The Shifter Romances The Writer
She nodded as she stared up at him, trying not to let his touch befuddle her any more than it already had. “I’m fine.”
“Good.” His hands disappeared beneath the water to rest on her hips. “Because I’m going to kiss you now. Unless you tell me otherwise.”
A tremor ran through her. Maybe from the boldness of his words. Maybe from the anticipation of what he’d just told her he was about to do. Maybe from the weight of his hands on her body. Probably from all three. She shook her head, hoping he understood that meant she wasn’t going to tell him no.
He got it. He bent down and put his mouth on hers in a kiss that was strong and sweet and deliciously wicked. She was half-naked, kissing a half-naked man in his hot tub. Her neighbor. The cop. The very sexy cop.
The heat of the water steaming up around them only made the kiss more intense. Her head swam with dizziness, like she’d gotten up too fast. She hadn’t been kissed in a long time. And she’d never been kissed like this.
Her hands slipped up to his thick biceps, in part to hang on to something and in part because she very much wanted to touch him.
His body was gloriously hard. Warmer than even the water should have made him. She sank against him just a little, which was all she dared.
Alex’s kiss held no obligation, no sense of duty. It wasn’t a token of a lukewarm relationship, it was the branding of something new and needful. Something as hot and urgent as the kisses in the books she wrote.
Kisses she’d always thought were just fiction. But this, she suddenly realized, was a real-life romance novel kiss. She gasped at that thought, breaking the kiss.
He ground his teeth together as if he was trying not to lose control, causing his voice to rasp out of him. “I shouldn’t have done that. But I guess if I was one of your romance heroes, I wouldn’t care about what I should and shouldn’t do.”
She shook her head, still lost in the moment. “No, Wolfgang wouldn’t have stopped.”
His answer held a pang of regret. “But I’m not Wolfgang. And you’re not Marabella.”
Her mouth opened in surprise. “How do you know the names of my characters?”
He looked a little sheepish. “My mother. And…I started reading one of your books. But the point is, we’re neighbors. This can’t end well.”
“No?”
He smiled sadly. “I guess it can. If we end it now. I’m sorry, that was foolish of me and—”
“I didn’t stop you.” But she knew he was right. The last thing she needed was to get involved with another man before her divorce was even over. Especially one who lived next door.
He put a little space between them. “It was still my fault. Do you forgive me?”
She laughed it off with a sound that rang false even to her ears. “There’s nothing to forgive. It was just a kiss. Nothing more, right?” Except it had been so much more.
“Right.” He nodded, the sadness in his smile extending to his gaze. Then his smile widened, obviously forced. “I really don’t want this to be weird. I like you. I like being friends with you. But maybe that’s not possible between a man and a woman. Platonic friendship, I mean.”
“So you don’t have any female friends?”
“I do, but…” His gaze fixed on her, and the spark of interest she’d seen before returned. “None that I find as irresistibly sexy as you.”
She glanced down at herself. “Are you seeing the same things I’m seeing?”
He sighed and sat back down on his side of the hot tub. “I am. But apparently I have a much greater appreciation for them.”
She retreated to her seat, tucking her knees under her.
“What did your ex do to you to make you think so little of yourself?”
She blinked hard as sudden, unbidden tears welled. The fact that her emotions would choose this moment to turn on her made her laugh. She wiped at her eyes. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“He sounds like an idiot.”
She glanced at Alex. “I haven’t said anything about him.”
“Part of my job is profiling people. And for a man to have made a smart, talented, beautiful woman like you think that you’re somehow less than that, he had to be a controlling, narcissistic jerk who clearly didn’t appreciate you and most likely couldn’t handle being married to a woman who was more successful than he was.”
Her brows lifted slightly. Alex wasn’t far off.
He stood enough to lean over and grab the pitcher of lemonade. “Am I right?”
She nodded, then realized he wasn’t looking at her. Which gave her a chance to appreciate how fine he was this close up. “Yes.”
He refilled their glasses. “And that’s a big part of why you don’t want to get involved again, I’m sure.”
“Right again. At least, not until I’ve had a chance to figure out who the real me is. I’d rather it not be the me Thomas turned me into, but more like the woman I pretend to be when I’m at conferences and fan events. I want to be her all the time. I want to be that confident about every part of my life.”
He sat down and took a long drink. “I have to tell you, I don’t know what that woman is like, but the Roxy I know is pretty spectacular.”
“You’re very flattering.”
He shook his head. “I’m very truthful. And you probably haven’t heard a lot of truth from a man in a while.”