She pulled the covers off his lower body. His blue cotton gown had ridden up while he slept, barely covering his private parts. Sloan wasn’t surprised to see he had a partial erection. Gently tugging here and there, she got the gown down to his knees. “I’ll ease your legs over the bed here,” she murmured.
He felt dizzy for a minute, and she allowed him to sit on the edge of the mattress, his bare feet resting on the thick carpet, allowing it to pass. Sloan knelt and carefully put his slippers on and then rose, bringing over the flannel, dark blue robe, draping it across his shoulders. He still had an IV in his arm which made it impossible to shrug the robe on.
“I was dreaming about you,” he said gruffly.
“Was that it?” she teased, smiling at him.
“Yeah. Nice dream.”
“And I woke you up in the middle of it?”
“You could say that,” he rumbled, watching her smile widen, deviltry dancing in her gray eyes. Dan remembered those times, every one of them when they had just made love and the intensity of their intimacy with each other. He felt the same way right now—so alive—the feeling spread through his chest like warm sunlight, a promise of things to come. Things they could once more share with one another.
“Good dreams are better than bad ones,” she murmured with amusement. She placed her hand beneath his right elbow and helped him slowly rise to his feet.
Getting his sense of balance, Dan wrapped his hand around the steel pole that held the IV. Sloan moved to his left side, slipping her hand into his. “I like dreams about you,” he said stubbornly.
“How does it make you feel?” she asked, urging him to take small steps toward the door.
“Uh oh,” Dan teased as he walked with assuredness toward the entrance. “Am I going to get that question about feeling instead of thinking all the time from you, now?”
“Probably will,” she said, laughing quietly. She kept a firm hold on his hand, surprised at how well he walked given that he was in bed most of the time. It served to tell her that Dan was strong, healthy, and his body was mending well. All of that made her sigh with relief. Sloan yearned for more than she should have at that moment. Being without a man for so long and then getting Dan in such close proximity wasn’t something she’d thought through. He was teasing her dormant self to life again, whether he knew it or not.
“Well,” Dan said, moving into the open-concept living room and kitchen area, “I feel lust.”
Sloan burst out laughing. “Nothing new there,” she said, glancing up at him. Dan was grinning like a wolf, his eyes glimmering with amusement and that same look that she had always thought was love for her. He wanted her, and he wasn’t shy about it—but then, he never had been. Her channel tightened over that knowing, burning look in his eyes. The man was going to drive her crazy with sexual longing once again.
“No, you’re a woman worth lusting after,” he agreed, his steps longer, his balance solid as she led him to the kitchen. There was a round wooden table and three chairs at the other end of it, near the windows. “It’s still okay to lust after you, isn’t it? That’s a feeling, after all.”
“Oh,” she said lightly, “I think you’re going to be a very naughty student when it comes to expressing feelings, Malloy.”
He halted, leaned over, and pressed a kiss to her hair. He saw the surprise on Sloan’s face as he drew away. “Lust has good feelings with it, also. We both know that. And I feel,” he said, purposely emphasizing the word, “that it’s a good place for us to start. You can’t deny how we felt after we had sex with one another. Can you?”
She tugged gently on his hand. “Come on, let’s eat. I’m hungry.” It was a lie.
A rumble came out of Dan’s chest as he dutifully walked to the table that had been set. “I’m hungry too,” he growled, halting at the chair she’d pulled out for him. “And it’s not for food, either, Ms. Kennedy.”
CHAPTER 16
Dan was never so glad as when his doctor permitted Sloan to finally remove the IV from his right arm. In the last week, he’d made remarkable progress. He didn’t try and kid himself: it was her. Being with Sloan made him come alive in every possible way. He kept mum about how much he enjoyed getting bathed in bed by her. He knew her well enough to see she enjoyed running her warm, wet hands over his body with a washcloth as much as he did. Even when she covered his hips with a towel, his erection stirred. There was no hiding what he wanted from her.
By mid-morning, he was looking forward to the last bath she would give him. With his wound site healing nicely and getting rid of the IV, he was ready for his next big step. The shower. That would be tomorrow. Right now, he lay partially propped up, anticipating her hands upon him. Dan didn’t want her to wash his private parts. He made her leave, and he did it himself because he could see how flustered she became as his erection made itself known beneath the white, fluffy towel across his hips.
Sloan entered his room with a tray on wheels. She had an aluminum bowl filled with steaming water, several towels, and a soap dish. She looked particularly beautiful this morning, her hair like a sable and gold curtain around her face. They had shared breakfast together in the kitchen, and he’d been able to walk back to his room without her help for the first time. He was feeling pretty darn proud of himself.
“Last time,” she said, smiling a little as she brought the tray to his bedside.
“Yeah, I’m going to miss this.”
Her eyes sparkled with humor as she slipped a towel expertly across his hips, pulling the gown away from him.
“Will you miss it, too?” he wondered, watching her somewhat nervously adjust the towel. Just like before, his semi-erection was poking its head up for all to see. Dan saw yearning and wariness in her eyes, but also arousal as she pulled her gaze away from his covered erection.
“In some ways,” she admitted, a little breathless because he was using his low, sensual voice. The last week with Dan had been a new hell on earth for her. Sloan wasn’t immune to him in any way, as much as she tried. His groans of pleasure as she washed and dried him, made her go quivery inside. By the time she was done, the insides of her thighs were wet and slick, making her want to groan, but she bit it back. If she thought giving herself an orgasm would do the trick, she’d have done it—but it would never satisfy her.
Instead, it would just leave her aching for the real thing. Aching for Dan, for his hands on her, exploring her, sucking her nipples, making her scream as he brought her to orgasm. Every day with him was a special hell and special heaven. The gnawing deep within her was driving her crazy with need of him. And he was well enough that they could mess around and Sloan knew it—so did Dan. She saw that glint in his eyes. So far, he hadn’t touched her in any way. He looked at her but did not make contact, respecting her space. Right now, Sloan was ready to throw that space away and say to hell with it; such was her blistering need to have this man within her once more.
She kept the towel up to his waist as she lathered and washed his upper body. Her breath was shallow, and she swallowed as she gently patted him dry.
“I guess I’m feeling pretty frisky today,” he said, nonchalantly gesturing toward the towel.