The bathroom had a huge cast-iron claw-footed tub circled by a shower curtain on a stainless-steel rail suspended from the ten-foot ceiling. This room he’d finished, down to the white pedestal sink and a floor-to-ceiling cabinet in the corner. A sturdy antique chair sat beside the tub, a couple of clean, folded towels on the seat. His toothbrush and toothpaste were in a china cup on the rim of the sink. She suspected the beveled glass mirror hid a medicine cabinet.
More perfect, except that he had left the rooms so plain.
“No art,” she observed.
A shift of air told her he’d shrugged. “Maybe someday. Or maybe I’ll get bored once I’m done and decide to turn the house and start over with another one.”
That brought her around. “You can’t!”
One side of his mouth curled up. “Why not?”
“Because… For heaven’s sake! You must have put years of hard work into it. And it’s perfect.”
His smile disappeared as he searched her face. “I’m glad you think so,” he said in the voice that undermined her defenses.
They did nothing but look at each other for a minute. Her skin felt…stretched. She had a very bad feeling her nipples had tightened. And, even though she wouldn’t let her gaze lower, she knew he had an erection. Still, he didn’t touch her.
Instead, he backed out into the hall again and gestured her ahead.
One more bedroom, this one also featuring faded, undistinguished wallpaper and worn floor. The smell of sawdust was growing sharp in her nostrils. There were two doors remaining on her left. One leaned against the wall, leaving the doorway itself open. It had been yet another bedroom, of course; she tried to distract herself from Noah by trying to imagine life here with a family large enough to require five bedrooms and yet having only one bathroom upstairs. A family a hundred years ago might have had kids doubled up in some of those bedrooms, too, it occurred to her. The morning rush must have been a battleground. She hadn’t seen the downstairs bathroom, but guessed it was no more than a powder room.
She stepped in and saw from the ceiling and floor where the wall had been demolished. A heap of dusty plasterboard and old studs still needed to be hauled out, too.
Beyond, of course, was where Noah slept. An antique dresser now held a fine layer of white dust. An old sheet protected a dark comforter on the king-size bed that dominated a room really too small for a bed that big.
“So what’s the plan?” she asked, voice a little too high.
He had followed her, footsteps silent.
“Second bathroom, walk-in closet. I thought about ripping out yet another wall to make this bedroom bigger, but…” He shrugged.
He didn’t want a family, but he did want a family home. Did he recognize his own dichotomy? Gathering lines on his forehead made her wonder.
But then those vivid blue eyes speared hers. “Cait,” he said gruffly. Just that. Cait.
She trembled. This was the last thing in the world she ought to do. No men, remember? Didn’t work out so well last time. Remember that? And, oh, yes, this man was her boss, which meant she was endangering her new life only because she was overcome with lust.
She prayed this hunger to touch him, rub up against him, feel his hands and lips on her, was only lust.
“I…” She squeaked and stopped.
He swore and stepped forward, close enough to touch but didn’t. “You know I want you.”
Cait bobbed her head. Hard to miss, no pun intended.
“You can say no.”
She nodded again.
Frustration crossed his face. “I need to hear you acknowledge out loud that you know there will be no repercussions on the job if you say no. Or yes. Either way, this is separate.” He huffed out a breath. “Maybe you don’t know me well enough to be sure—”
“I do.” He’d come to her rescue over and over, no hesitation. He’d repeated over and over again, “You are not to blame.” He had to be the single most confident man she had ever met. He would never lower himself to pressuring a reluctant woman for sex. For heaven’s sake, women probably offered themselves to him on a daily basis! “I know this only has to do with us,” she said almost steadily.