bent knee against the side of her breast. His soapy hands moved over her body. Mutely she watched as he washed the paint from her br**sts, the color dissolving into grayish foam.

Alex sluiced water over Lily’s shoulders, rinsing until her skin was pale and shimmering. He pulled her closer between his thighs, wordlessly urging her back until her weight was settled against the sodden mat of hair on his chest. He rubbed the soap between his fingers and slid them down her body in a slippery trail, until they converged between her thighs in a slick tangle.

It was quiet in the bathing room. There was only the soft swish of water and the sound of their breathing bouncing gently from the tiles. Lily couldn’t help surrendering to the soothing warmth of the bath. She felt the tension leave her spine. Half-closing her eyes, she rested her head on his shoulder while his hands wandered smoothly over her. His face turned, and his lips swept into the wet curve of her neck, the frail edge of her jaw. She leaned more heavily on him and drew in a deep breath of steamy air. Unbidden, her hand crept to his thigh, her fingers flexing into the hard muscle. Underneath the water the rough hair on his body had become soft and velvety.

At the touch of her hand, Alex went still. There was no movement except for the rise and fall of his chest beneath her. Lily squeezed her eyes closed, waiting for the moment when he would push her away and say the interlude was over. But he reached for the soap once more, lathering his hands to a foamy slickness. She felt the lambent touch of his fingers on her br**sts, circling like dancing butterflies, smoothing over the tiny, hardening tips. Lifting herself higher into the teasing caress, she gave a pleasured murmur.

His hands cupped water over her, pouring liquid warmth on her br**sts, leaving her ni**les taut and rosy. There was another ritual with the soap as he moved it back and forth between his palms, and then he set it aside. His lubricated palms glided in circles on her stomach, pausing as one fingertip dipped curiously into the neat hollow of her navel. Lily began to breathe in irregular gasps, feeling as if she were floating in a pool of fire. Her body tensed in yearning. Relentlessly his legs hooked over her ankles and eased them wider. Sliding his hand lower, he stroked the tense line of her abdomen…and lower still…and his fingers trailed through the thatch of sodden curls, saturating them with white foam. Lily started and clutched his wrist, trying to pull him away. “I think you should stop,” she said breathlessly, and wet her lips. “I think—”

“Why don’t you try not thinking?” he whispered against her ear, sliding his middle finger deep inside her. The sweetness of his touch spread through her, quickly condensing into heavy, aching urgency. His supple stroke went deeper, and her body tightened to draw in more of the tantalizing pressure. As the water sloshed rhythmically in the tub, she realized what was happening, and she said his name weakly. He murmured to her, telling her to forget everything, to concentrate only on this…and he kept her there, cradled by the water and his body, never ceasing the exquisite manipulation, drawing pleasure from her as if he could drink it in with his fingertips. Patiently he nudged her over the edge of feeling into a cl**ax of exquisite, infinite relief. Her muffled cry echoed from the tiles, while her glistening body arched against his restraining arms. When the pleasure ebbed, he turned her until she was draped over him, and his mouth took hers in a drugging kiss.

“You’re a beautiful woman, Wilhemina Lawson,” he said huskily, holding her head in his wet hands. His gray eyes stared into her dark, astonished ones. “And you’re going to stay the night with me.”

Had she the advantage of clothes, weapons, or even a spark of energy, Lily might have found a way to leave. But she allowed him to dry her with a thick, soft towel, and carry her to a bedroom with a luminous ceiling that looked like sky and clouds. Alex extinguished the lamps and pulled her into bed beside him. They both knew that she would take the five thousand from him, and discuss the terms of the arrangement tomorrow. The tacit agreement gave Lily a trapped, sordid feeling. The exchange of money for the use of her body could not be considered anything other than what it was. But it also brought a certain measure of peace. She would pay Giuseppe and rehire the detective to find her daughter. Perhaps the nightmare of the past two years would be over soon.

His arm curved around her, pulling her against his body. It wasn’t long before his breath rifled through her hair in the slow cadence of sleep. But tired as she was, Lily found it difficult to sleep. She had the troubled awareness that in spite of her efforts to avoid this, her life had turned down a path she had never wanted to travel…and there was no going back.

Lily was profoundly puzzled by the man sleeping beside her. She had accused him of brutality, but in spite of his many opportunities to hurt her, he had treated her with gentleness. In fact, he had deliberately sought to give her pleasure. She had thought of him as a coldhearted man, but the truth was that he possessed unusual depth of feeling. Others might consider him as having a restrained and moderate nature, but Lily knew that she alone could provoke him into an awe-inspiring temper. Privately she admitted that she was glad of it, that something in her found satisfaction in affecting him so deeply. He’d been furious that so many men had seen her in the Eve costume. The thought brought a slight smile to her face. The smile disappeared as she reflected that it wasn’t like her to take pleasure in a man’s possessiveness. Perturbed, she tried to move away, but he snuggled closer with a sleepy grunt and threw an arm over her. Wryly she settled back against him and closed her eyes, relaxing into the sheltering warmth of his body.