SEALed with a Kiss

She stopped. “Wait … what? Really?”

He looked chagrined. “When they had the safe sex talks in school, I paid attention.” He entwined his fingers with hers. “Plus, being the youngest of six kids, I’m not too eager to add to the Thanksgiving dinner table. I still eat at the kiddie snack trays in the basement.”

“Wait, what?”

“Well, second kiddie table. We’re all in our twenties. There’s a third table for the under-twenty set. We’re a big family.”

Her jaw dropped open. “Six? We all assumed you had no family. I’ve never heard you talk about any of them.” Rachel would have called those words back if she could.

They underscored how little she knew about the man. How little she’d tried to get to know him.

Riley shrugged. “Navy gave me the chance to be my own man. I wasn’t Mike and Nick’s kid brother or the little boy who had to be watched by his older sisters. Besides, once one story comes out, others follow. Soon I’ll be popping out the baby pictures of my nieces and nephews,” he told her with a mock shudder.

Rachel laughed, as she knew he meant her to. Yeah, proud uncle didn’t really fit with Riley’s image. Or rather the image he worked to portray. She needed to tread carefully here or she’d find herself growing more curious about the man, and therein lay danger. “I always wanted to grow up in a big family. Seemed like so much fun.”

“Well, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. My mom only had time to put my name and birthday in my baby book. I don’t even think there’s my weight and length.”

Rachel frowned. “That sounds kind of sad.”

He tugged her flush against his body. “Hmm, you can show me all the sympathy you want in the shower. I have big plans for you in there.”

4

RILEY INDEED HAD AMAZING plans for her in the shower the next morning. Rachel had never felt so clean … or so dirty. They were both good.

After turning off the water, Riley grabbed a towel from the warming rack and handed it to her. Really …

who had a warming rack in San Diego? Rachel blotted the water from her face. She and her sister should definitely consider warming towel racks as an investment in The Sutherland. The sensation was pure decadence.

“I can’t get over how nice and big your bathroom is,” she told him as she dried off with the thick warm towel. “I don’t imagine you often see something quite this roomy in condos.”

Since moving back home, it seemed her eye was trained now to be on the lookout for possible renovation ideas. She admired everything from the double sink marble countertops to the travertine floor. Nothing had been spared on this bathroom.

“The previous owner before me did the remodel,” he told her as he reached for a towel for himself. “Tore down a wall, and took out some of the square footage of the guest bedroom to add that jetted tub and this two-

person shower.”

A two-person shower she enjoyed the hell out of with Riley. The body spray faucets soothed her skin with cool streams of water. Heated from his kisses. His hands. His tongue. Combine that with Riley rubbing and sloshing soap all over her body … she could handle plenty of those showers.

She gave a little wistful sigh as she spotted his whirlpool bath. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind the loss of a little walking room if I had a tub like that,” she told him, wrapping the towel around her sarong style.

“Well, you’re welcome to come and use mine anytime from now on,” he told her with a wink. He stepped onto the bath mat, then made a beeline for the counter.

From now on … That was the second time Riley had casually mentioned a future beyond this weekend. Luckily she knew he didn’t mean it, only as a figure of speech. Otherwise that little throwaway comment of his would be enough to make her heart go pitter-patter.

“Mind if I shave?” Riley asked, rubbing the steam off the mirror over the sink with his forearm.

Huh, why would she mind? She planned to have that newly smoothed cheek of his in places that would prefer a smooth cheek. “Mind if I watch?”

His hand stopped midair. “Okay, never thought of shaving as erotic, but when you said that just now, it made me hard.”

“I’m beginning to think most anything makes you hard,” she told him, meeting his gaze in the mirror.

“Only with you,” he said with a wink. Then he tugged on the bottom of the mirror revealing a medicine cabinet filled with all the routine items Riley used. Routine yes, but being in here, showering together, watching him get ready for no other reason than the pleasure of watching this man … felt very personal.

Even more so than making love.

Which was absurd.

Riley began layering lather on his face. The smell of menthol and mint mixed with sandalwood filled the steamy room. Rachel breathed in deep, knowing that no matter what else ever happened to her, she’d always associate that sexy scent with Riley.

He ran some water in the sink, and she balanced herself on the edge of the tub, ready to enjoy the show.

Riley had tucked the towel around his hips. He’d missed a few droplets of water, which still lingered on the smooth skin of his back. His sculpted shoulders were a work of art, his spine lined with lean muscles. She’d never been with a man so fit. His every muscle honed and fine-tuned, ready for action. For a moment she daydreamed about stalking over to him and removing those water droplets with her tongue.

Instead she decided to make inane conversation. “I’ve always thought I’d knock down the wall between my bedroom and bathroom. A bigger closet would be a dream come true. The Sutherland was designed long before there was a real appreciation for an en suite bathroom.” Utilitarian was the overall theme for the structure.

“So … do it,” Riley said, rinsing his razor in the sink, then taking another swipe along his jawline.

And that right there probably summed up Riley Wilkes’s entire philosophy about life. Where she liked to wait, see how things went, figure out her next move three steps ahead, Riley charged right in, ready to tackle all and everything.

“How long have you been thinking about it?” he asked, his eyes meeting hers in the mirror.

Since she was fifteen. “Uh … a little while. Not long.”

Riley shrugged. “Find out if the wall is load bearing, look at your designs for any wires or plumbing and cut the power. After that is the fun part.”

“Picking out the paint color?” she asked with a smile.

He shook his head. “Knocking that sucker down.”

Rachel laughed. Of course Riley’s favorite part would be the messy stuff.

“I can help. I did my fair share of demo and dry-

walling.”

“Where were you last year when The Sutherland looked like a mess?” she teased.

A line formed between his brows. “The place looks great.”

The Tea Room of The Sutherland had once been the place to host everything from baby showers to weddings. That was until the management company she and her sister had hired drop-kicked their once-beautiful banquet hall into ruin.

“It does now. I had to wash over two hundred individual pieces of crystal chandelier by hand. And don’t get me started on the wainscoting.”

“I’m not even sure I know what that is,” he told her without a hint of embarrassment at his lack of knowledge.

Strange. In her work experience, a man not familiar with something was a sign of weakness. Maybe it had to do with the way marketing departments worked. You had to be the authority. You had to have confidence to sell an item to people who didn’t need it. A special kind of swagger.