She stepped into the bathtub, parting thick, white bubbles as she sank into the water and sat down on the smooth surface. Fragrant bubbles soon covered her from chin to toes. She smiled as she leaned her head back against the tub. She didn’t know when she’d felt so happy with anticipation. Yes, she did know. She hadn’t felt this way since that early Christmas morning before the fire. She examined her feelings. She felt lighter—definitely lighter—as if she’d released a heavy burden that she hadn’t known she’d carried with her all this time.
Trey’s gift to her. Not just for Christmas, but forever. She felt her body fill with such raw emotion that it swept her breath away. Could Trey have so quickly and easily captured her heart? She blinked at the momentousness of the thought. If the answer turned out to be “yes,” would he give his own heart in return?
She closed her eyes, letting thoughts of Trey wash over her. Cowboy and firefighter. Tough and tender. Naughty and nice. She couldn’t imagine wanting anything more as she let images of Trey overtake her.
She didn’t realize she’d drifted off to sleep till she heard a knock on the closed bathroom door. She blinked and glanced around in surprise. Everything came tumbling back. And she felt amazingly good. Good enough, in fact, to feel excited by Trey’s presence while she wore nothing but her birthday suit.
“You decent?” Trey called.
“I’m wearing bubbles, if that’s what you mean,” she teased in a come-hither tone of voice.
“Something I’ve got to see.” He opened the door and stepped inside, carrying a mug in each hand.
“Yum.” And she didn’t mean the drinks. He looked and smelled good enough to taste, what with all his rugged masculinity on display.
“Wait till you taste test.”
“Can’t wait.” She stroked him with her gaze, from his still damp hair to his T-shirt to his tight jeans. Somewhere along the way, he’d kicked off his shoes. He had nice feet, long-toed and high-arched, although she’d probably never say that to his face unless she wanted to tease him.
He handed her a red mug imprinted with “Merry Christmas” in fancy gold lettering. He had another matching mug in green. He sat down and held his mug out to her. “Here’s to my Christmas angel.”
She clinked her mug against his own. “And here’s to my Christmas angel.”
They laughed together, and then each took a sip, watching the other over the rim of their mugs.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Sweet and tart.” Misty smacked her lips and took another sip. “Slade can certainly cook and brew.”
Trey chuckled. “That’s how he gets all the girls.”
“I thought that was bull riding.”
“Thing of the past.”
“I guess there are a lot of things that belong in the past.” She gazed thoughtfully at the deep crimson color of her wine. “You’re right.”
“I am?”
She glanced up at him. “I needed to let go of my painful past. Maybe I was clinging to it because that was all I had left of my parents.”
“You can still cherish their memory.”
“Yes, I understand that now.” She held out her mug toward him. “Thank you.”
“Glad I could help.” He gently touched her mug with his own. “Is this a promise to start anew?”
“Me? You?”
“Us.”
“There’s us?” She shivered in excitement at the thought, so she took a gulp of wine to warm her body.
“There better be.” He put his hand in her bathwater. “Cold. You should’ve told me.” He quickly set his mug on the countertop and stood up. “I don’t want you to get a chill. That’s speaking as a paramedic.”
She chuckled as she set her mug on the corner ledge of the big bath, knowing he was making excuses now.
“Let me warm you.” He grinned as he unfolded a big red bath towel with reindeer prancing along one edge. He held it up and out in front of his face and body. “Come on. Don’t lollygag.”
“You wouldn’t take advantage, would you?”
“Me?”
“You’re audacious.” She quickly stepped from the tub before he decided to peek and grabbed for the towel.
“Did you say bodacious?” He wrapped the towel around her body as he pulled her against his hard chest. “You want to give an audacious, bodacious cowboy plenty of time to take advantage.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at his teasing ways, but he’d sent her temperature soaring at the very touch of his hot body.
“Best dry you so you don’t catch a cold.” He held her still with one hand as he rubbed the towel up and down her back, moving lower and lower in an exaggerated erotic pattern.
“Little chance of that.” She felt a sizzle all over as he sensitized her bare skin with the rough towel, setting her nerve endings on fire. He cupped her butt with both hands, pulled her forward, and pressed his hardness against the most sensitive part of her. She moaned, desperate for the feel of his hard hands on her soft skin. She struggled to get free of the towel so she could touch him, needing to feel his skin under her fingers.