When the water cools and we’re both wrinkling up like prunes, Ty pulls me from the bath, wraps a towel around his waist, and then slowly and thoroughly dries me off, his eyes warm as they roam over my skin.

“You’re gorgeous.”

I smile softly as he sets the towel aside and leads me to the bedroom and tucks us both in the bed. He pulls me against him and holds me tightly.

I’ve never felt so pampered in my life.

I don’t realize that I’ve spoken aloud until Ty whispers, “Get used to it, sweetness.”

I’m sitting in my office, my laptop set up before me, sending out e-mails and responding to requests on social media. It’s early in the morning, and I should be writing, but I just can’t concentrate.

I tossed and turned last night and gave up any hope of falling back to sleep at around five this morning and came down to work, leaving Ty to get as much rest as possible.

Jack destroyed my pool house.

I hear bare feet pad up behind me, and Ty’s strong arms circle me as he buries his face in my neck and inhales deeply. He drags his nose up to my ear, sending shivers through me.

“Good morning.” I push my fingers into his messy hair.

“I’m getting tired of waking up to an empty bed,” he responds softly. “I’d rather wake up with you under me.”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

Ty kisses my cheek, sets a mug of hot coffee on the desk for me, and shuffles over to my chaise lounge, giving me a prime view of his bare back and boxers-covered ass.

God, he has a nice ass.

“I made coffee.” He shoots me a sleepy grin. “Why couldn’t you sleep, beautiful?”

“Just a lot on my mind.” I lift one shoulder in a shrug and lean back in my chair, watching him. “Since I couldn’t swim, I decided to get up and get an early start on work.”

“Working on a Sunday?” He raises a brow.

“I work every day, Ty.”

“I think you need a day off.” He scrubs his hands through his hair with a wide yawn.

I laugh and turn my attention back to my computer screen. “After I meet next week’s deadline, we’ll talk.”

“Hmm . . .”

I glance up to find him tapping his lips with his forefinger.

“What are you thinking?”

“What would happen if you were cut off from your computer and phone for a whole day?”

“I’d most likely be set behind.”

“But it wouldn’t kill you.”

“No.” I tilt my head and watch him as he takes a sip of his coffee. My phone rings on the desk at my elbow.

“Hey, babe.” Ty’s eyebrows climb into his hairline at the term of endearment and I mouth the word Emily.

“Hey, whatcha doin’?” she asks.

“I was working, but now I’m chatting with Ty.”

“Tell him I said hello.”

I pull the phone away from my face and grin at Ty. “Emily says hello.”

Without responding, he unfolds from the chaise, approaches my desk, and holds his hand out, silently asking me to pass the phone.

I pull it back to my ear. “Uh, I think Ty wants to speak with you. Hold on.”

“Thank you.” He winks at me. “Hi, Emily, this is Ty Sullivan. . . . Oh, good, she’s told you about me.” He sends me a wide, happy smile. “I wanted to let you know that Lo will be unavailable for the rest of the day. I’m taking her hostage.”

I feel my jaw drop as I sit numbly and listen to his side of the conversation. “Ty, I can’t . . .”

He shakes his head at me and laughs at whatever Em has said on the other end of the line. “I agree, she deserves a day off. . . . Yes, I’ll take good care of her, and she’ll call you tomorrow. Thank you, Emily.”

He presses END on the phone, powers it off, and lays it across the room from me, out of my reach. Before I can respond, he grabs my laptop, closes it carefully, and also lays it out of my reach.

“You’re taking away all my toys?” I ask sarcastically.

“No, I’m giving you the day off.” He walks to me and pulls me out of the chair. “I want to spend some quality time with you today.”

“I figured I’d be able to work while you did the guy thing and watched football all day. It is football season, isn’t it?”

He laughs as he pulls me through the house to my bedroom. “Yes, it’s football season, but you’re more important.”

“Wow, more important than football?” I chuckle. “You must be smitten.”

“I think I’m more than smitten,” he whispers as he gathers the hem of my shirt in his hands and pulls it over my head, tossing it on the floor. “I’m intrigued.”

My nipples pucker against the cool air and his nimble fingers as he brushes his knuckles over them lightly.

“I’m captivated,” he whispers, hooking his thumbs in my panties and pulling them down my hips, letting them drop to the floor. I reach out to touch him, to pull his shorts down, but he grips my hands in his and pulls them up to his lips. “Trust me?”

“Of course.”

He grins and cups my face in his hands and pulls me in for a long, deep, wet kiss. His hands push back into my hair, combing through it rhythmically. He has such amazing hands, I just want to purr.

He softens the kiss, nibbles my lips, and nuzzles his nose against my own. “Lay on the bed, please.”

I move onto the bed, to the middle, and lie on my back. “Now what?” I ask breathlessly, already so turned on I can barely stand it.

“Raise your hands over your head.”

His gray eyes are on fire as they roam over my body. He moves to the head of the bed and pulls a red necktie from the back of a nearby chair, loops it through the iron rungs on my headboard, and ties one hand, then the other, giving me room to move, but not enough to pull my hands down to touch him.

“I don’t get to touch you?” My body tightens at the sensation of being tied to the bed, at Ty’s mercy, open to his every sexual whim.

“Not for a little while.” He grins as he tests the restraints on my wrists. “Feel okay?”

“Yes.” My voice is harsh. Ragged.

I don’t care.

Morning light filters in through the blinds on the window, across the bed, across my body, sending shadowed lines over me. Ty walks to the end of the bed and watches me for a long moment, his arms crossed over his chest, gliding his finger over his bottom lip. His biceps are bunched and his stomach is tight, and I want nothing more than for him to take those damn shorts off and join me on this bed.