“I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than what I saw when I walked in here tonight,” I said.

I’d forced the words out before I could lose my nerve, and now I was stuck waiting for her reaction. Maybe even the mention of me seeing her mostly naked would shut her down.

“I was the one who ignored an alarm,” she said, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly, like she was fighting a smile. “I should have brought a bathing suit if I was going to be modest.”

“There’s an expectation of privacy when you lay down in a tanning bed. I shouldn’t have barged in.”

“You were trying to save my life. A normal person wouldn’t have been bothered at all by it. Well, maybe a little, but not nearly as much as me.”

My eyebrows shot up. Normal person?

“Do you mean someone who doesn’t look like you?” I asked. “Average looking?”

I didn’t even know what “average looking” meant. All I knew was I couldn’t think of a single woman on Earth who would have had the impact on me that she did. And it would have happened even if I hadn’t seen her without her clothes on before officially meeting her.

“I mean someone who’s been seen naked by a man before,” Amber said, looking down at her fully clothed body. “That wasn’t me. It was a first.”

When she looked up, I was suddenly self-conscious of my own reaction. Surprise had taken over my body. I was frozen, not sure what to say in response to that.

She’d never been seen naked by a man? Did that mean she was a virgin? Not necessarily. She could have had sex fully clothed. Or mostly clothed. Or maybe she just meant no man had ever seen her topless.

“I’ve never been with a man,” she said. “I know that’s unusual in this day and age.” She pushed herself to her feet and stared me directly in the eye. “I’ve never even had an orgasm.”

There was something clinical about the way she said the word. Like we were in a health class. But she was also eyeing the tanning bed. I wondered if she was thinking about getting naked and lying down again. If so, she’d get no argument from me.

“Do you think anybody ever, you know, masturbates in a tanning bed?” she asked.

I nodded, even though she wasn’t looking at me at the moment. “I’m almost positive. These things have been around a long time. Just about everything you can imagine has probably happened in one.”

This conversation wasn’t doing my erection any favors. In fact, it was starting to get uncomfortable. My jeans weren’t nearly baggy enough to comfortably contain what she was doing to me.

“It might be kind of hot,” she said. “The warmth, the risk of getting caught…”

The hard surface that couldn’t possibly be comfortable. But I wasn’t going to point that out.

“You could try it,” I said.

She looked at me then, eyes wide. Those words were sure to scare her off. But as seconds of silence ticked by, I began to find hope that she was actually thinking it over.

“I don’t think I can give myself an orgasm,” she said. “I mean, I’ve tried a couple of times and I’m obviously not doing it right.”

I shrugged. “I know my way around a woman’s body. I could walk you through it.”

Things were getting almost painful behind my zipper. Damn. If I didn’t relieve the pressure soon, I might just pop the seams of these jeans.

“I’ll get naked if you will,” she said.

Holy shit. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined she’d say those words to me. Not this soon. Maybe not ever. And I couldn’t possibly have imagined what those words would do to me.

All I could manage was a nod and hope she knew that it wasn’t done casually. Every cell in my body wanted her. Was consumed by her. Would do anything to have her.

I reached for the hem of my T-shirt and yanked it over my head, tossing it behind me and flexing my muscles. It was a douchebag move, but it came from a good place. I wanted to impress her. I wanted her to want me as much as I wanted her.

I was rewarded with an appreciative sweep of her gaze over my body, stopping at the waistband of my jeans. Did she notice the bulge?

“Could you turn your back for a second?” she asked.

She was nervous about kicking her clothes off in front of a man. That made sense. I’d leave the room if that’s what she wanted.