CA 03 Protective Custody by Webb Debra

Author:Webb, Debra [Webb, Debra]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Witnesses, General, Contemporary, Fiction
ISBN: 9780373226108
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2001-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

IAN GLANCED at the still-closed bathroom door and frowned. Why had Nicole been in there so long? The salad was in the fridge, the bread, pasta and sauce in the oven keeping warm, and the wine, open and ready to serve, stood on the table. The only holdup was Nicole. She had said not to wait, but Ian waited anyway. He massaged his unshaven chin and considered her behavior since their arrival here, especially the last twenty-four hours. Maybe the note had shaken her more deeply than he had first thought. She was certainly jumpy enough. Then, maybe it was simply a matter of cabin fever.

No. Ian released a heavy breath. It was none of those things. Nicole was suffering from the same ailment that plagued him, sexual frustration.

He wanted Nicole. He wanted her so badly that it was a bone-deep ache. The thought of touching her had been there all day, prowling in the deepest, darkest recesses of his mind, like an enemy preparing to close in. If something didn’t happen soon, one or both of them would lose control. Today had been the most difficult. Absolute silence surrounded them. It was as if even the birds knew it was Sunday and they should rest from their twittering and chirping. The sky was a magnificent canvas of blue with the occasional fluffy white cloud here and there like the smudges of a careless painter’s brush. A slight breeze whispered through the trees from time to time, momentarily disrupting the utter silence.

Inside, the mouth-watering aroma of garlic and tomato sauce filled the air. He should be hungry, but like Nicole, he wasn’t. Ian’s gaze flitted across the room. The big brass bed stood waiting, beckoning to him like a buoy in deep waters. Ian knew that if he didn’t do something soon he would drown of suffocating need. A desire that never completely went away smoldered just beneath the surface of his own flimsy hold on control.

He needed a walk. A very long walk. And before he came back inside he would have this fire under control once more. Ian stepped to the bathroom door and knocked once.

“Nicole, I’m going outside to check the generator,” he said flatly, then turned to make good on his announcement, but her tentative voice stopped him.

“Ian?”

The sound of his name on her lips drew him back to the door, closer than he had been before, his face pressed against the smooth wooden surface. “Yes,” he answered stiffly.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” a pause accompanied by the splash of water, “but I failed to get a towel before I got into the tub. Now I can’t get one without dripping all over the place. Would you,” another agonizing pause, “come hand me a towel?”

The image of Nicole in that tub, surrounded by frothy water, bloomed before Ian’s eyes. He could smell the clean, sweet fragrance of the scented water. Want speared through him, immediate and fierce. Ian braced his hands against the doorframe and summoned his crumbling resolve.

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