What the hell? Not nearly finished with this conversation, not even close, he followed her out, through the living room, and up the stairs to the bathroom he’d been using. It was still a little foggy from all the hot water he’d used.

She stood in the middle of the room and stared through the glass.

“Zoe?”

“Shh. I’m picturing it,” she whispered, like it was too naughty a conversation for a normal speaking voice.

Behind her back, he found a smile. “Seems only fair since I picture you all the time. You have a handheld in there. Do you ever use it when you think of me?”

She gasped. “I don’t . . . I don’t use it like that—and I don’t even use this shower.”

He turned her to face him and found her blushing and biting her lower lip. “But you do think of me in your shower, where you also have a handheld.” Leaning past her, he flicked on the water.

“What are you doing?” she asked, sounding more than a little panicked.

Smart woman.

“I want to see you do it,” he said. “I want to see you doing yourself while you think of me.”

“I’m not going to—I have things to do, I have a flight later this afternoon—”

“Plenty of time, then.” He smiled and tugged off her blazer. “And besides, all you need is twenty minutes, remember?” He started to unbutton her blouse and leaned in to kiss her. “Which we both know I can cut down to seven if I’m on my game,” he whispered against her lips. “And I’m feeling very on my game at the moment, Zoe.”

She stared at him for a beat through the steam filling the bathroom and then kicked off her shoes. “All right, fine,” she said with gracious defeat, “but only because you got me all hot and bothered and I have to be able to concentrate today.”

“Duly noted,” he said, his mouth watering as she shimmied out of the rest of her clothes.

“Less staring and more stripping,” she said, nodding her chin toward his clothes. “We’re on the clock here.”

He was laughing as he did her bidding and stripped, completely forgetting his injuries.

She gasped at the gash on his forehead and then her attention drifted southbound, right past his favorite body part, and locked in on the gauze he’d wrapped around the wound on his thigh.

She dropped to her knees and set her hands on either side of his leg. “What happened?”

“You got on your knees in front of me,” he said, voice unintentionally gravelly.

She stared up at his erection and choked out a laugh.

“It’s not polite to laugh at a naked man, Zoe.”

“I didn’t mean—” She closed her eyes for a beat and then opened them. “Tell me why you have a cut on your head and you’re bleeding through a bandage.”

“Later,” he said, and scooped her up and stepped into the shower with her.

She turned to face him, letting her heated, appreciative gaze run down his body again, slower this time, and not in alarm but arousal. She smiled. “You like me.”

“Hard for a man to hide it,” he agreed, smiling back.

She bit her lower lip again. “Show me?”

He arched a brow. “You mean—”

“Yes,” she said. “Show me what I missed this morning. If you’re . . . up for it.”

He snorted and reached for the soap, running it down his body while she watched avidly. When he was good and soaped up, he wrapped his hand around himself and stroked.

All laughter gone, Zoe’s eyes glazed over. She might have drooled, it was hard to tell, but her expression was gratifying to say the least. It had been a long time since he’d had this kind of intimacy with a woman. He’d not even realized how much he’d missed it.

Damn, he had it bad. He’d never meant to put himself at risk with her, but he had. He’d put his heart on the line and he hadn’t even realized it.

So much for being aware of his surroundings.

He let her watch for a minute and then, tired of playing solitaire, reached for her. “Your turn.”

She was breathless. “But you’re not done.”

“Ladies first.” To ease her sudden anxiety, he pulled her in and spent a few minutes nuzzling and touching and kissing her, and when she was kissing him back, breathless and frantic, he turned her away from him so that the warm water cascaded down her front.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Helping.” He soaped up his hands again and slowly massaged her shoulders and arms until she sighed and let him support her weight, leaning her head back so that it rested on his collarbone.

With his height advantage, this gave him a great view of her slicked, soapy body, and he watched her nipples tighten even more as he nuzzled into the crook of her neck. When she was as loose as he could get her, he took her hands in his, guiding them over her own curves and then to those gorgeous breasts. He used both their fingers to lightly tug and tease her now-straining, wet nipples until she was moving of her own accord, rocking her sweet ass against his erection.

Damn. She undid him, completely, and he had no idea how the fuck he was supposed to walk away from her when this was all over.

Don’t go there. Not now. Don’t borrow the heartache sooner than you have to.

“Parker . . .”

The need in her voice fueled him on. Kissing the column of her neck, her shoulder, distracting her with his mouth, he turned her toward the corner of the shower, placing her left hand flat on the wall, her right still caught in his. Pushing a thigh between hers from behind, he bent his leg and lifted one of hers until her foot rested on the edge of the tub.

Perfect.

Now he slid their still-joined hands down her beautiful breasts, her quivering stomach, and lower—right between her thighs. Their fingers traced her every fold and then circled back and started again.

And then again.

Neither of them spoke; the only sounds were the thunder of the water and their equally harsh breathing. Leaning over her shoulder, Parker took in the sight of them both driving her up. “Watch,” he murmured, and nipped her shoulder until she dipped her head. She sucked in a breath and her entire body began to tremble.

With his leg beneath her bent one, his foot on the ledge next to hers, he could feel her body pressed against him like they’d been hot-glued together, the softness of her skin tempting him as he held her in place, still watching while their fingers swirled and dipped and teased. He was harder than he could remember ever being, his erection nestled between her ass cheeks, straining like a homing beacon, trying to work its way inside her however it could.

She tensed and he turned his head to whisper in her ear. “Relax, that’s not where I’m headed.”

She let out a half laugh, half moan and tilted her head back for a kiss. He gave it to her. Hell, he wanted to give her everything and anything she wanted, always, and to distract that thought from creeping in, he took the handheld massager out of the wall cradle and put it into her hand.

She squirmed. “You do it,” she whispered, closing her eyes.

Laughing softly, he kissed the sweet spot just beneath her ear. “After all we’ve done to each other, Zoe, you can’t possibly be embarrassed.”

She didn’t answer, so he covered her hand with his and guided her. She moaned and started to relax again now that he was in charge.