Page 24 of The Nicolaides Baby

He hesitated until she raised her brows and lifted a dripping hand above her head to motion for him to turn away.

“Better?” he asked, turning and facing the cement privacy wall covered in climbing dark pink bougainvillea.

“Much,” she answered while his imagination went on overdrive with all the splashing going on behind him as she left the water. She was wet… And naked…

God, give me the willpower not to look.

A few moments later, the Jacuzzi stopped running. Rowan’s quiet groan of, “Oh, this is not good,” rang clear.

He glanced over his shoulder. “What’s wr—”

“Don’t look!”

Too late. He quickly pivoted back around, but the image of Rowan standing in the moonlight with her nightgown plastered to her wet body—displaying every luscious inch of her while she shivered with her panties in one hand—was forever seared into his brain.

“I didn’t think about a towel… And I didn’t expect company,” she groused. “Ewww.”

“There are towels in the cabana,” he said, pointing to what was more of a small guest house than anything. “Come on and I’ll show you.” He could feel her hesitation. “I promise not to look.”

Whether it kills me or not.

“Okay,” she said. “But if you even try to turn around…”

Even though she didn’t finish, he felt sufficiently warned as he led her into the dark, mainly one-room structure with a living and kitchen area as well as a queen-sized bed and a separate full bathroom.

He went further into the room. “There’s a lamp—”

“No lights,” Rowan said, with a bit of panic in her voice as she shut the door. “Just get me a towel.”

“Okay, but don’t move. I don’t want you tripping over anything.”

He unerringly found the bathroom and grabbed an oversized, fluffy bath sheet from the open-faced cabinet and went back to the main room. Even without the lights on, Leo could easily make out Rowan’s silhouette where she’d remained by the door.

“Here you go,” he said, walking up to her and wrapping it around the front of her trembling form. Then he frowned. “Rowan, you’re shivering.”

“I know,” she said, her irritated voice quavering.

“You need to get out of that wet gown.”

He didn’t need a light to know Rowan was looking up at him like he was crazy. “I don’t think so.”

“I can’t really see you,” he reasoned. “So, I’ll hold the towel out between us and you can take the gown off and then wrap the towel around yourself after.”

She hesitated.

“If you catch a cold, you can’t see Lukas.”

A shiver clearly visible in the moonlit room ran over her. “Okay,” she said, with a touch of aggravation. “But eyes up the whole time.”

“Eyes are up,” he said, with his eyes toward the ceiling while holding the towel out between them like a shield. The splat of wet fabric hit the tiled floor.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the towel and wrapping it around her. “Mmm, that’s better.”

He felt a shiver of his own at her sound of pleasure but decided to ignore it, saying instead, “Can I turn the lights on now?”

“Sure.”

He went across the room and turned on the lamp near the bed. Light pooled around him at the same time Rowan cursed. He whipped around in time to see she’d followed him and had tangled her feet in the long ends of the bath sheet. Her panicked green eyes went to his as she stumbled and fell into him, leaving the towel to fall on the floor and knocking him back onto the bed where he landed with his arms full of damp, naked Rowan.

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