Page 21 of Tease Me

“What?” I giggled.

“I know they’re your favorite.” He tore the packet open, and I accepted one.

“Tea? I brought green tea. That’s right, isn’t it?”

A warm sense of appreciation flooded through me.

He held the mug up and handed it to me. “Cows.”

My jaw dropped. The mug had little black-and-white cows dancing across a green paddock. No man had ever given me such a thoughtful gift, and I had to force back a swell of emotion that threatened to produce tears. “Wow,” I finally said. “You sure know how to please a woman.”

He wriggled his eyebrows. “Thank you, Memphis Jane.”

Henry was very observant, more so than any other man in my life had ever been, and yet we’d only been together for probably five hours, maximum. I nibbled on the cookie and drank the tea, and at every opportunity, I glanced at my suave tutor, taking in every laugh line and every gray fleck in his dark hair. Henry was the epitome of the sexy older man. If I wasn’t careful, I couldprobablyfall in love with him.

Was that such a bad thing?

I had no idea.

I needed toget my mind offthat subject.“So,” I said, placing my cup on the blanket, “what happened between you and Kim?”

“They just stopped coming.” He shrugged. “No idea where she went.”

I bulged my eyes. “You didn’t getherpregnant, did you?”

“No. No, I sawherthe Easter after that, butthennever again. By God, we were lucky though. Damn foolish, what we did.”

I had vivid memories of my panic after I lost my virginity to Will Appen. Yes, we’d been drunk, but that was no excuse for unprotected sex. To this day, I still wonder whether or not Will and Iactuallyhad sex and if that was the reason why I hadn’t fallen pregnant. Otherwise, it’d just been dumb luck.

“Come on.” Henry climbed to his feet. “We better get you home so you can get some sleep.”

His comment had weariness gripping me in a flash. I allowed him to pull me upright, and I stood aside, trying to ignore the discomfort between my legs as he packed up our things.He dragged the blanket awayand shookthe sand off it and thenhewrapped it around my shoulders.

I followed his lead back to the car and wrapped the blanket around my legs as I wriggled into the passenger seat. He climbed into the driver’s seat, started the car, and reversed out.

“Thank you for a wonderful morning.”

He ran his hand along my thigh. “Thank you, too.”

We drovein silence, and I must have fallen asleep because it seemed like only minutes before we pulled into the drop-off zone at the Hot Horizon Hotel.

He came around, opened the doorfor me, and helped me out.

Oh jeez. How am I going to get past reception without showing my wet patch?

I must have screwed up my face or something because Henry adjusted the blanket over my shoulders. “I think you’re going to need this.”

I frowned. “You don’t want it?”

“No. It’s all yours. Looks sexier on you anyway.”

“Haha.”

He kissed my cheek, grabbed my shoulders, turned me toward the front steps, and smacked my butt. “Go on. Off to bed.”

Iwaddledaway. “Sounds like you’re sending me to the naughty corner.”

He laughed. “Maybe I am.”

---