But this little field trip through the penthouse had given me the chance to gather myself together, and that was good. I still wanted his touch—oh, god, did I ever—but the sensual mist that had clouded my thinking had evaporated, and I was focused on my mission.

Sex with Tyler might be damned entertaining, but at the end of the day, sex was just sex.

And it was going to have to remain that way.

Chapter Ten

I think it was the candles that did me in.

He pushed open the doors, and I saw the room bathed in the golden glow of at least two dozen candles. They were on the floor, on stands, on small tables near the oversized bathtub. The room smelled of lavender and vanilla, and I breathed in deep.

“How?” I asked. “When?”

“I sent a text to the hotel from the car.”

I couldn’t help but laugh—he looked so incredibly smug.

He took my hand and guided me to the two steps that led up to the deep marble tub already full of lavender scented bubbles. “Go ahead,” he said. “Get in.”

I stepped out of the shoes, then paused and turned back to him. “I don’t understand you,” I said plaintively. “You make me strip. You bring in that waiter. It’s racy. Raw. I don’t know—dangerous maybe. Hot, definitely.”

“You forgot wild.”

“Wild,” I agreed. “But this …” I swept my arm to indicate the candlelit room. “This is wild, too. Wildly romantic. Sensual. Calm and serene and wonderful.”

“And that bothers you?”

“It confuses me,” I admit.

I see humor light his eyes. “Maybe I want you confused. Or perhaps I’m trying to prove a point.”

“What point?”

“There are a lot of ways to pleasure a woman,” he said, and his tone suggested we hadn’t even begun. “Hard and raw, soft and sentimental. How can I know what she wants until I see how she reacts?”

“Oh.” I swallowed. “And what is it that I want?”

“You? Sweetheart, you want everything,” he said in a tone that made me go weak in the knees. “And I’m looking forward to giving it to you.” He nodded to the tub again. “In.”

I didn’t argue. Merely moved carefully on the cool marble up to the edge of the tub. I tested the water and found it to be the perfect temperature, a little on the hot side, but nowhere close to scalding. With a sigh of absolute pleasure, I slid in.

Tyler tucked an inflatable pillow behind my head and I smiled up at him. “Joining me?”

“No,” he said, as he started to take off his watch, a beautiful instrument that looked to my eye like an antique. “I’m not.”

He set the watch carefully on a nearby table, and since he then started to unbutton his shirt, I decided that he must be teasing.

I watched, enjoying myself thoroughly, as he stripped off his shirt. His body was deliciously perfect, tan and lean, with the kind of defined arms and chest that you’d see on a swimmer. I wanted to reach out and touch him. To find out for myself if the smattering of chest hair was as soft as it looked, and if the muscles were as hard. I wanted to run my lips over every inch of him.

Mostly, I wanted to tumble him into the tub with me.

Instead, I settled for watching him sit on the edge, still in those elegant gray trousers. He looked like something from a pin-up calendar, all easy sensuality in slacks with no shirt and his hair slightly tousled.

He was exceptional, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many women he’d brought to his room, touched, bathed, taken to bed.

I wondered—and wished that I hadn’t let the thought enter my mind. I had no right to jealousy. Tyler wasn’t mine—couldn’t be mine—and whatever connection I might fantasize that I felt tonight was just an illusion. How could it be real when we were both clutching tight to our secrets?

“Deep thoughts?” he asked, stroking my hair.

I smiled up at him. “Just thinking how gorgeous you are.”

His brows lifted. “I’m flattered.”

“Like hell. You know you’re amazing.”

“And in so many ways,” he said, with a cocky grin.

I laughed, then started to splash him. He caught my hand. “Hands on your knees,” he said. “I’m going to bathe you.”

I opened my mouth to—what? Complain? Question? In the end, I said nothing, just leaned back on my pillow with my hands on my knees and let him take charge.

He started with my legs. Gently, he lifted each leg in turn, putting my heel on a little step inside the tub that I guessed was made for that very purpose. He stroked my skin with scented soaps, then slid his slick and slippery hands along my feet, my calves, my thighs. When he reached the juncture, he stroked my sex lightly, sending trills of pleasure dancing through me. And then his hand was gone again, as if he’d intended nothing more than a preview of what was to come.

He moved on to my torso, then my arms and hands, sensually massaging each individual finger until I thought I would go mad with the desire for more, so much more. Then his attention turned to my breasts, caressing and stroking until I could feel every touch in every cell of my body, and my nipples were tight with need.

To my regret, though, he took it no further.

“How do you feel?” he asked, and I blinked my eyes open to see him smiling down at me with a kind of sensual satisfaction. “Relaxed,” I said. “Turned on.”

I saw the flicker in his eyes, but if stroking and touching me had aroused him equally, he didn’t say. Instead, he simply lifted a spray nozzle and gently began to wet my hair.

His hands, both strong and sensual, massaged my scalp as the shampoo he chose—full of mint and eucalyptus—saturated my senses. I began to float, eyes closed, this man taking care of me.

I don’t know how long I floated there, lost in that sensual place that Tyler had taken me. I only knew that when my eyes fluttered open, my hair was rinsed and the tub was draining—and instead of feeling cold as the water swirled away, I felt the hot pulse of desire inside me.

Without a word, Tyler held out a hand. I took it gratefully. I wasn’t sure I could have managed without his support.

I padded carefully down the stairs, then stood on a plush bath mat. He stood in front of me, just stood there watching me with the air crackling wild around us. I reached out—I had to—and slowly trailed my fingers over his bare chest.

I felt the beat of his heart beneath my hand, and pressed my palm there. I lifted my head, found his eyes, and almost stumbled from the force of the desire I saw looking back at me.

“Yes,” I whispered. “God, yes.”

He didn’t move. Didn’t speak, but as I slid my hand down, exploring the shape of him, I felt his muscles tighten with barely contained control. I smiled, liking that I was the one making him quiver, and I got slowly to my knees, thinking that I’d like to make him quiver even more.

But when I reached for his fly, he gently stopped my hand. “No.”

I looked up. “I know you like it.”

“Very much. And I can think of very little I’d like more than to see your lips around my cock. But not now.”

“Why not?”

He held my hand and eased me to my feet. “Because the rest of tonight is about you.”