by Jill Monroe
But no clothes were strewn across the tiles or piled in a corner. There were more used towels thrown in a heap on the bathroom floor, though. And the shower was wet. Rose-scented soap rested inside a dish, and he imagined rubbing that soap all over Hayden’s body. Her breasts, down her sides and over her ass. He squeezed his eyes shut and breathed through his mouth.
What the hell was the matter with him? He was supposed to be giving her space. Not fantasizing about her beneath the jets of the shower. With a final deep breath he opened his eyes and spotted one lone folded towel on a wooden shelf in the corner of the bathroom. He may not have any answers for Hayden—or himself—yet, but at least he could put her more at ease by covering up. He wrapped the towel around his waist.
Tony wouldn’t be surprised if she hadn’t already taken off. Bolted away from him as fast as she could given she was wrapped in nothing but a sheet. The idea filled him with panic. Had he already blown his chance to prove to her that he was a good guy? That whatever he had done, he could make it right for her? “Hayden?” he called.
“Yes?”
He blew out a breath of relief.
“No luck in finding our clothes in there?” she asked.
“No, just a couple of empty bottles of apple cider vinegar.” He opened the door. “That’s weird, right?”
“Maybe not. It’s kind of hip right now to rinse your hair with the stuff.” She made a sniffing sound. “Come to think of it, I smell it in the air.”
“So that’s what I’ve been smelling,” he said as he joined her. “Sweet and yet—”
“Almost too strong.”
“Exactly.”
She’d moved around the cabin as she waited for him and now stood in front of the large fieldstone fireplace, staring at the dark ash. They must have lit a fire last night, as warmth still emanated from the firebox.
“Looks like we’re in a cabin in the woods. I didn’t see a car out front. Or our shoes. I’m not sure how we even got here. But there’s the key,” she told him in a rush, angling her head toward a set of keys on a gold heart-shaped ring on a pink drop-leaf table.
He crossed the room to stand beside her. The softness of her shoulder brushed against his arm, but he would not be distracted.
“Do you see that?” Hayden pointed at something shiny in the cinders.
“Might be one of those metal hooks they put on clothes.”
“Yeah, and I think that’s the underwire from my bra.”
“Why would you burn your bra?”
“Exactly, not my generation.”
“Hmm?”
“Never mind. Bad joke.” Hayden shook her head. “I really have no idea. Ugh, and that was my favorite bra, too.”
“Aren’t all bras good?”
She gave him the side eye. “Some you like better than others. Some make your boo— You know, I’m not getting into this with you.”
“It’s just...my underwear’s my underwear.”
“If only we could find your underwear.”
He agreed that while the towel did cover the essential parts, it was still way too intimate.
“But honestly,” she glanced at the cooling fireplace again. “I bet they’re in there. Along with the rest of our clothes.”
“That could be the metal button on my jeans, and the thing in the back has to be the buckle to my belt.”
“And I think that’s the fastener on my sandals.” Hayden turned away from the fireplace and sat heavily on the flat fieldstones of the raised hearth. “I’m not going to panic about this. I’m not going to panic about this.”
“You do realize you’re saying that out loud?” he asked.
She lowered her head into her hands, and he felt an overwhelming urge to comfort her. To draw her into his arms and convince her that everything was fine. He stretched out against the flat rock of the fireplace, but the towel parted as he sat and the cold edges of the stones cut into his bare ass. Probably the one and only time in his life he wished he wasn’t naked beside a sexy woman.
“Hayden, believe me when I tell you, waking up beside a woman I don’t know is new for me, too. I can imagine not remembering scares the hell out of you.”
“No, I’m good,” she mumbled into her palms.
“Scares the shit out of me.” He scrubbed a hand over his stubbled chin. “I haven’t handled this right. You should be wary of a strange man in your bed. But I promise, I’m a good guy, and I’m going to figure this out.”
