“Wait. You’re staying across the road too?” he rasped. “In number seven?”
“Mmm-hmmm.” For good measure, Jo batted her eyelashes and he laughed. “So what do you think, shall we get you out of those beer-stained clothes and freshened up in my bathtub?”
“Maybe. You gonna be in there with me, Ana?”
“You bet, Zeke. Swimming lengths.”
He laughed again, then he stopped and stared at her. Like just stared, stared like he’d stripped her red dress off her trembling body, stripped off her white cotton panties, stripped off all her defenses and left her vulnerable and completely naked under that intense gaze. Like he saw every single thing that she was and wanted to be, all her tangled-up dreams and wishes for tonight, and for tomorrow. Like he was seeing her as she so longed to be for him, for he
