“And stupid.” She rolled her eyes, finished off her beer. “Save it. I was naive. So very naive to think a player like you would fall in love with a nerd like me.”
“Goddammit, I did—” Jude half rose out of the tub, but caught himself and bit off whatever he’d been about to say. He sank back into his seat, swiped up his beer bottle, and drank the remaining contents on one breath. “Maybe I’ve changed.”
“Doubt it.”
“What do you want me to say?” he asked with a hint of defeat in his tone. “That I didn’t sleep with anyone after you? That I didn’t date? Of course I did. It’s been eight years, and I’m not a monk. There were men after me, weren’t there?”
She didn’t want to tell him the truth and took a sip of her beer to stall.
His brows drew together, a crease forming between them. “Weren’t there?”
Her throat tightened. “One night with a guy in law school.”
Silence fell between them, filled with the hum of the hot tub’s jets.
God, she shouldn’t have told him that. Worse, she shouldn’t be jealous of all his nameless, faceless lovers. But as ridiculous and illogical as it was, it hurt to think that he had enjoyed sex with other women when her one attempt after him had been a miserable failure. Dammit, she wanted the pleasure he’d so freely given other women.
Just once.
“You owe me.” The declaration popped out without her consent, her mouth acting before her brain fully processed the thought. But what the hell? Despite the impulsiveness of the idea, it was a good one. She could work out all of her sexual frustration tonight, on her terms, before it bubbled over into something uncontrollable and dangerous. Maybe he wouldn’t even be as good as she remembered, and then she could erase the past eight years and start fresh.
“You. Owe. Me,” she repeated, enunciating each word.
His brows lifted. “I do?”
“Oh, yeah. You may not have been celibate, buddy, but I damn near was. It was supposed to have been just the two of us for the rest of our lives, but you took that from me. You robbed me of eight years of my sexual life. So you owe me one night.”
His eyelids dropped to half-mast, and he looked at her through his lashes. “Just one?”
“Yes. That’s all. I’m tired of pretending I’m not still attracted to you. Since we have to live together for the foreseeable future, I want to get it out of the way now.”
“So logical.” A slow grin spread across his face. “But, Libs, you’ve been doing it all wrong if you think one night will satisfy either of us.”
“I haven’t been doing it at all, and that’s the problem.” She held up a finger. “One night, Jude. Take it or leave it.”
He stood, and steam rose off his chest. Weighed down by the water, his shorts hung so low on his hips that she could see the tip of his very erect penis. “Oh, I’m definitely taking it.”
Chapter Six
Jude hesitated, hating the way she backed up with his every step closer. He knew he looked predatory, knew she wasn’t anywhere near ready for him to unleash the full force of his desire. But, damn, he couldn’t help himself. He hadn’t planned on making any advances, despite the memory of losing himself in her, which had been replaying in his mind since seeing her again. Now here she was, offering one night, and maybe he was a complete jerk, but he didn’t have the willpower to walk away from that. He followed her retreat, his blood running hotter than it had in years. He was tired of denying himself what he wanted, what his body and heart had claimed as his own years ago.
She backed away until she banged into the covered pool table. Which was perfect.
“Wait.” She held up her hands, pushed against his chest as he crowded her, caging her in with a hand on each side of her hips.
“Second thoughts already?” He leaned in and scraped his teeth along the line of her chin to her ear. “Gotta tell me now.”
“No. I don’t know. Maybe we should think…” Her words trailed off into a moan as he traced the curve of her ear with his tongue, then tugged the lobe between his teeth.
“You think too much, Libs. Always have. Just feel.”
She tilted her head to the side, allowing him better access, and he took that as consent. He grazed the column of her neck with his lips, enjoying the trail of goose bumps he left in his wake. Her hands found his hair, tangled in the longer strands on top, and guided his head down to a much more interesting area of the female anatomy. Happy to oblige, he sucked one of her nipples through the layers of her shirt and bra, but it wasn’t enough. Too many damn clothes separated them. He needed her bare skin under his hand, against his tongue.
“You should have put your swimsuit on.”
Resignation tinged her sigh. “I was afraid this would happen if I did.”