“We.” She sat up and squared her shoulders, and for the first time since waking up she seemed more relaxed.
“What?” he asked.
“We’re going to figure this out.” The barest hint of a smile touched her face, and his mouth dried. He’d give up his field mic to see that smile aimed at him.
She stood and began to pace in front of him. “Okay, so why would we burn our clothes? There has to be a logical explanation for it.”
“Destroying evidence?” he offered.
She stopped midstride and raised a brow at him. “That’s your first go-to idea?”
Tony only shrugged.
She continued with her pacing. “Maybe something got on them. Like a toxin or... No, we wouldn’t have burned them just so we could breathe in the fumes later when we started the fire. Or maybe burning our clothes is what made us lose our memory in the first place. All the synthetics in the fabrics...”
“Maybe we played Texas Burn ’Em. It’s like strip poker, but if you lose on the flop, turn or river, you have to burn an article of clothing.”
Hayden’s beautiful green eyes first widened then narrowed. “That’s not a real game. You’re just messing with me now. Besides I don’t know how to play Texas Hold ’Em.”
“Which is why your clothes are nothing but dust.”
“Yours are, too.”
“Well, I lost because I’m a gentleman like that.”
“Please try not to be charming.” More pacing. “I must have had too much to drink last night. I picked you up because I wanted to, and then burned our clothes in some mad fit of passion.”
“So now you’re the one who picked me up last night?”
She turned toward him, her gaze systematic. “Look at you—you’re the prototype of the guy every woman wants to pick up in a bar. Dark wavy hair, that crooked way you smile that’s both endearing and sexy, and c’mon, your body? Seriously, how many ab crunches do you have to perform in a day to get that six-pack?”
“I think I should be offended by that assessment.” But why? The woman had just complimented him. But despite having been fully conscious with this amazing woman for less than thirty minutes, he wanted to get to know her better. Explore all her soft curves and remember touching and tasting her this time. And he wanted her to smile at him once as if she wanted to be with him. He didn’t want her boxing him in as nothing more than abs, a smile and hair.
Out of nowhere, she made a gasping sound and raced for the bathroom. He surged up and followed her to make sure she was okay. Then he watched as she lowered the sheet and angled her head so she could see her back in the mirror above the sink. Dissatisfied, she shifted, spinning like a dog chasing its tail, alternating between trying to look at her back in the mirror and over her shoulder.
“What are you doing?” he finally asked.
“Checking for the tattoo.”
“What? Why?”
“Because that’s what people do in these situations, isn’t it? Pick up a guy, get a tattoo—it’s the crazy night bucket list.”
Sexy and funny. He was liking this woman more and more. “I have one thing to say about last night.”
“Oh?”
“Can’t fault my taste.”
Hayden stopped trying to play spot the tattoo and her gaze connected with his. There it was again. The blast of awareness. Her skin exposed above the sheet reddened. A tiny pulse point at the soft spot over her collarbone beat like a wild thing. How did he know her skin was soft? He just knew.
“Now it’s
weird,” she said, her voice low.
“You just told me my smile was sexy.”
The briefest of grins touched Hayden’s lips, and his heartbeat ratcheted up again because her smile was just what he wanted. “I’ve decided to roll with it,” she said.
Although it violated every instinct hardwired into him, Tony realized they had to find some clothes for her. Get her away from this cabin, the hot tub and the evidence of a wild night of sex. So he could start over.
Start over, and this time get it right and show her he could pull off being a white knight.
* * *
OKAY, SO WHAT really was the damage here? She’d just spent the most grueling semester balancing both a full school load and a job. It had taken her six years because she had to work so much, but in two weeks she’d be graduating. So apparently sometime last night she’d decided to cut loose and have a little fun. No harm, no foul.
Now she planned to roll with it right out of this cabin and back to reality. She was expecting an offer from one of Dallas’s largest engineering firms. But Hastings Engineering had cultivated a reputation of reliability and respectability. And Hayden had seen enough news stories about people being fired or having to wipe their social media accounts because of one accidental naughty message or naked selfie going viral.
