Plus One by Brighton Walsh Read Free Book Online

pulling out her garment bag to hang her dress. “I do have to shower, though.” She turned her attention to him, noticing he was staring intently at the bag she’d just hung up. “How about you?”
    His eyes shifted to hers. His gaze was full of searing heat, and she felt her face warm even further. “Yeah, I’ll shower before we go, too.”
    That handful of words somehow managed to reignite the low, crackling fire in her body. Her brain immediately went to her land of fantasies, picturing exactly how he’d look under the shower spray, rivulets of water cascading down his toned chest and over the hard ridges of his abdomen, then disappearing even lower...
    The room suddenly felt stifling, with his large frame filling up so much of it and his piercing eyes focusing directly on her. She needed some space to regroup.
    “I’ll hurry then.” Without another word, she grabbed her toiletries bag and headed into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her before collapsing against it. Her breath left her in a deep sigh, and she closed her eyes.
    “Oh, sure, Liv. An overnight trip sounds just great,” she mumbled quietly to herself. “Just what you need to stop thinking about him naked.” Shaking her head at herself, she turned the water on and again tried not to imagine what it would be like to share the space with Ian. To trace the water as it flowed over the muscles of his back. To be flush with him, naked flesh to naked flesh. To feel him pounding into her from behind while her hands pressed against the tile wall.
    With a quiet curse, she undressed, silently hoping that the shower head was detachable.
    * * *
    Sitting on the bed, Ian listened to the water splash against the shower walls and couldn’t help but picture Liv in there. Over the years, she’d starred in more of his fantasies than he could count, but somehow they’d become so much more vivid over the past three months. Probably because he could recall in perfect detail just how her body felt pressed against his, even through their layers of clothes. It didn’t take much for his mind to strip her of her offending garments and have her naked, writhing beneath him as he did things to her body he should be ashamed of thinking about.
    He thought back to their car ride and how smooth it had been going until he’d gone and opened his mouth. After the words about his preferences in the bedroom had left his mouth, her lips had parted and a flush had worked its way up her neck, pooling in her cheeks.
    It was the first time he’d allowed himself to think about the possibility that maybe she was attracted to him. That her reluctance wasn’t because of her disinterest, but rather her uncertainty. Could she be as scared to lose what they had as he was? Could that be why she was avoiding the situation?
    The hour and a half they’d had left of the trip had been spent mostly in silence and had given him plenty of time to think. He realized that even though he absolutely didn’t want to lose what they had, he had to try with her. All he needed was a little sign from her that she was interested in him that way. Because if she was attracted to him, all bets were off. He would do whatever he needed to pursue what he could with her, whether it be a single night in her bed or more.
    The thought gave him pause, simultaneously scared and aroused, as he dropped his head to his hands. Fuck, but he wanted so much more from her than only one night.
    He’d been denying it since the first wedding, but the truth was inevitable. If he was honest with himself, he wanted everything with her.

Chapter Ten
    Given how their afternoon had unfolded, the heat that ricocheted between them throughout the evening really shouldn’t have been a shock. Olivia had felt Ian’s want since she’d emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a sleek, fitted, black dress. Through the wedding ceremony, tucked into his side as his arm rested innocently against the pew behind her, she thought she’d burst at