He was going to take a nice, long shower.
SEVEN
When he came out of the shower, she sat curled up on the center of his bed, dressed in one of his T-shirts, her legs tucked against her chest. Her wet hair tumbled over her shoulders and her face was scrubbed pink and clean. “I borrowed some clothes. I hope that’s okay.”
“Fine with me.” He’d have been fine with her remaining naked, too. He stood there for a moment, towel wrapped around his hips, and glanced at the neat stack of clothes she’d placed on the vanity for him. “Thanks.”
Beth Ann gave a shy little smile, reminding him a bit of a skittish colt. “Least I can do.”
He took the clothes and moved back into the bathroom to change, lest he alarm her by dropping his towel. It was too warm in the small cabin for a shirt, so he skipped it and pulled on briefs and a pair of pajama pants instead. Odd that she hadn’t picked out jeans for him.
Odd that she hadn’t taken the pants for herself.
He reemerged from the bathroom and found her leaning into his fridge. Her shirt—his shirt—had ridden up, revealing her curvy ass cupped in a pair of his briefs. They were a little tight over her rounded bu**ocks. He approved of that. “Hungry?”
She jerked up at his voice and gave him a sheepish look. “Starving. Your fridge doesn’t have much.”
That was because he normally didn’t eat in. “Suppose I’d better drive you home, then.”
She bit her lip.
“What?”
Beth Ann gestured to the bottle on the counter, then sauntered toward him, running her fingers down over his chest in a blatant gesture. “I kinda hate to get drunk for the first time all by myself.”
“You propositioning me?”
She looked up at him, tilted her head. “Maybe.”
His hands slid to her hips, grasped her ass, and pulled her tight against him so she could feel the erection that was returning even though he’d stroked one out in the shower. “Now’s not the time to be shy.”
Her thumbs brushed over his ni**les and she bit her lip again. “I just thought, you know…I don’t have anywhere to be until tomorrow. And even then, it’s my day off. If you’re not busy…”
Damn but she was having a hard time spitting out what she wanted. He decided to supply her with the question. “You mean, if I’m not busy, could I please toss you down on the bed and lick you until you scream my name?”
Her jaw dropped a little.
“Again?” he reminded her. “Repeat of last night?”
Her eyes gleamed and she grinned, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning in to lick his tattoo. “Something like that.”
Well hell yes, he was all about that. “Anyone going to be missing you tonight if I keep you here and f**k the daylights out of you?”
She sighed and lay her head against his chest, her fingers trailing up and down his back in ticklish motions. She was a cuddler. He liked that. More opportunity to press her body against him. “I guess I should check my messages.”
“Me, too.”
She reluctantly pulled from his arms and crossed the room to where she’d left her tiny purse. “It didn’t have service out in the woods, so I’m not sure if it’ll have service here.” She pulled it out of the purse and water dripped from it. She wiped the screen with a finger, then sighed and dropped it back into her purse. “Or I could need to replace it entirely.”
He gestured at the phone hanging on the wall. “Use mine.”
She smiled at him, then picked up the phone and dialed her voicemail. He watched her face as she listened to the first message. Was she going to hear something that was going to take her away for the evening? Admit it was a mistake?
He wanted to rip the phone out of her hand and throw her back down on his bed and kiss the daylights out of her.
But all she did was wince as she listened, her head cocked. “One of my Saturday appointments called. She’s pissed. Guess I’m going to have to squeeze her in on Tuesday when I open again.” She tapped a button on the phone, deleting the message, then listened to the next. “Another client.” Tap. “Another.” Tap.
When she got to the next message, her demeanor changed and she hastily deleted the message as soon as the loud voice on the other end started to talk. She hung up the phone.
“Another client?” he asked, even though it wasn’t his damn business.
“Allan,” she said shortly, and offered nothing else.
“Your parents ain’t much worried about you, are they?” She’d disappeared for the weekend and they hadn’t even bothered to call? Pricks.
She shrugged. “They probably think I’m hiding from them at the salon again.” Her gaze slid to her ruined dress and her purse, and he could almost see the thoughts turning in her head.
She should leave. Go back to reality. Say goodbye to her one-night stand. Be the responsible, upstanding Beth Ann everyone thought she was.
“You want to order pizza?” he found himself volunteering.
A smile lit her face. “Does that go well with cheap rum?”
“Absolutely.” He grinned.
“You’ve got to actually get the quarter into the shot glass,” Colt pointed out.
Beth Ann giggled and tried to bounce it across his table again. The quarter smacked into the wall. “Do I get to drink now?”
“Not exactly,” he said, trying not to smile as she stood up and trotted across the room to get the only quarter they had between the two of them. When she bent over, her luscious ass looked damn hot in his briefs. She eyed the quarter, then eyed the glass again.
“Maybe we’d better take a break on the drinking games,” he told her, grabbing the shot and swigging it down so she wouldn’t drink it.
She pouted up at him, sticking out her lower lip like a child. “Cheater.”
“You’ve had enough to drink, darlin’.” She was giggling at everything. It was incredibly cute, but he could tell she was drunk. When she walked, she weaved.
And judging from the way her face was lit up, she was having a grand time, too. He’d only drank a little of the alcohol, more to keep her company than to get drunk himself. He had a feeling that if they were both drunk, well…he didn’t want to scare her off. Drunken declarations tended to do that.
“You know what would be fun?”