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“If we still work this well together… if the chemistry is still there after all this time… what did we do so wrong to throw it all away?”
Harper gives her a sad smile.
“I couldn’t tell you,” Harper replies.
Their faces are so close that Victoria only needs to lean in a couple of inches to touch her lips to Harper’s.
“We should go back,” Harper says, breaking the spell as she takes a step back. “And put some distance between us. Before this gets out of hand.”
Chapter 10
The hotel suite greets them with an overwhelming silence, broken only by the sound of their footsteps on the carpet. Harper takes off her shoes in the entryway without looking at Victoria and walks straight to the master bathroom. Her shoulders are tense, with the ghost of Serena Cole hovering between them and that rage threatening to shatter the fragile truce they’ve maintained in Los Angeles.
Victoria follows in her footsteps, driven by a primal instinct that has left her more analytical side speechless. When Harper crosses the bathroom threshold and approaches the sink to let her hair down and loosen the waist of her evening gown, Victoria slips inside. Spinning on her heels, she runs her hand along the heavy wood and closes the door.
Harper spins around. The mirror’s reflection illuminates her from behind, but her gaze locks with Victoria’s through the glass with breathtaking intensity. Her chest rises and falls rapidly.
Without uttering a single word, Victoria makes her way toward the spacious shower—a transparent cube of glass and volcanic stone that dominates the corner of the bathroom. She reaches out and turns the knob all the way. Water begins to gush out, and the heat fills the space almost instantly, creating a thin curtain of steam that starts to fog up the glass walls and the vanity mirrors.
“I thought we’d made it clear that this couldn’t happen again…” Harper murmurs.
But she can’t even remember when they’d discussed it.
“Then stop me,” Victoria challenges her, feeling the vibration of Harper’s pulse beneath her fingertips.
“That’s not what I want to do, damn it,” Harper snorts.
Harper doesn’t wait. She eagerly seeks out her mouth, capturing Victoria’s lips in a deep, wet, scorching kiss. Victoria grabs her by the waist, feeling the satin beneath her palm, and drags her into the shower, regardless of the consequences.
They cross the glass threshold, and the stream of hot water hits them full force.
The water pours over them with relentless force, soaking their clothes in a matter of seconds. Harper’s dress clings to her curves, becoming transparent and revealing every contour of her body; Victoria’s outfit grows heavy, darkening completely as the water runs down her bare back.
Harper’s hands tangle in Victoria’s hair, undoing her hairstyle.
Unlike the frantic encounter they had in the dressing room, their initial rage begins to dissolve beneath the weight of the water. The rhythm of their bodies changes. The haste gives way to more deliberate, slower caresses, imbued with eroticism and a vulnerability that leaves them completely exposed to one another.
Victoria presses herself against Harper’s soaked body, feeling the scorching heat radiating from her skin. Her hands slide down her ex-wife’s back, her fingers working until Harper’s dress slips down her hips, leaving her in her underwear.
Then Victoria’s tongue traces a wet line up to her collarbone, pausing at her shoulder. She nibbles gently on her flesh, listening to her breath catch.
“Victoria…” Harper gasps, arching her back against the wet wall, and reaches up with both hands to cup Victoria’s face, forcing her to look at her.
They stare intently at each other through the curtain of water. Harper’s eyes are dark, dilated with arousal.
“Undress me,” Victoria asks.
Harper helps her, freeing her from the fabric with unexpected gentleness. Her fingers brush against the skin of Victoria’s ribs, sending such an intense shiver through her that she has to clench her teeth to keep from moaning. The dress falls, joining Harper’s on the damp floor, leaving Victoria’s body exposed to her ex-wife’s hungry gaze.
Victoria watches her swallow as her eyes trace every inch of her drenched body. Water slides down Victoria’s chest, over her belly, dripping from the tips of her erect nipples. Harper reaches out a hand and, with a slowness that borders on torture, cups one of Victoria’s breasts, pressing her palm against her hot skin while her thumb caresses the hardened tip.
A low moan escapes Victoria’s throat, lost amid the roar of the water.
“You’re beautiful, damn it,” Harper murmurs. “You’ve always been the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Victoria grabs Harper’s wrists and presses her hard against the shower wall, wedging her thigh between her ex-wife’s soaking wet legs. Harper instinctively spreads her legs, pressing Victoria’s thigh against her center. Feeling the pressure, she lets out a moan that echoes through the bathroom.
Victoria begins to move her leg in a slow, steady rhythm, rubbing the wet fabric against Harper’s most sensitive spot.
