Shiver

and then read a chapter in their new book to him, she stayed with him until he fell asleep and then emerged, yawning, into the hall. Except for being barefoot, she was still fully dressed, in the jeans and tank she had been wearing all day, with her hair still in its single fat braid that fell over her shoulder now. What she was looking forward to doing next with an eagerness that bordered on greed was soaking in a hot bath before falling into bed.
    That required use of the second bathroom, because the bathroom off the master bedroom only had a shower stall.
    Of course Marco would be emerging from that bathroom at precisely the same moment as she stepped out of Tyler’s room. Looking big and broad shouldered and way too hot for her peace of mind, he was once again wrapped in the white robe, wearing nothing else that she could see (although hopefully he had boxers on under there somewhere). Just the sight of him(un)dressed like that brought a whole raft of sizzling images to her mind that she kicked out at once.
    Scowling at him, she would have passed on by without a word—although it was slightly difficult getting past him when, on crutches, he took up most of the hall—but he reached out and caught her arm, stopping her.
    Her eyes snapped up to meet his. He smiled at her. She absolutely distrusted everything about that smile.
    “Got a minute?” he asked.

CHAPTER NINETEEN
     

     
    T he correct answer to that question where he was concerned was no. A thousand times no.
    What Sam said was a truculent, “What?”
    “Something I need to know?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Seriously. She didn’t. But she did know that she didn’t want to talk to him at all. Especially not now, when he was obviously just out of the shower and half naked and she couldn’t keep her heartbeat from quickening or her body from tightening with excitement stoked by absolutely nothing at all except memories and his proximity. Who would have thought that the smell of soap and toothpaste could turn her on so? But it did. At least, when it was associated with him.
    When she tried to pull her arm free, he leaned toward her, crowding her back toward the wall. His chest brushed her breasts. His pelvis nudged hers. She could feel the whole long length of him corralling her, trapping her, and knew that he was doing it deliberately. His body heat surrounded her, makingher feel hot in turn. Suddenly she was finding it harder to breathe. Stubble that was way past five o’clock shadow darkened his chin; doing a lightning mental recap of the last few days, she was pretty sure he hadn’t shaved since she had met him. His eyes were dark and slightly bloodshot, but alert. His hair was damp, and a few tiny drops of water from his shower still beaded his skin.
    Sam couldn’t help it; her pulse started to race.
    “Do you want something?” She kept her cool, kept her chin up, and kept her voice low so as not to wake Tyler as Marco backed her all the rest of the way up against the wall until she was totally pinned in place by his weight.
    “Oh, yeah.”
    Their faces were so close that she could feel his breath feathering her cheek. One crutch slid down the wall to hit the carpet with a soft thud as he let it go. The other stayed upright, propped against the wall beside her, but he was no longer using it. Instead he was favoring his injured leg but standing on his own, preventing her escape by absolutely misusing his superior size and strength. He wrapped a muscular arm around her, snaking it into the space between the wall and the hollow of her back, pulling her hard up against him. Then he started to grope her butt. Squirming at the surprise of it, wedging both hands against the solid wall of his chest and shoving, she didn’t manage to either extricate herself or budge him by so much as an inch. Injured or not, the man was strong.
    The bad news was, she discovered that she liked being plastered up against him. And she liked the feel of his hand on herbutt. Way too much. Her body tightened deep inside in the most pleasurable way possible. OMG, I can’t let him know.
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she growled in pure self-defense. Only after she said it did she realize that she wasn’t shoving at him any longer. Instead her hands had fisted in the front of his robe and were gripping the thick toweling for dear life.
    “What do you think I’m doing?”
    Her pulse pounded. Her breathing quickened.