Page 6 of Enticing Her Love

“Yes! Stop looking!”

He sighed exasperatedly and belted his arm around her, crushing her against him and lifting her off her feet as he stepped closer to the shower. He snagged the towel and draped it around her.

“Thank you.” She secured it over her chest. “Can you please kill that spider?”

He pulled open the shower curtain and turned off the water. “You must have scared it away. I don’t see it.”

“What?” She peered around him. “Are you sure? It was right above the lever—”

“You mean that crack with the stain around it?” He pointed to a discolored spot on the wall the size of her hand.

“No. There was a spider.” Embarrassment consumed her as she searched the walls and ceiling for the damn spider she was no longer sure had even existed.

“Three days with you in the rainforest should be fun. Come on, Steele. You should get some sleep before you start seeing werewolves or vampires.”

“I’ll take Jacob or Edward in the rainforest over you any day.”

Chapter Three

FLYNN STARED UP at the ceiling listening to the rain falling outside the open window, trying not to think about how Sutton’s terrified scream had set off his protective urges. Or how the sight of her naked, and the feel of her in his arms, had made him damn glad she’d used all the hot water. But not thinking about those things was impossible, given that she was currently snuggled against him, using his chest as a pillow, one long leg resting on his thigh and her hand dangerously close to his all-too-interested dick.

Did she have to smell so fucking sweet?

A big-ass spider crawled into view on the ceiling. Fucking spider. This is all your fault.

He should have stayed on the couch, but it was about three feet too short, and the rain was exacerbating an old rock-climbing injury, making his shoulder throb. He was used to that painful annoyance and never let it slow him down, but sleep was essential to maintaining his mental fortitude while in the rainforest. Sutton had been sleeping so soundly when he’d gotten out of the shower that, an hour later, when he was still awake on the couch and she was snoring, he’d thought it was safe to slip onto the other side of the bed and catch a few winks. He hadn’t expected her to move a muscle, much less wrap herself around him like a koala to a tree.

Out of all the blondes in the world, why did he have to be so damn attracted to her? It made no sense. Nobody gave him as much grief as she did. She was tenacious as a tick, and she never withheld her opinion no matter how objectionable, but there was no escaping the physical attraction that had gripped him like talons the first time he’d lain eyes on her, and it had been pissing him off ever since.

He’d never forget the day the tall, slender smokeshow with porcelain skin and dainty features that were impossible to look away from had blown into their offices dressed to the nines like his sister’s old News Anchor Barbie, turning the heads of everyone in the place. Sutton had been confident, eager, and as green as a blade of grass. LWW was all about female empowerment, which was one of the reasons he’d chosen to work for them. He respected strong, smart women, like the women in his family, but Sutton’s first words to him—So, the lost boy found a home—had grated on his nerves. He’d been sure they had a diva on their hands who would be afraid to get her perfectly manicured nails dirty. He’d told management as much, but they’d been dead set on giving her a shot.

Sutton Steele had been trying his patience from that moment on, and now she was drooling on his chest.

She stretched, arching her back and purring like a cat. Her hand landed on his chest. He gritted his teeth against the feel of her delicate fingers trailing tentatively over his skin.

Her eyes flew open, and she shot up to her knees, her visual shock and anger hitting him like daggers. “What are you doing in my bed?”

Not what I’d like to be doing. Shoving that unwanted thought away, he wiped her spittle from his chest. “Getting drooled on. You might want to…” He touched the corner of his mouth.

Looking appalled, she swiped at her mouth. “Shouldn’t you ask before getting into a woman’s bed?”

“You were snoring, and you’d been hallucinating spiders. I thought you’d appreciate the sleep, not use me as a body pillow.”

She made an annoyed sound and climbed off the bed, breathing fire, and looking cute as hell in cotton sleeping shorts and a black tank top with Fueled by Facts and Coffee written in gold script across her chest. “You’re such an ass. That naked-spider incident was not an invitation.” She stalked into the bathroom and began furiously brushing her teeth.

“Get over yourself.” He rose to his feet. “I needed to sleep.”

She rinsed her mouth out and stalked into the bedroom. “I should get over myself?” Snagging her hairbrush from the dresser, she flipped her hair to one side, brushing it with a vengeance. “That’s rich, coming from Mr. Know-It-All.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You act like you’re some kind of Discovery Hour god and have all the answers.”

“And you think I don’t?”

She tossed her hairbrush on the dresser and planted a hand on her hip, her eyes blazing with challenge. “I think you’re a sanctimonious jerk who can’t stand the idea of me getting ahead.”

“You’d better hope this sanctimonious jerk has all the answers. I created this show from the ground up. The success of the program depends on me getting it right.” He stalked toward her, taking in the shock of that truth in her widening eyes. “I busted my ass and paid my dues, earning the right to hold this position, but you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? You got here because you were sorority sisters with the LWW founders.” The second the words were out, he regretted them. Even if they were true, exhausted or not, he knew better than to let her get to him and allow his patience to snap. Then again, she had a way of getting under his skin and causing him to forget a hell of a lot more than his manners.