He’d lifted her into his arms and was striding with much more purpose than she’d managed toward the house.
“Getting us there. Maybe saving those boots for another battle.”
“Put me down, Vlad. I can walk.”
She was wiggling and it was distracting. God help him but he was getting turned on. The heat of her body roused him even through the clammy denim of his jeans.
“Question—did you bring anything else for your feet?”
“You hustled me out before I could do much more than pack a toothbrush so the answer is no. Put me down, Vlad. I’m heavy.”
“You don’t really believe that do you? Stop wiggling. We’re almost there.” Aside from her very feminine curves, she didn’t have any spare flesh anywhere. He’d seriously thought she might sink in the boggy road if he hadn’t lifted her out of it. There wasn’t too much of her. It was her smart mouth again, adding inches.
In spite of the blinding rain or maybe because of it, his rambling three-story clapboard house, when they finally reached it, exuded an austere welcome; its gray color serenely blending into the surrounding terrain. The landscaping remained unfinished. Other than the giant tree that now lay across the driveway that had taken a few random bushes down with it, there was no vegetation of any kind to hold the water that continued to cascade around them.
Still, he liked this house. He planned to spend more time here when the weather improved and see the finishing touches to completion. His brother Pieter had been in charge of those details but clearly dropped the ball on this project as well. Much had yet to be done. As he’d done so often in the past, Vlad made a mental note to finish the necessary tasks himself.
He set her down at the front door and she stood shivering and uncharacteristically quiet, under the overhang on the porch, as the rain formed a curtain of wet around them.
“Let’s get in out of this,” he said. He inserted a key, shouldered the door open, and dropped their bags inside.
Then he hit the light switch. Nothing happened.
He loosed a rough stream of Russian swear words with a vehemence that far surpassed her break room tirade. The power was out and no doubt the tree covering a massive swath of ground outside had everything to do with it.
The waning afternoon light shone weakly through the enormous windows that flanked the front door as well as from the windows situated on the opposing wall at the far side of the room. They illuminated the spacious interior, warming the roughhewn ceiling beams and stuccoed walls.
“You’re drenched,” he said, running his glance over the hair that was plastered to her head as he watched her unlace her boots and place them carefully to the side of the front door. Because of the wind, the big umbrella had provided scant protection and they were both sopping wet.
“So are you,” she replied.
He could feel the tiny rivulets of water that were still making their way down his face, catching in the creases of his eyes and the grooves at the corners of his mouth.
“Okay. First things first,” he said. “A shower.”
God help him he needed a cold one. Even though she resembled a drenched woodland creature, he had no trouble noticing the outline of her breasts under her damp T-shirt when she had unzipped her jacket. And that had a predictable effect on his body.
He grabbed both of their bags in one hand and motioned for her to precede him. A gleaming mahogany staircase led to an upper floor from which four doors stood ajar. Vlad went into the first room on the right and dropped her bag.
“The bathroom is through there.” He nodded toward the far wall. “You get two minutes because the water won’t stay heated very long without the benefit of the boiler. Let me know when you’re done and I’ll shower.”
****
Sabrina nodded. Then she turned away, flushing when she saw the way he eyed her T-shirt, which was soaked and transparent beneath her sodden jacket. She hurried into the decadent bathroom that was nearly as big as her entire apartment, all marble and glossy cream paint, complete with silver fittings and plush towels. By now, she was shaking in earnest and stripped quickly. It took her a minute to figure out the complicated multitude of knobs and handles in the shower. But then she stepped into total steamy bliss, squeezed a floral shower gel all over, and scrubbed.
****
Sabrina pulled her damp hair into a loose braid thinking how Alex liked nothing better than to thread his chubby fingers through the tresses when they were unconfined and giving a mischievous tug when she least expected it.
Alex!
Guilt flooded.
For a second time in two days, she’d totally forgotten him. Since he’d been born, Sabrina had gotten used to having her brother on the brain twenty- four/seven. But the events of the last couple of days had been crazy enough to turn her brain to mush. She pulled out her cell and hit the speed dial.
Then she settled on the low bench in front of the bed with its view out the window, down the steep back slope of Vlad’s property. The untamed acres of wavy sea grasses and the stubby pines that angled down to the roiling waters of the storm-swollen bay gyrated in the gale force winds, but she barely saw them. She was fully engrossed listening to Alex, with his limited vocabulary, making a huge effort to describe the rain that didn’t go away, the red rain boots he wore, and Mrs. Egan’s potato soup.
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she said her goodbyes and Sabrina turned to see Vlad, leaning against the doorjamb, arms across his broad chest, eyes full of disdain.