Letting Loose!

“Get up and get out!” She pointed at the door.

“No can do, unless you intend to help me out.” He sounded so matter-of-fact.

She cautioned herself to be calm, like him. This was no time to let her emotions rule her. “You need a hot towel placed on your back to loosen up the muscles? And then you’ll be able to get dressed and leave the room? I want to be very clear on what I need to do to get rid of you.”

“Some anti-inflammatory medicine would help if you have anything on you.”

“Massage therapist? Dancing girls? An eight-course meal brought in and fed to you with an after-dinner mint placed on the pillow?”

“I know, it’s a pain. This hardly ever happens anymore since I started strength training for my back. I probably shouldn’t have picked you up.”

“You call slinging me over your shoulder picking me up?” She laughed tauntingly. “Well, let me tell you, it’s hardly romantic, so you won’t have to do it again.”

“Don’t lie. You loved it. You were so hot I thought the sheets would catch fire.”

She pushed her hair back. How to argue when he was absolutely right? “I can’t help it if you’re such a loser you can’t lift your lover.” It sounded lame but it should at least put a dent in his ego.

“I’ll work up to the lifting part,” he offered.

“No way in hell. I’m not your lover anyway.” She stalked over to pick up her purse from where she’d dropped it on the floor, and then came back to sit on the edge of the bed while she rummaged through it. “I’ve got to have some anti-inflammatory in my purse.”

“Great.”

“Then you don’t need the hot towel?” She knew she sounded hopeful, but the nurse thing just didn’t appeal to her. There was no empathy in her soul, just impatience.

“I’ll be able to move as soon as the medication kicks in. I usually take the pills, and then I go back to sleep for an hour or so.”

She turned around and stomped into the bathroom, naked and too angry to feel awkward. She grabbed a towel and put it in the tub and then she turned on the hot tap full force. “I can’t believe this,” she muttered. “I can’t believe he lied to me. How could this have happened?” She watched the steam rise up from the running water with great satisfaction.

She’d sworn off Tyler after she’d been stupid enough to allow him to break her rule of no men at her home. Something about Tyler got under her skin. Well, she had no intention of dating a lawyer no matter how incredible the chemistry between them. The worst part was he seemed to want more than just sex.

Although the man was amazing at sex.

She wiped away the perspiration on her forehead from the steam rising up from the tub. The towel was going to melt if she didn’t get it out—which suited her purpose perfectly. She turned off the tap.

She reached down to touch the steaming towel and then drew away. “Ow.”

“Are you okay?”

“Just be quiet. Okay? I’m so angry with you right now. How dare you come back into my life when I specifically told you goodbye.”

“Jeez, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. I wanted you so badly I would have done anything to be the one you were looking at with that hunger on your face.”

She dropped the towel back into the tub with a satisfying splat. “Have you no pride?” she yelled. “There you are, a successful lawyer. Every woman in the field is trying to snag you. Yet you’ve been reduced to saying silly, sappy things to a woman who’s told you repeated times she doesn’t want anything to do with you. I should sue you for harassment—and use Beaterman as my lawyer while I’m at it.”

She managed to squeeze some of the excess water out of the towel by pressing the base of the bathroom trash can against the tub. Then she wrapped the towel in two other towels to avoid the prospect of the very hot water dripping on her naked body.

Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t bother to get dressed. And isn’t he going to be hot under the collar when I put this burning hot towel on his back?

“Beaterman’s an ass.”

“That’s exactly why I’d use him. He drives you crazy, and he’d bust your butt, just to impress me.” She eyed the steam coming off the towel. “This is really, really hot,” she warned him as she approached the bed.

“The hotter the better.” He grimaced again.

She felt her conscience kicking in. Too bad, since she felt like kicking him.

“No, I mean, it’s seriously hot.” She turned around just short of the bed to take it back and rinse it in cold water.

“I can stand a little heat, which is exactly why I’m still interested in you. Even if everyone tells me you’re a bitch. Even if they tell me you’re not someone to snag or bag. Even when you snarl at me.”

Tina turned around. Snarling.

“Well, you may have bagged me, but you certainly haven’t snagged me.” She leaned over the bed and dumped the hot towel directly on his back over the sheet.

Tyler made a sound, a cross between a moan and a grunt. He came up off the bed a few inches before falling back onto the bed. Those beautiful eyes actually rolled. “Damn. Damn. Damn!”

Were there tears in those incredible eyes or were they just watering? Tina didn’t know, but she felt like a murderer.

She dumped the towels she’d used to transport the hot towel, then grabbed a bottle of water from the minibar, opened it and poured the entire thing over his back.

His long ohhhhhh of relief made her sink down on the edge of the bed, still naked, vulnerable and now feeling guilty as hell.

“My ass is getting all wet,” she complained.

“So is mine,” he choked out.

“This isn’t going well.”

“That’s an understatement. I think you might have to call an ambulance—I think I’ve got second-degree burns.”

Guilt flared, though she didn’t let it show when she barked, “Let me see. You’re probably just being a big baby.” She pulled the wet sheet and sodden towel off his back. His skin was red under there, but she couldn’t see any blisters. “I’m sure you’ll feel fine after we rub some aloe vera on it.”

“Rub?”

“Yeah. I’ve got some in my purse. I intended to come early yesterday to lie by the pool, but there was a small crisis with the dinner, so I didn’t get a chance.”

“I don’t think I trust you to rub anything on me. It will probably be pure alcohol, not aloe vera.”

“I do have an entire minibar from which to choose my poison.”

“You are nasty.”

“A compliment. You must be cooling off.”

“Is the towel still warm? Just put it on my lower back. No rubbing.”

“I’ll rub if I want to. But don’t think that means I feel sorry for you. You’re the one who deceived me. I do not feel guilty.” She muttered the last part under her breath.