Revealing Ruby (Bound and Determined #1.5)(16)

But all things must end—even the best of them.

Her lips slipped from his, her feet flattened and lowered. She took a step back.

Her gaze was focused on his mouth. It held there for a moment and then slowly lifted until she met his look full-on. He could see the surprise in her flushed face, the slight look of confusion. She had understood that kiss no more than he.

Her head shook back and forth a moment as if she tried to clear it, the soft blond curls dancing in the candlelight.

She turned from him, held still, the long lines of her neck straining gracefully as she bent her head forward.

Reaching for the ties of her stays, he guessed her intent, his fingers clumsy on the laces. He felt her ribs expand beneath his hands as the small corset came loose. She shrugged it from her shoulders, twitching her hips as it fell to the floor, leaving her attired in only the thin chemise.

Looking at him over her shoulder, she smiled, inviting, sultry. The innocent kiss of the moment before was gone. She took a step past him, toward the shower bath, then stopped. Her glance focused on the pooling water. Even without seeing her face he knew where her thoughts travelled, knew they followed his own of moments before. No, that water would not do.

She glanced up at the door from which she had come. Would she summon a servant? Hell, he hoped not.

Her head turned forward, focused on the large oval bath. Reaching out a hand, she moved toward it, felt the water. Her long fingers rubbing against each other as she considered. Was the water still warm enough?

How long had he been in the shower bath?

And then she stepped high, one elegantly arched foot stepping over the rim and then the other. Standing in the knee-high water she turned to face him. Her hands rose to the straps at her shoulders and he thought she’d slip off the chemise.

Instead she met his gaze again, a slow, slow smile curving up her cheeks. Holding his eyes, she slowly sank into the water, almost boneless in her grace. She stopped when the water brushed the ends of her hair, dampening the silken strands. And then she rose, not completely, but to her knees, the thin linen damp against her, transparent, translucent.

Sweet gods, had he wished her naked a few moments ago? This was better than naked, seeing and not seeing, pebbled pink nipples through a sheer film, breast defined and hidden, the hint of waist and navel—and the knowledge of all he could not see, all that was hidden by the water and the tub.

His feet moved forward of their own accord. His tongue felt large and swollen in his mouth. It was impossible to swallow.

His cock grew and rose against his leg, already hungry and eager for more.

Keeping her gaze with his, she turned slightly, reclining back in the water until she rested against the edge of the tub, the peaks of her breasts playing with the surface of the water. She grasped the bar of soap, rubbing it along her upper chest and collarbones, before moving it beneath the thin linen. He swallowed, finally—hard—as her hands glided over one breast, the elegant fingers stopping to play about the nipple. The soap slipped free into the water and she brought a second hand up to cup the other breast, raising them above the water like an offering.

Heat pulsed between his legs. Hell, he was going to come again without even touching her.

Her eyes drifted closed then for a moment, thumb and forefinger squeezing tight around the rose-tinted buds. They matched her lips exactly, soft, pink, inviting.

Another step and he stared down into the tub, the water clouding what was visible.

A toe broke the surface, then a dainty foot, a shapely calf, a lush thigh. She looped the leg over the edge of the tub on the side away from him.

He gulped.

The other leg followed, on his side. Her foot brushing against the hairs on his thigh, toes tickling and gripping.

His knees almost buckled.

The chemise had ridden up her thighs with the movement of her legs. He stared down through the water, knowing she was bare to him. Unfortunately, candlelight and shifting water kept him from seeing all, only a hint, a glimpse, a bit of magic.

He moved his gaze back to her face. Her gaze was locked on him—and this time not on his eyes.

He hadn’t thought it was possible to swell any larger. Her eyes widened.

She had said she liked his dragon.

He shifted, resting on his left leg, shifting over. Her foot brushed across him.

A sudden intake of breath, he was not sure from which of them.

Her toes brushed the underside of his prick, stroking the dragon’s tail. That long, slow smile still lay upon her lips as her tongue snuck out, dampening them.

For a man used to being in charge, he suddenly felt lost, unsure which way to turn, what to do.

He knew what he wanted—to grab her from the tub, press her against the wall, sink into her until his balls ground against her ass. That was what he wanted. His fingers clenched with the effort of not reaching for her.

That damned smile.

That innocent kiss.

The spread legs.

The covering water.

What game was she playing? He’d never been a man for games.

He started to reach—and stopped as her eyes lifted to his face. She shifted back in the tub, creating more space before her, and nodded to the space.

Join me. He could feel her unspoken call.

He was no idiot. He stepped over the edge, into the still-warm water, and stood looking down at her.

She gestured for him to turn, to sit.

Well, he wasn’t sure how that was going to work, but he’d give it a try.