“Look,” she said simply, “it’s a nice night. I’ve had a long day, and the hot tub sounded like a great idea.” Shrugging, she pointed out, “You must like it. You’re in it every day.”
Lately to avoid being with her, Griffin thought, though now he could see the flaw in that strategy. At least if they were in the living room watching TV she’d be dressed.
The image of her in that bikini flashed across his already fevered brain. Then his gaze dropped to the surface of the churning water that bubbled and frothed at the tops of her br**sts. Oh, man.
“Something wrong?”
“Nope. Nothing.” He shifted on the bench seat and ordered his body to throttle back. Unfortunately, that particular portion of him had its own ideas. And they had nothing to do with cooling off.
Didn’t matter. He was still in control.
“Good,” Nicole said, then paused for another long sip of wine. When she’d swallowed, she turned her head to look at him. “Because there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
And here it comes. Finally. “Yeah? What’s that?”
“I want to have a night with you.”
The long drink of wine he’d taken logjammed in the middle of his throat and Griffin choked in response. Whatever he’d been expecting, it hadn’t been this. Nicole Baxter propositioning him? What kind of crazy-ass world had he been dropped into?
When he could breathe again, he stared at her. “Are you serious?”
She scooted closer. “Absolutely.”
Griffin held his ground. Even though he knew he should back away while he still could, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.
“I know you’re interested,” Nicole was saying and he silently warned himself to listen up. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, Griffin.”
He cleared his throat. So much for his poker face. “No offense, but that just means I’m alive and breathing, Nicole.”
She smiled again, as if she knew that was a weak argument.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” she said.
Damn straight he had, not that he was going to admit it.
“Giving you space,” he argued.
“Hiding,” she countered.
Okay, that wasn’t acceptable. “I don’t hide.”
“Then why do you look nervous?”
Griffin laughed shortly. “Babe, I haven’t been nervous around a woman since I was fifteen.”
“Until now,” she said, taking another sip of wine.
Griffin gritted his teeth. He wasn’t nervous. He was…cautious. There was a difference. Any man would be cautious walking through a minefield.
“What’re you getting at here, Nicole?”
“I already told you,” she said with another shrug that briefly lifted the tops of her br**sts. “I think we should have a fling.”
His mouth went dry. He hadn’t seen this coming at all. Which explained, he told himself, why he couldn’t seem to string a coherent sentence together. Finally he managed one word.
“Because?”
“Because you want me. I want you. There’s no reason not to.”
He really was in the twilight zone, because he was pretty sure he’d used that same argument with other women at other times. Odd having his own words thrown back at him.
But as tempted as he was, by her presence, her idea, there was one thing he couldn’t forget. “You have a son.”
“Connor’s not a part of this.”
He nodded toward the baby monitor. “Yeah. He is. And I have rules about that.”
“Rules? What kind of rules?”
“The kind that means I don’t get involved with women who have kids.” Memories rose up, but Griffin ruthlessly shut them down. This wasn’t about his past. This was about now.
“We wouldn’t be involved,” she corrected. “We’d be having sex.”
Griffin laughed shortly again. “That’s involved. Trust me.”
“Doesn’t have to be.” Nicole scooted even closer and now her thigh brushed against his, stirring into roaring life the deeply stifled hunger he’d been dealing with.
“I’m not looking for a relationship, Griffin,” she told him sharply, “so don’t make this so complicated. I just want a damn orgasm or two.”
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation,” he said, muffling a laugh.
“Why shouldn’t we talk about this?” she argued. “Have you never had a woman come on to you before?”
“Of course I have, but this is dif—”
“How is it different?” Her blue eyes glinted with more than passion now. There was anger there as well, and damned if that didn’t intrigue him, too.
She started talking again before he could say a word.
“I’ve been divorced three years. You know how long it’s been since I had sex?”
He stared into her flashing eyes and didn’t think he could have looked away if someone had a gun to his head. Those soft eyes of hers were burning with a fire he understood. And shared.
“How long?”
“Three years,” she said shortly. She took a deep breath. “When my husband first left me, I was too hurt and furious to even so much as think about sex. The second year, I was just too busy—what with work and Connor and… Anyway, now it’s been three years and I’m ready. Boy, am I ready.”
He was getting more ready by the second, so he could agree. “Yeah, I get that.”
“Good.” She nodded, took a breath and blew it out again. “Look, Griffin, I know your reputation.”
“Is that right?”
“I’m not an idiot, you know. I see your picture in magazines and newspapers, and I do live right next door to Katie. She keeps me up-to-date on what the Kings are up to. So,” she continued, “I know you’re a player—different-woman-every-night kind of guy—”
“Hey—” Griffin started to argue, but what the hell could he say? He was that guy. At least, he had been until he’d made the decision to grow the hell up. For all the good that was doing him.
“No offense,” she said quickly. “In this case, your inability to commit is a plus.”
“My—”
“Seriously, you’re not interested in forever and trust me when I say I’m not, either, Griffin. I just want one good night. A damn fling. And you are so flingable.”