He reached behind himself and pulled off a swath of toilet paper, which he used to wipe the tears from her face. She felt rather childish now, letting him comfort her, but at the same time she felt a little bit cherished. It was a nice feeling.
“Sylllvvviiee?” Luc drawled out then.
Uh-oh.
“I have another idea.”
Uh-oh.
“You know how they always say if you fall off a horse, the best remedy is to get right back on?”
“Yes,” she replied hesitantly.
“And if a person is afraid of water, the best thing is to jump right in?”
“Your point?”
Instead of answering, he put a finger under her chin and lifted, forcing her to look directly ahead toward the mirror, where she noticed, for the first time, the enticing picture they made. Both of them sitting, her cradled between his arms and legs.
“What does that,” she asked, pointing to the cozy reflection, “have to do with horses and water?”
He chuckled softly against her hair, and as she watched the mirror, he began to unbutton her blouse, exposing the red nightie underneath. At the same time, ever so slowly, he began to spread his knees wider and wider, forcing her knees to follow suit. “My own version of shyness therapy,” he pronounced brightly.
“Since when does a lawyer have psychotherapy skills?” She tried to laugh as she spoke, but her thoughts were distracted by the enticing movement of his fingers and legs.
“We lawyers have lots of skills that would surprise you,” he murmured into the curve of her neck, which he’d exposed by drawing her hair back off her face. “Tsk-tsk,” he said when he noticed the slight bruise there… one that he’d no doubt caused. But he soothed it now with a sensual laving of his tongue, followed by soft kisses.
Somehow, he’d removed her blouse, and was about to tug up the hem of her nightie. She put both hands on his to halt his progress. “No, Luc.” She was not going to sit naked on the floor of the bathroom in front of a mirror with Lucien LeDeux watching her.
“Please. I want to show you how beautiful you are.”
“I’m not beautiful.”
“Yes, you most definitely are.” He ran his fingertips over the nylon fabric covering her breasts, and they sprang immediately to life.
She moaned.
He smiled.
The rogue was going to take advantage of her every weakness, and he knew about a whole lot of them after last night. In truth, her nipples and her entire breasts were oversensitized from his earlier attentions. Even the inadvertent whisk of sheer cloth as she shifted slightly constituted an erotic caress.
She pushed his hands away from her chest, but no problem. He just moved on to other forbidden territory.
“There’s no time for this,” she protested.
“There’s always time for this,” he countered.
“But your brother—”
“Has gone for a swim.”
“A swim? Now?”
“I told him to take a shower or wash in the stream. He stinks, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Luc, I don’t want you to see me like this… in the daylight,” she told him, peering back at him over her shoulder.
“I’m already seeing you… in the daylight. And, sweetheart, I like what I see.”
At first, she thought that he referred to having seen her this morning as she scrambled out of the hammock. But then she glanced forward and groaned. He had inched the nightie all the way to her abdomen. She was bare to his view from toes to waist. She scrunched her eyes tight to avoid looking anymore.
“Oh, no, I want you to watch,” he ordered, making quick work of whisking the nightie up and over her head while she had her eyes closed. “What’s the use of therapy if you’re not fully involved?”
She raised her eyelids and made eye contact with him in the mirror. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”
“Never.”
Luc made love to her body then, in ways she’d never imagined possible. He touched her everywhere. Always gentle. Always speaking soft words of praise and encouragement. Most of all, he showed her things about her body that went so far beyond the bounds of shyness, she doubted she would ever blush again. Then again, she might carry a permanent blush forevermore in remembrance.