Playing It Safe(51)

Looking at him right now has me momentarily speechless; his dirty blond hair is a beautiful mess and has that morning-after-great-sex look, his crystal-blue eyes are sparkling, and his muscular and gorgeous naked body is barely covered by the sheet.

“Julia?”

“What?”

“I thought I lost you for a minute there,” he says, noticing how I spaced out for a second or two.

“Nope, still here. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to shower alone.”

I know. I’m such a Debbie Downer, right?

Alex raises one eyebrow in surprise. “Of course, go ahead. I’ll wait until you’re done.”

“Thanks,” I mumble, because it feels awkward all of a sudden. “Do you mind turning around?”

“What?” he asks incredulously.

“Do you mind turning around? I’m naked.”

“I know. I like it.”

“Alex, on top of being naked, I probably look like Medusa right now.”

His hand darts out and cups the side of my face tenderly. “You have never looked more beautiful to me. And as for the naked thing, you do remember last night, right?”

I blush. Can you believe it? I blush and feel a flutter of butterflies in my stomach remembering some of the things we did last night in this very bed. “So you’re not turning around?”

“Nope,” he says with a boyish grin. He rolls over then and puts one arm behind his head. The sheet somehow continues to cover the bottom half of his body, but the part that I can see is even better in the light of day. Much better.

I roll my eyes, and he laughs at how uncomfortable I obviously am. “Fine. Have it your way.”

With the grace of a bull in a china shop, I flop my legs down until my toes touch the hardwood floor. My palms are facedown on the mattress and ready to shove off the bed at the right time. To the untrained eye, I probably look like I’m about to do some kind of push-ups. What’s strange is I’m normally not timid like this. For some reason with Alex, even though he’s become more than familiar with my body over the course of the last twenty-four hours, I feel incredibly self-conscious.

Just like disengaging my nipple from the sheet, I stand up and start strutting over to the bathroom with all the fake confidence in the world. Alex makes a low whistle of appreciation, and I throw him a deadly look over my shoulder, which only serves to make him laugh as I close the door behind me.

I make quick work of turning on the knobs in his shower, and I step back while waiting for the water to get hot. While I’m waiting, I decide to look for toothpaste to take this god-awful taste out of my mouth.

HOLY SHIT! When did I become Dee Snider from Twisted Sister?

I can’t even bear to look at myself in the mirror for too long, that’s how scary I look. Jesus. And he thinks I look beautiful like this? It might be time for Alex to get his eyes checked. My eyes scan the sink area until I find the tube of toothpaste. I squirt some on my finger and use it to brush my teeth quickly before turning around and stepping into the shower.

It’s just what I needed.

Not wanting to take too much time in here, I shampoo and use his bodywash—no conditioner because he’s a man and doesn’t understand the importance of it—and stand under the streams of hot water hitting me from every angle due to the multiple shower heads for a few more minutes before turning it off. I squeeze out the excess water from my hair before opening the glass door, and then I grab the nearest towel to dry off. After I wrap it around me, I step back into the bedroom to find Alex in the exact position I left him in.

A small smile is playing at the corners of his mouth—just enough for him to look impossibly sexy and irresistible. I can’t believe I’m thinking what I’m thinking right now. My freshly scrubbed clean body is wondering the same thing. Even my vagina is in disbelief since I just started to regain feeling down there.

To hell with it. You only live once, right?

I slink over to the foot of the bed, holding up a towel that barely covers me. Alex goes to move, but I raise my hand and wag my finger at him. “Don’t move.”

He settles back to his previous position of sitting up against the padded headboard. His erection is already straining underneath the sheet, and it brings a rush of warmth between my legs. When my eyes come back to his face, he smiles unabashedly at the fact that he’s ready, willing, and able before he drops his vision to my hand holding up the towel.

“You sure you want to get all dirty again?” he asks, his voice thick with desire.

I answer him by dropping the towel, letting it pool around my feet and allowing him to get a good long look at every inch of my body. Placing one knee on the bed, then the other, I start crawling my way to him. When I reach his chest, my tongue starts a trail from the smattering of light hair below his navel all the way up to his right nipple. I take it in my mouth and suck hard before releasing it. The taste of him is so very familiar now as my tongue swirls across it once more and I keep licking my way up to his neck.

I’m straddling him but still perched on my knees when he wraps my wet hair around his hand and pulls back roughly, forcing me to look at him, bringing his mouth to within a breath of mine. We’re both breathing heavily; his eyes are a darker shade of blue and full of lust.


“You didn’t answer my question,” he whispers. “Are you sure you want to get dirty again?”