Sweet Distraction ✔︎

[13] 𝑯𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑫𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚

It was too quiet. No traffic noise, no voices outside the window, no barking dogs, no sirens in the distance.

Restless, Isabelle paced the elegant bedroom of the maison. She turned the TV on, scanned the channels, and turned it off again. She checked her phone. She wondered what Evan was doing. Was he sitting in the living room? Was he eating leftover dessert? Had he gone to bed?

Pushing aside the curtains, she looked at the terrace, where the sculpted bathtub sat glowing marble-white in the darkness. She’d never taken a bath outside before. She went out to turn on the bathtub faucets, then returned to the bedroom.

She stripped out of her clothes and put on a big, fluffy robe from the closet. After pinning up her hair, she selected lavender-scented bubble bath and lotion from the array of complimentary bottles in the bathroom. She walked out to the terrace, leaving the French doors open behind her.

A breeze drifted on the air. The valley stretched out like a tapestry below, lit with garden lights and the hazy light of the moon. Aside from the faint rustling leaves and chirping crickets, silence covered the landscape.

Isabelle poured a generous amount of bubble bath into the water and tested the temperature. She slid out of the robe, the cool air prickling her skin with goose bumps before she stepped into the steamy hot depths.

Oh God.

A low groan escaped her as the water enveloped her in a rush of heat and scented bubbles. She sank lower, letting the water cover her all the way to her neck. Her bones melted. The tension of the past few months slipped away. She rested her head on the edge of the tub and looked up at the sky, the black night sprinkled with stars like sugar.

Sugar.

Her heart thumped. Evan. Eyes filled with blue fire. Wickedly beautiful mouth. Ridiculous penchant for desserts. Gorgeous body with hard muscles she ached to feel beneath her hands…

She rested her hand on her thigh, rubbing it slowly beneath the water. A delicious tightness coiled in her lower body. She parted her legs and let her fingers slip into her cleft, her own touch filling her with a rush of heat. Her nipples tightened.

She closed her eyes and eased her fingers deeper to splay around her clit. The fantasy bloomed with sudden force in her mind—no gentle, prolonged seduction, but a vivid image of her spread naked on a bed, her hands beneath her thighs as she opened herself for the smooth, slow entry of Evan’s cock…

She shuddered, slipping her forefinger into her body. The evening air caressed her damp neck, the scent of lavender swirling upward from the bubbles.

“Isabelle?” Evan’s deep voice drifted out to the terrace through the closed bedroom door.

Her eyes flew open, her heart crashing against her ribs.

“I… I’m outside,” she called. “Sorry, did you knock? I didn’t hear you.”

“I didn’t knock. Can I come in?”

“Um… I…” Isabelle tried to muster up her resolve, but every part of her, including her thoughts, felt loose and liquid. She hastily arranged the bubbles over her body, concluding that the soapy suds were thick and copious enough to be more concealing than a terrycloth robe.

“I’m in the bathtub,” she said. “But I’m decent. You can come in.”

There was a brief hesitation before the doorknob turned. Evan stepped in, a plate in one hand. His gaze zeroed in on her like an arrow landing on target. Energy charged through Isabelle’s body.

“Ah.” He approached with a slow, relaxed stride. “A mermaid.”

“I couldn’t resist.” Isabelle gestured to the valley, though the sight of Evan walking toward her was far more exhilarating than the nighttime view.