Page 36 of Ignacio

They hadn’t spent much time together since then, both busy with their own work. Early that morning, Ignacio had gone running in the neighborhood. He returned as she was walking downstairs to make breakfast, his shirt wet with sweat and clinging to his broad chest. Tendrils of hair curled around his damp forehead in revolt against the elastic tying his hair back. She fought hard not to gawk at him, smiling briefly as she passed him on the staircase on her way to the kitchen.

In the afternoon, Maria arrived, and Ignacio introduced them to each other. She adored his housekeeper right away, a petite and plump Mexican woman with a friendly personality. Delta knew they would get along fine. Now she was here, however, Delta and Ignacio had to share the same bed.

“You can do this. No big deal,” she muttered to herself, smoothing a hand over the cornrows in her hair. She would release the braids in the morning to give her hair a wavy appearance during the interviews her publicist had set up.

With one final tug to straighten her ivory pajamas, Delta turned out the light and exited the bathroom, quietly closing the door behind her. The room was dark but not pitch black.

“I thought you had fallen into the toilet,” Ignacio remarked.

She paused to let her eyes adjust to the low light in the room. Then she padded over to the king bed. “I appreciate the concern, but as you can see, I didn’t.”

She saw him better now, with his arms folded behind his head, his biceps flexed and tufts of dark hair sticking out from his armpits.

How did he manage to look so sexy by simply lying on a bed?

“Pajamas. Those are cute,” he said.

“Thanks,” Delta replied, knowing full well he was making fun of her. She climbed under the covers.

“I don’t remember you wearing pajamas before.”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve slept in the same bed,” she reminded him. “Besides, the pajamas are a good idea. One of us needs to wear clothes.”

“I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this. You never had any problem being naked in bed after we made love.”

“That was different.”

Delta lay flat on her back and stared up at the ceiling. She had a feeling she’d have a hard time falling asleep.

“Are you ready for the birthday event at the Brockwells?” Ignacio asked.

“Almost. I have a couple of interviews tomorrow, and then I’ll spend the rest of the day practicing. By the way, we should probably post pictures of each other on our Instagram profiles.”

“I’m way ahead of you. My publicist has a few posts scheduled already. One of them is the photo Crystal took of the two of us eating in the kitchen. The other gives a partial view of the backyard.”

“Perfect. I was thinking about posting pictures of the house too. I might use one or two of the kitchen… maybe with a plate of fruit on the island andHome Sweet Homeas the caption. I don’t know. I’m never really good at those manufactured images. My social media manager will probably come up with something better.”

“Sounds good to me.”

It was strange talking in such clinical terms about how they planned to generate excitement from their followers.

They were both silent for a few minutes, and in the silence, Delta kept thinking about Ignacio being nude under the covers. The idea of him fully unclothed turned her on, and the fact that she wasn’t immune to him annoyed her.

She twisted her head in his direction. “Are you really naked under there?”

Ignacio shifted so he was also looking at her. “What’s the problem? I told you before that I still sleep naked.”

“There’s no problem. I was just wondering about your ass being in the sheets. That’s definitely your side of the bed from now on.”

“You should free yourself from the confines of clothes and let your ass be in the sheets too.”

“I’m good, thanks.”

His voice lowered with a hint of amusement. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were worried.”

“About what?” Delta demanded.

“Worried you might be tempted to come over here and molest me in the middle of the night.”

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