A Deal Before the Altar. Rachael Thomas
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screamed again as she realized he was wearing nothing but a towel draped around his hips. His dark hair was damp and slicked back, and droplets of water clung to his shoulders.
“Wh-what are you doing?” Virginia sputtered.
“Thought I’d catch a quick shower. But don’t worry. I left you plenty of hot water.”
She couldn’t think. She couldn’t even breathe. But her eyes were in fine working order, roaming over Cole’s body like those of a hungry diner checking out a smorgasbord. Her gaze traveled from his strong, sculpted shoulders, to his broad chest tapering down to a narrow waist, to a sharply defined set of abdominal muscles that made her think of a statue she’d once seen in an art-history book. She stared in awe at every inch of tanned skin, every ripple of muscle, every sexy bit of him that showed beyond the towel. For a split second her mind wandered to what lay beneath the towel and she wondered if it was perfection, too, then chastised herself for even thinking it.
Cole gave her a lazy smile. “I haven’t had my body examined this closely since my last doctor’s visit.”
Virginia jerked her gaze away, feeling a hot blush rising on her cheeks. She’d just been surprised, that’s all. That’s why she’d stared. The man was clearly some kind of exhibitionist. Why else would he enjoy parading around nearly naked in front of a total stranger?
“I—I’d appreciate it if you’d put some clothes on.”
He backed away a step or two, then turned and walked casually to a chair in the corner where his clothes lay.
“Better turn your back, sweetheart. I’ve been known to send a woman or two into shock.”
Virginia turned away and focused on the ceramic butterfly music box on her nightstand, trying to keep her thoughts north of Cole’s waist and south of his knees. Behind her she heard the faint thud of a damp bath towel hitting the hardwood floor. She told her heart to settle down, but it clearly intended to ignore her brain and beat her chest to death. She imagined him pulling his long, lean legs into those tight, faded jeans he’d worn last night, easing them up over his thighs and…and other things. Finally she heard a zipper, and she took a breath for the first time since she’d averted her eyes.
“All clear,” he said a moment later, and she turned to see him shrugging into his shirt.
She peered at him tentatively. “Have you been here all night?”
That smile again. “I guess you don’t remember, do you?”
Slowly the memories came together, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle scattered about. Moving to music. Cole’s arms wrapped around her. Her head on his shoulder. A long, incredible kiss…then another. And then…
And then the getting sick part. No wonder she felt so awful.
Then she remembered him saying something about key possession and drunk tanks and strip searches that was all a little fuzzy but retrievable, but as she played out the rest of the evening in her mind, panic set in. The last thing she remembered was being in Cole’s car, driving home. Past that, she drew a blank. She glanced to the bed beside her and saw rumpled sheets and blankets.
She wasn’t the only one who’d occupied it.
As she put two and two together and it started to look an awful lot like four, her heart shifted into overdrive. “Where did you sleep?”
He glanced at the bed beside her, then smiled. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
She ducked her head, feeling that long-lost color returning to her cheeks. Could she actually have become a fallen woman and remembered nothing on the way down?
“Cole?” she said, barely able to croak out the words. “Did you…last night…?”
He buttoned one cuff, then started on the other. “Did I what?”
“You know…” She gestured toward the mussed blankets.
“Ah. You want to know if we made love.” He shrugged. “Would it be a problem if we had?”
Oh, God. Virginia’s hand flew to her mouth, and she squeezed her eyes closed. Every warning her mother had ever issued her came back in a huge rush of condemnation, and she thought she was going to be sick all over again.
A little music, a little fun and a lousy beer or two. That’s all she’d wanted. Then, like some kind of naive fool, she’d allowed herself to fall into the hands of a man who practically made it a profession to rip the reputation out from under any girl he came in contact with. Embarrassment welled up inside her, then took a sharp turn toward anger.
“You—you had no right to do this!”
“No right to do what? As I recall, you were the one flashing cash around last night, looking for a good time.”
“A kiss! That’s all!”
“Now, didn’t I tell you that sometimes you get a whole lot more than you bargained for?” He lifted an eyebrow and dropped his voice. “I’m one of those guys you don’t mess with around closing time.”
“But I wasn’t of…of sound mind,” she argued. “I’d had far too much to drink—”
“Whose fault was that?”
“And then…and then you dragged me home—”
“Saving you from driving drunk, if you’ll remember.”
“And then you did…did this,” she went on, waving her hand wildly over the scrambled sheets and blankets. “And I didn’t even know it!” She buried her head in her hands. She’d done it now. What had probably been heaven last night had bought her a one-way ticket for the other direction.
When she glanced up, his teasing smile had faded. “Is that what you really think, Virginia? That you passed out and I took advantage of you?”
“You were standing in my bedroom half-naked! What else am I to think?”
“Use some common sense, will you? You’re wearing the same clothes you were wearing last night. I’ve undressed a lot of women in my life, but I can’t say I’ve ever put any of their clothes back on.”
She looked at herself and for the first time she realized that her blue jeans, horseshoe blouse and push-up bra were still intact. A little wrinkled here and there, but intact. Only her boots were missing.
“And where I come from,” he went on, “we always undress when we take showers.”
“You could have dressed in the bathroom!”
He gave her a cocky grin. “But that wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.”
She glared at him, starting to get a little fed up with his attitude. He thought this was funny. She didn’t see anything funny about it.
“Don’t worry. Your virtue was safe last night. See, I’ve got this weird sexual preference. I prefer my women conscious.”
She had to admit he was probably telling her the truth. If he’d made love to her, chances are she’d have remembered. Thinking about the way he kissed, she was pretty sure he could drag a woman out of a coma if he set his mind to it.
She closed her eyes, and for a brief moment she was back at that bar last night, standing under that neon beer sign with the music pulsing through her, and Cole was kissing her. She had no idea a simple kiss could feel like that, except that there was nothing simple about it. Sensations had bombarded her from all directions, turning her insides to mush and making her feel all dizzy and disoriented. She remembered the way Cole had smelled, that warm, musky, man smell she’d never experienced before because she’d never gotten close enough to a member of the opposite sex. She remembered that boneless, melting feeling that had taken over her body as he crushed her breathlessly against him, and the way he tasted when he slipped his tongue into her mouth and she found out firsthand what all the fuss was about French-kissing. Just thinking about