I might have been offended by the chill in her voice if I didn’t see the heat flicker in her eyes. The same flicker I saw when I told her I had every intention of thinking about her and her collection of pink vibrators. “Shay has a bikini in the laundry room. I’m sure she’d be happy to let you borrow it.”
I leave it at that and head to my bedroom to dig up my swim trunks. We have a privacy fence in the backyard, and the hot tub is right off the back door, so I only bother with the trunks when I have company. Maybe she’ll join me or maybe she won’t, but I won’t press the issue. I think we both know I want her out here for reasons beyond her sore muscles.
I throw on a robe and head out toward the back patio. I’m tempted to grab a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses on my way, but that would be more likely to scare her off than relax her, so I resist the urge. I adjust the lights at the back of the house, flipping off the bright patio lights and turning on the string of lanterns strung from one lamppost to another along the patio’s edge.
The night air is cold, but not bitter or too windy. My favorite weather for a soak.
I pull off the cover and turn on the jets before climbing in and taking a seat in the back corner. I close my eyes to stop myself from watching the back door—to stop myself from willing her to appear—and lean my head back as the water eddies around me, the jets at my back working into my own sore muscles.
Ethan’s right about the catch-22 of my situation. I wish Molly didn’t work for me so she’d be willing to give me a chance, but if she didn’t work for me, I might never see her, and not having Molly in my life at all is far worse than having to settle for boss and friend.
“It’s freezing out here.” Molly dances around on the cold concrete, a towel wrapped around her breasts.
I bite back a smile. “Then get in already.”
She starts to remove the towel, then freezes. “Close your eyes first.”
“You didn’t find a suit?” I swallow hard and remind myself I’m perfectly capable of sitting here with a beautiful, naked woman without trying to touch her.
“I did, but Shay is . . . smaller than me, and it doesn’t fit right.”
My lips quirk. “Sounds promising.”
“Shut up and close your eyes until I get into the water.”
“As you wish.” I let my lids float closed, but all of my other senses kick into overdrive. The water swishes around me, rising slightly as she sinks into the tub.
“You can open them now.”
I obey and study her in the soft lantern light. She’s right. The suit doesn’t fit her. She and Shay might be a similar size on the bottom, but Molly has more curves than my sister, and while the scrap of bikini top covers the most private bits of her breasts, it doesn’t do much to contain them. I grin. “I think it fits just fine.”
“Men,” she mutters, spine straight.
I laugh, grateful things are easy between us again. I’m lucky she didn’t stay angry with me after overhearing my conversation with Ethan. After I said she was broken. I realize how it must have sounded to her. How the word must have made her feel. Broken.
But, hell, aren’t we all?
She squeezes the back of her neck with a soft moan that whips heat through my blood. “I’m skipping the gym tomorrow, but tell Carter it’s because his workouts are too easy for me.”
I chuckle. She’s impressed the shit out of me with the way she’s taken on the workouts my brothers put together. She’s tough and more competitive than she’ll admit. “I’ll happily lie about your absence if it makes you feel better. Of course, he’ll see right through me.”
“Of course.” Sighing, she sinks into the water and tilts her face toward the winter night sky. She arches her back and stretches those long legs out. Her feet brush mine, and she squeaks and pulls back. “Sorry.”
“Afraid I might be poisonous?”
“No. I . . .”
I lean forward in the water and reach out until my hands come into contact with her foot. She doesn’t say anything but watches me cautiously as I pull it into my lap and dig my thumbs into the arch.
She gasps, then moans—a long, low sound that reminds me I should be careful of exactly where I position her foot if I don’t want to come across as a creep.
Molly
I close my eyes and let Brayden rub my feet. A tiny part of me screams that this is too intimate, that letting Brayden touch me in any way is a slippery slope that could easily lead me back to his bed. The rest of me tells that little part to shut up and enjoy his strong hands.