Alarm swooshed through her. She was naked. She had a phone. She’d clearly indulged in something last night.
Don’t panic. You wouldn’t normally take a naked selfie, so chances are you didn’t last night. But still...
“We’ve got to find our phones, Tony. Now. And somewhere around here has to be our keys. I’m checking by the hot tub.”
“I’ll take the TV. Too bad this place doesn’t have a coffeemaker.”
Coffee sounded like heaven. Something that would take her mind off what may or may not be stored on the cloud right now that could torpedo her career before it even began. No, she had to find that phone. Hayden advanced on the hot tub as if it was a beast blocking her path to caffeine. The dark red heart-shaped tub lay recessed inside a wooden platform. Burned candles lined the tub. Good grief, they’d really gone for the romantic cliché. Hell, they hadn’t even bothered to drain the thing.
Too much of a hurry?
Hayden felt her cheeks burning and darted a glance toward Tony. Wrong move, because right now the towel was slipping and all she could see was his gorgeous ass. Maybe that wasn’t so bad. Because his ass was muscular and toned and a treat she wasn’t likely to enjoy again. Maybe she’d had the right idea last night.
If she were to put her new roll-with-it philosophy to the test, she could drop the bulky sheet at her feet. Cross toward him. Slowly trail her fingertips down the muscular slopes of his back...
Her nipples puckered against the sheet, and the tight hold she had on the restricting barrier slackened. An oh-so-heady, limb-loosening blast of desire rushed through her.
She whirled away from him. Sex with a stranger might have sounded like a good idea at one in the morning. But Hayden had only ever made love to a guy she cared about. Who cared about her. Could she have mind-blowing sex with a stranger? Apparently she had last night. But right now? In the cold light of day when it went against everything she believed at her core?
Tony’s not exactly a stranger, the daring side of her brain reminded her. That side of her had been quiet for so long, beaten down by long hours in the library and physically exhausting work in the restaurant that paid her tuition and rent. She couldn’t afford a mistake. Not at this point in her life when she was about to make all the dreams for her future now her reality.
Something silver and shiny winked in the sunlight. She pushed one of their discarded red towels aside with her toe to get a better view. It was her favorite hoop earring. She dropped to the floor to pick it up. An inexpensive high school graduation gift from her grandmother, but it was priceless to Hayden. She scooted around the floor trying to find the other earring. She could not roll with losing those.
Bingo! There it was. She stretched to reach it.
Tony made a strange choking sound just as she thankfully grabbed the cold metal hoop.
“What?” she asked. Maybe she should be asking what now?
“The sheet shifted when you started crawling on the floor, and...I think I found your tattoo.”
Hayden’s stomach tightened. “Seriously? But I didn’t see—”
“It’s in a spot, uh, not easily noticed.”
The fact that Tony appeared completely uncomfortable was a point in his favor. Hayden took a deep breath. After all, she’d been perfectly resigned to a tattoo five minutes ago. Yeah, perfectly.
“Okay, tell me quick, like you’re ripping off a bandage. Butterfly, flower or heart?”
“Dragon.”
“As in cute, puffy smoke or...?”
“Scales and flame. Medieval. Kind of fierce.”
Hayden collapsed against the smooth wood of the hot tub’s platform. So much for rolling with it. She began to laugh. “I’ve always heard tattoos were painful, but I’m not even tender.”
A quick two-rap knock on the door startled them both and a voice sounded from the other side. “Good morning, it’s Betty from last night.”
“Betty?” she mouthed at Tony. His shrug said he had no recollection, either.
“I have your breakfast,” Betty said.
“Open the door,” he whispered to Hayden as he raced for the bathroom and shut the door. Her stomach had rumbled at the mention of food, so any kind of I’m-literally-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo meltdown would just have to wait. She tightened the sheet under her arms and made for the door.
