Page 37 of Need Me
“You have such a soft heart, BrookeCarpenter.”
Her warm smile heated him everywhere and he turned away before she saw the effect she had on him burning or no burning man-parts.
Going into his room, which was a disaster at the moment, he grabbed a pair of boxers and went back to the bathroom. Brooke had shut off thewater.
“I’ll leave you to it.” She sat a small jar of cream on the counter. “A little bit of that goes a long way, so don’t slather iton.”
“Okay. Thanks, Brooke,” Robertsaid.
“You’re welcome, sweetie. Now, you get your bath. I’m going to order us a pizza,” she said. “I haven’t had dinner yet and I’mstarving.”
“You’restaying?”
“If that’s all right withyou?”
He was thrilled but played it cool. “Of course, itis.”
“Good. Get in thattub.”
Robert saluted her and she smiled as she left the room. He shut the door, undressed and got in the tub. The cool water made him sigh with relief. Leaning back in the tub, he thought that an allergic reaction had a silver lining since Brooke was going to stay fordinner.
* * *
The credits rolledat the end of the second old black and white horror movie that Brooke and Robert had watched. They sat on his couch, finishing bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream and laughing at the cheesy special effects. Robert was feeling much better and he was grateful toBrooke.
She sat her empty bowl on the coffee table and stretched her arms high over her head. The action lifted her breasts and she saw Robert follow their movement. It gave her a little thrill that he was payingattention.
His eyes darted away when she looked at him and she smiled. “Thank you for such a niceevening.”
“Thank you for coming to myrescue.”
“Happy to do it.” Brooke knew that she should leave since she had to be up early for work, so she forced herself to rise. “Well, I have to headout.”
Robert got up with her. “Okay. Be careful going home. Just so you know, I didn’t mention to anyone that you spent the night lastnight.”
That brought Brooke up short. “Whynot?”
“Well, we share the same friends, which kind of makes it hard to have privacy sometimes, and I just didn’t think that it was anyone’s business but ours.” His smile made her stomach do a little flip. “They’d have grilled us about it, and I didn’t want to answer those kinds ofquestions.”
She returned his smile. “Same here. There are some things that are just betweenus.”
“Mmhm.”
Her eyes widened when his gaze turned seductive as he closed the distance between them. He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her close. His skin was fragrant from the oatmeal bath and it was a surprisingly sexyscent.
Slowly, she trailed her hands over his shoulders to his chest. His solid muscles felt so good and she couldn’t resist caressinghim.
He lowered his head to brush a kiss to her forehead, then dipped it lower to lightly kiss her lips. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” he murmured. “I’m not feeding you a line, either. I was attracted to you that first time I saw you atEmily’s.”
“Why didn’t you ask me out?” Brooke inquired. “I’d have saidyes.”
“Really?” He smiled against her mouth. “I’m kicking my ass that I didn’t. Why didn’t you ask meout?”
Brooke’s cheeks grew warm. “I didn’t think you were interested. But maybe I needed a bit of courage. I’m so pleased I asked you out at thehospital.”
“You did ask me out, didn’t you?” His hands roamed up her back and Brooke’s pulse skipped. “Not interested? I was definitelyinterested.”
“I guess we wasted a lottime.”
