Page 64 of Forty

He’s still touching the small of my back, and now his arm is crossed in front of him like a square dancer so he can hold my hand, too. I’m tangled up in him. The hollowness in my chest that erupted on my walk down Gracy Avenue shrinks a little.

“Half bath.” He nods at a shut door.

He leads me to the open doorway at the end of the hall. “Master bedroom.”

“So this is where the magic happens?”

At least this room is furnished. There’s a California King-sized bed, neatly made with a gray silk comforter and at least six pillows, not counting the decorative ones. There’s a heavy, dark wood chest of drawers, mirrored dresser, upholstered chair and ottoman, and a bench at the foot of the bed.

I wriggle my fingers until Forty drops them, and I wander in. French doors lead to a kind of balcony-veranda thing. His backyard is enormous. It goes for at least an acre before it slopes down a steep incline towards the woods.

“Sledding,” he growls in my ear.

“Jesus!” I nearly jump out of my skin. He crept up behind me. “What?”

“That’s why I picked this house. That hill. It’ll be perfect for sledding.”

I crane my neck up, a smile softening my lips. We used to go sledding at the community college. They had a great steep hill, and you had to keep your wits about you, or you’d end up sailing onto Route 12. I ate a lot of snow, tackled by Forty at the last minute before I went sliding into the path of a car.

“Have you been? Is it awesome?”

“Not yet.” His lips are quirking up in the corners. He’s meeting my eye instead of glaring at my face. Finally, he’s looking a little less like I killed his dog. “Come on.”

He opens the French door and guides me down the stairs to one of those outdoor living spaces they have on home improvement shows. It’s almost five; the sun’s inching down. The sky’s a cloudless, vivid blue, the color that makes it feel low and thick.

“Pergola. Fire pit.” He points past the deck area. “Hot tub.”

“Hot tub!”

There’s a hot tub! And it’s gorgeous. It’s round and set in a low wood deck with benches built in. I’m already kicking off my shoes. “Turn it on.”

“Seriously?”

I’m peeling off my jean shorts. He keeps his eyes level with mine. My heart cramps. That’s one of the reasons I never told any boyfriends about Ed Ellis. That look on Forty’s face right now.

Screw him. There’s a hot tub, and I’m sticky and gross and saddle sore. I’m taking a dip.

“Crank it up,” I say as I pull my T-shirt over my head, slip off my bra, and work the elastic band out of my hair. Of course, my hair’s knotted to hell, and I take a good clump out when I finally get the tie free.

It looks like Forty uses the hot tub a lot more than the rest of the house. He gets the cover off in no time, and it’s steaming and ready to go.

“You bring the ladies here a lot?” The thought turns my stomach, but not enough that I don’t dip my toes into the bubbles.

“It helps my arm. Keeps it limber. My physical therapist recommended it.”

Oh. I glance over my shoulder. Forty’s still keeping his eyes glued above my neck. Ugh.

“You coming in?” I step down into the frothing foam, and it’samazing. It’s so clean and the perfect temperature, warm enough to make the air seem cool, but not so hot as to make you sweat.

“Do you want me to come in?”

Double ugh. I float in the middle, let the jets hit me from all sides.

“You asking me now? You didn’t ask me on the picnic table behind Sawdust. Or at the clubhouse. Or at any point today.”

He stiffens to attention on the deck. He stays frozen for a long moment, and then he shrugs off his cut and lays it on a lounge chair. Then he bends over and unlaces his boots, setting them neatly side-by-side under a bench. Finally, he shucks his T-shirt and jeans, folding both and resting them on top of his cut.

I watch him, arms crossed and resting on the side of the hot tub, lazily kicking my legs behind me. It’s a symphony of sensation. Streams of water massage my sides, and when I twist just so, they nail my pussy. Wherever my skin emerges from the bubbles, the cool air nips, and the sunset’s turning the distance purple and orange while the sky overhead seeps into a deeper blue.

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