A smiling, kind-eyed lady greeted her from the other side of the door. The sun shone brightly behind her and a light breeze ruffled her hair. Birds sang their morning songs in the trees. It was that perfect kind of day that always seemed to spring up when your personal life was completely out of whack.
“I have your breakfast basket right here. Biscuits and gravy, pumpkin spice muffins and a carafe of coffee.”
Yes!
She had about a million questions for this woman. But they could wait until after she was dressed. And fed. And without a gorgeous man in her field of vision.
Betty gave her a little smile and leaned in close. “I see the clothes I left for you last night are still here on the porch, so I’ll just hand you the basket.”
Hayden couldn’t hide her cringe. Betty looked as if she could be Hayden’s grandma’s younger sister, and Hayden felt as if she’d been caught doing something very, very wrong. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. What must this kind woman think of her?
Of course when she considered this situation rationally, a stranger’s opinion shouldn’t bother her. You don’t live for others; you live for yourself.
Blah blah blah. Hayden understood all about the validation trap. That didn’t mean she could shake it off easily. It bothered her that Betty assumed Hayden had been apparently way too intent on the man in her bed last night to even employ the ten seconds it would take to grab a bag of donated clothes.
Nothing like that would ever bug the other young women in her engineering classes. But then, most of them hadn’t been raised by grandparents who seemed old-fashioned even to people of their own generation. In a word, she was mortified.
Betty’s voice lowered. “Sorry again about not being able to find a bra in your size, but there’s an extra cami in the pile so you can layer.” Then she flashed Hayden a comforting smile and the embarrassment and awkwardness churning inside her vanished.
Hayden loved Betty in that moment. The woman would be in her will. If she ever wrote a book, it would be dedicated to her. But coffee or clothes, which was more important?
“Thanks,” she gushed to their host as she took the basket.
Betty handed her the small mesh grocery bag with the clothes that had been left for them the night before. “Bill has your car down by our cabin. He’s gotten most of the smell out, but, you know, hum
ans never win when they face a skunk.”
“Huh? Oh, yes, so true.”
“But it was so sweet of you to save the dog, although it wouldn’t have been the first time he’s lost a battle with a skunk, too.” Betty turned to leave. “Oh, and checkout was at noon. But since you guys didn’t get here until after ten last night, and we don’t have any other bookings, feel free to stay until two.”
Hayden closed the heavy oak door and leaned her head against the smooth wooden surface. Then she realized she’d missed the opportunity to find out more from the woman. “I was going to ask so many questions,” she mumbled.
“You still can,” Tony said as he emerged from the bathroom, still looking as gorgeous as when she’d woken up in his arms. Still same towel low on his hips. Surely that bag contained some sanity-saving pair of pants he could wear.
Still, she couldn’t handle any more conversations with Mr. Should Be a Model for Pec and Ab Magazine. She thrust the sack of clothes into his hands.
“You can get dressed first,” she offered, sounding way too cheerful and helpful.
A small smile played about those beautiful lips of his. Did he suspect she wanted, no needed him to be covered?
The attraction she had to this man was puzzling. Hayden didn’t believe in love at first sight. Not even love after six months. But she did believe in possibilities. And pleasure. And she knew the man leaning against the wall could give her both.
“Hayden?” Something heated and primal flickered in his dark gaze. Her heartbeat slowed. He pushed off the wall with his shoulder and crossed toward her.
Beat.
A shaft of sunlight blazed across his magnificent body, and she noticed the word fearless tattooed across his bicep.
Beat.
He stopped a foot away, towering over her. Big. Strong.
Beeaaatttt.
Her breath hitched and his eyes narrowed at her gasp.
“Do I frighten you, Hayden? Say the word and I’m out of here.”
She was all kinds of afraid of how he made her feel. But no, that wasn’t what he’d asked. She shook her head.