Page 17 of Wish I Might
He choked, spewing water.When he managed to stop coughing, he looked at her through streaming eyes.The smirk had deepened, and wicked amusement danced in her eyes.“Both,” he wheezed.
“Good to know,” she said with a nod and walked back through the door.
He debated for about ten seconds, then followed her through the butler’s pantry into the kitchen, where she was pulling a hunk of cheese out of the refrigerator.
“Is that why you picked that outfit?”he asked, striving for casual and half succeeding.“To twist me up?”
“No.”She bent to reach into a lower cupboard for a cutting board, putting her butt on display for a tantalizing few moments, then dug a knife out of a drawer.“I picked it because I had to mow the lawn, and I didn’t want to die of heatstroke.”
She sat at the table.“But twisting you up doesn’t break my heart.”
“I bet,” he muttered.
She hummed a throaty laugh and picked up the wedge of cheese.“Want some?”
He didn’t, but since what he wanted wasn’t on the menu, he took the chair opposite her.“Sure.”
She began to unwrap the plastic.“Can I ask you a question?”
He tried to read her.There was amusement, a kind of smug female satisfaction that added to the twist in his gut, and something else he couldn’t quite identify.“Sure.”
“A serious question,” she elaborated.
“You can ask me anything you want,” he told her, trying to tell her with his eyes that he meant it.
She watched him a moment longer, then nodded.“Okay.Do you remember the fantasies?”
It took him a moment to understand what she was talking about.When he did, his heart began to pound.“Yes.”
“Yours was two women.”
“I remember,” he said, and he did, in vivid Technicolor.It had been one of the hottest, most amazing nights of his life.Followed closely by the worst.Don’t think about that.“That was a good night.”
A glimmer of a smile touched her mouth as she sliced into the cheese.“It was.”
Encouraged by the smile, he decided to tease her, just a little.“Sometimes I wasn’t sure who was having more fun, me or you.”
She gave a low, throaty hum.“Well, Sage was pretty hot.”
“She was,” he agreed, remembering the tall, athletic blonde who’d joined them in bed for that memorable evening.“And limber.”
“She was a gymnast,” Bailey reminded him, passing him a slice of cheese.“That was one of the reasons I picked her.”
He took the cheese, his gaze on hers.“What were the other reasons?You never told me.”
“Didn’t I?”She popped a bit of cheese into her mouth, looking thoughtful as she chewed.“Well, she was fun, and sexy.And she’d hit on me a couple of times.”
The cheese was sharp on his tongue.“I didn’t know that.”
“I didn’t tell you,” she admitted.“I didn’t want you to think she was there just for me.”
“But she was.”He could see that clearly now.“Wasn’t she?”
Bailey shrugged.“She liked you, too.”
“But if I hadn’t been there, she’d have come just for you.”
“Probably.”Her mouth, curved in laughter only a moment before, was sober now.“Would that have bothered you?”
