Arching one eyebrow at her, he tossed his shirt toward the corner and then stood there, feeling a bit ridiculous.
“Damn, you look good,” she said.
The open admiration in her eyes as she looked at him made him feel ten feet tall. He rubbed his hand over his chest. And then flexed his muscles for her. He heard her intake of breath. And suddenly all those reps he did at the gym were worth it. He worked out because he lived in South Beach and owned a very successful business. He wasn’t about to have a photo of himself looking like a sloth turn up anywhere. But knowing she liked his body gave him another reason to do it.
“Your turn. I want to see your...muscles.”
She laughed. “I did help unload a beer delivery this afternoon, so I think my arms are looking a little buffer than usual.”
He frowned. “Why are you unloading anything? Harry should know better.”
“He does. He was pissed when he got there. But the delivery guys weren’t our usual ones and they were piling the beer in the sun...no one else was there. Harry ripped them a new one and they apologized to me.”
Good. Still, Rafe didn’t like that she’d had to deal with those guys. She should be pampered while she carried his child.
She pulled the Shady Harry’s T-shirt up over her head and he immediately noticed her breasts swelling around the sides of the cups of her bra. She reached behind her back and unhooked the bra and let it slid down her arms and onto the floor. Her nipples looked bigger and a darker shade of pink than he remembered. Signs of the changes his baby was having on her body. She skimmed her hand down to her stomach and he noticed just the smallest bump there.
She unhooked her jeans and pushed them down her legs with her panties. And just like that, she was standing there naked.
He touched the image on his phone and realized that seeing her like this was a double-edged sword. He wanted to be there with her.
And that’s when he came to his decision. He was going home first thing in the morning. He didn’t care what the parliament thought; he needed to be back in Florida with Emily. Even if it was just for a few days.
“Dammit, Red. You get more beautiful each time I see you naked.”
She blushed, and he observed that the color started at the top of her breasts and swept up her neck to her cheeks. She shook her head. “I had to unbutton my jeans at work tonight. It’s not like they are too tight...well, okay, they are, but it was uncomfortable for the first time.”
“I can see the little bump,” he said. He traced his finger over her body on the screen. The changes were small, but this was their child making itself known in their lives. Well, mostly hers as of right now. He was missing out.
“I see a little bump in your pants as well,” she said with a wink.
He guessed she didn’t want to talk about the pregnancy, and he let her change the subject. “Little? Woman, look again.”
He undid his pants and carefully shoved them down his legs until he stood there naked. He heard her sharp intake of breath and then her wolf whistle. She was good for his ego. And she kept things light. Was he ever seeing the real woman?
“Not so little.”
“Not around you,” he said.
“I didn’t mean for this to be phone sex,” she said.
“I never mean for it to turn into sex with you, but damn, Red, you turn me on like no one else ever has.”
She smiled at me. “I feel the same. But I smell like the bar.”
“Not to me. To me you smell like Florida sunshine and a day at the beach.”
She walked over to the tub with the phone, her heart-shaped face filling the screen. Her eyes were sparkling, and unless he missed his guess, she was happy. While he might not think happiness was a good goal for every second of his life, he was glad to see her smiling.
She propped her phone up on the ledge of the tub and then climbed in. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the pillow she had there. The edges of her long hair fell into the water. She looked like his mermaid.
His.
He climbed into his tub, balled a towel up behind his head. The water felt hot and luxurious against his sensitive skin.
“This is nice. But I’m always by myself,” she said.
“Me, too.”
“Even in that crowd that’s always with you?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“If I was there, I’d climb in behind you and rub your shoulders,” she said. “You seem stressed.”
“I’d like that. But only because I’d feel your naked breasts against my back.”
“Maybe I’d lean over you and kiss your neck. Nibble on your earlobe. I know you like that, too.”
He stretched his legs to make room for his growing erection and rubbed his hand over his own chest. He wished she were here so he could touch her. But his imagination was doing a good job of filling in the gaps.