"I will come to you in the bathroom."
So what if I'm avoiding her question? I can't let my libido run my life anymore. Since it's a recent problem that started the night before last, I should have no trouble quashing the impulse.
Emery undoes the belt on her robe and lets the terry cloth fall open, exposing her naked body.
Aye, I could quash the impulse until she did that.
My focus snaps to her breasts. Control the lust, don't let it control you. I inhale a deep breath, and my body relaxes as I exhale it slowly. My gaze wanders down to the hairs between her thighs, though I hadn't meant to look there. I clear my throat. "Have your bath, Emery."
"I'll do that, Rory."
My voice sounded rougher when I told her to have a bath. My throat must be dry.
Her robe flutters around her as she spins on her heels and sashays into the bedroom.
I watch her hips swaying and that erse shimmying until she moves out of sight.
For the next five minutes, I force myself to focus on finishing the documents I need to create so I can get what I want without risking anything. Aye, that sounds like a one-sided deal, but I will offer Emery a hefty inducement. I shouldn't want to do this. It's ridiculous, but I can't back out now. Never in my life have I given up because a case proved challenging. Emery isn't my opponent in court, but I must treat her as if she were. It makes sense—to me.
Once I've polished my documents, I head into the bedroom to find Emery. As I approach the closed bathroom door, I hear odd noises coming from inside. It sounds as if she's breathing hard and grunting while water splashes around her.
I rap on the door.
"Yes?" she says, sounding out of breath.
"May I come in?"
She hesitates. "Yeah, come on in."
I swing the door inward and step into the bathroom, halting beside the tub. And all the blood in my body floods down into my groin. Emery lies in the jacuzzi, amid a swirling current of bubbles, with her arms draped on the tub's rim and her legs stretched out.
The lass is naked.
Of course she is, ye eejit. She's taking a bath.
Last night, I might've acted like a bampot when Emery tried to undress in front of me. This morning, however, I feel no such panic. Not a lunatic after all. I sweep my gaze over her body and feel my lips trying to tighten into a smile, but I prevent it from becoming anything more than a slight curving of my lips. Can't have her thinking I want her so much that she can renegotiate the terms I intend to offer her.
I run a fingertip along the tub's rim, imagining it's her skin I'm touching. "Enjoying the amenities?"
"Absolutely." She raises one knee, moving it about so the water splashes high enough to lap at my finger. "What's the point of staying in a luxury hotel if you don't avail yourself of its pleasures?"
I tilt my head to the side, unable to stop my gaze from flicking down to the hairs between her thighs, visible every time her knee moves to the right. Bod an Donais, I want her right now. But I never enter into a negotiation from a position of weakness. So I stare at the opposite wall instead, though my eyes insist on stealing glimpses of her nude body.
"Out of the tub, please," I say gruffly. "I need to speak with you."
"We can talk here." She braces her ankle on the tub's rim, poking my leg with her dainty toes. "Hop on in."
"No thank you." I lean my leg against the tub and fold my arms over my chest. "I will wait for you in the dining room."
She feigns a pout. "You're no fun."
"Yes, I stipulate that fact."
Emery squints at me for a moment as if she can't quite figure me out. Good. I don't want her to understand me. The agreement I mean to present to her does not require the lass to like or understand me.
She lifts her leg, stretching her toes as she tries to reach my arm, without success. Instead, she wiggles her toes in the air near my hip. "I'd rather have a conversation in this tub. I think better naked."
I choke on a panicked laugh that I barely manage to squelch. "I rather doubt it. Even if it's true, I will not think properly while naked in a tub with you."