Hot water poured over her. Steam surrounded her. She set aside the soapy washcloth and rinsed the conditioner from her hair. Even though it was barely six o’clock, falling into bed sounded good.

“You can’t stay in there all night,” Kyle said right outside the shower door.

Damn him. “I locked the door because I wanted privacy.”

“No, you locked the door to avoid me and I ain’t havin’ any part of it.” He opened the shower door and stepped inside.

Celia’s stomach jumped when his hands circled her hips. But she didn’t move. She remained under the spray of hot water.

“Celia,” he said silkily against her shoulder.

“Go away.”

“You’re mad at me.”

She didn’t respond.

His lips glided across her wet skin. “I hurt your feelings.”

She shrugged, as if it was of no consequence, and tried to remove his mouth from her skin.

“I’m sorry.”

“Go. I want to finish my shower. Alone.”

“No.”

“You waiting until I turn around so you can make sure I’m a girl?” Celia turned and stepped back, letting the water spray him in the face. “See? Now go.”

Kyle blinked the water from his mesmerizing green eyes. Water droplets clung to the dark scruff lining his cheeks and jaw, dripping down his neck.

How unfair that he looked even better wet. His hair, a mix of different shades of blond, darkened under the stream of water and stuck to his scalp, making him look even more intense. Her gaze dropped to his groin. He had an erection. Big surprise. She whirled around, adjusting the shower spray. She’d freeze him out.

But Kyle was determined. His hands were back on her. His mouth was once again by her ear. “There’s no excuse for what I said. None. I’m sorry. Jesus. I’m so f**king sorry, Celia. Will you let me apologize?”

“You can try.”

He chuckled. “A challenge. Well, darlin’, I live for a challenge.”

Celia expected he’d use that silver tongue, telling her how much he loved her body. How beautiful it—and she—was to him. And he did. But not with words. He did it with his steady hands and his mouth in super-slow motion. So she felt his every stuttered breath on her skin. So she felt the heat and hardness of his body as he worshipped hers.

Kyle swept her hair aside, allowing his lips to travel the slope of her shoulder. His callused hands skated up her torso, stopping to caress the underswell of her br**sts.

The man was a master at turning her on. But she didn’t hear the sexy little chuckle that meant he knew he was getting to her.

His hands slid down her wrists. He placed her left palm on the tile wall and the right palm on the glass door.

The dampness between Celia’s thighs owed nothing to the water sluicing down her skin. Her heart thudded. Her brain fogged.

He fondled her br**sts, zeroing in on her ni**les. Pulling and tweaking the tips, while his mouth was busy biting her neck. Or the tip of his tongue teased her ears. Licking the water from her skin. Making her break out in gooseflesh.

Then Kyle’s tongue followed the length of her spine until he was on his knees behind her. His fingertips danced over the outside of her thighs and calves, as he tongued the two dimples above her ass. His voice was a hoarse whisper. “Turn around.”

Keeping her eyes closed, she faced her body toward him. She managed to stay steady when he lifted her left foot onto the edge of the tub. And when his beard scraped the inside of her thigh as he kissed higher and higher up her leg. But when his thumbs spread her pu**y open for his mouth, and that skilled tongue lapped at her slit, she had to lock her knee to keep it from buckling. Still no little cocky chuckle.

Kyle mapped every inch of her folds with his tongue. Not teasingly, just thoroughly. Then he settled his lips around her clit, alternated sucking and rapidly flicking his tongue over that swollen nub of flesh.

Celia’s head fell back. She gave herself over to the divine moment when her entire universe was his mouth sucking on her pu**y. When the only thing in her world was the happy throbbing in her sex as the blood pulsed through her body.

Took a minute to regain her bearings. She glanced down at Kyle on his knees, his face nestled in the crease of her thigh.

He reached around and turned off the water. Then he stood and stepped out of the shower, offering his hand to help her. Kyle toweled her hair and dried her off. All actions that might’ve been mechanical, but he turned every simple touch into pure seduction.

Especially when he lifted her into his arms and carried her to their bed.

There his worship continued. No part of her body was left untouched or unkissed. He slipped inside her and they moved as one. Just as they hung on the precipice and she expected he’d send them both soaring, he stopped moving.

Kyle gazed into her eyes, his look a soulful mix of pleasure and regret. “I know you’re not a girl. You’re all woman, Celia. And you’re all mine.” He crushed his lips to hers and slammed home, staying seated deep inside her.

That set her off. It set him off too.

Once she’d found her sanity, she whispered, “Apology accepted.”

Chapter Eleven

After Harper and Tierney duded Celia up, they headed to Buckeye Joe’s for girls’ night out.

Celia expected the place to be dead. But the Thursday-night special, Jack and Coke for two bucks, kept the joint hopping. The Mud Lilies, the wild group of seventy- and eightysomething women who’d banded together after becoming widows, had scored a table and saved three spots.