Emma wanted desperately to be up to the task, though, and when he said, “I only want to watchyou, ” his words propelled her toward the tub.

She dipped her toe in the water. “Mmmm, it feels so good,” she said, hoping she was saying what he wanted to hear.

He didn’t smile, didn’t shift his rigid posture, but still, Emma felt that she was getting to him, slithering her way under his skin. The newly sensual woman in her knew it with every fiber of her being.

Stepping into the tub, she shifted to face him and slowly lowered her long, lean limbs into the water. The warmth felt good as it washed over her, though nowhere near as good as Jason’s touch.

The thin black lace of her bra and thong grew translucent beneath the water. Emma felt as if she had gone a step beyond naked, straight to transparent. Could he see her heart beating beneath her skin and bones?

“Come into the tub with me, Jason. I’m all wet and ready for you.”

He didn’t rush, and yet, moments later he was stark naked, his glorious erection bare and perfect. She longed to lunge out of the tub to wrap her lips around it again, but hopefully there’d be time for that later.

Right now, she was ready for a new experience.

Like making love in the bathtub.

Life with Jason was one wonderfully novel experience after another. Just as she had always known it would be.

He climbed in between her legs, then wrapped his hands around her thighs, pulling her deeper into the water, yet lifting her higher at the same time. Floating near the top of the water, Emma should have been chilled. But that was impossible when Jason was touching her like this, looking at her with such need.

“I can see through your bra and panties, Emma. I want to rip them off you. Take you hard and fast until you’re screaming.”

She bit her lip. Any moment now she knew he was going to touch her, going to pull her panties down, slip a finger inside her slick pu**y, slide his penis inside and stretch her wide again.

But his actions were at odds with his words as he took his time to look, rather than touch. His gaze seared her nearly as much as his touch would have and she gasped with awareness.

Finally, he ran his thumb down from her belly button to the lace on her panties, over her swollen clit, to the entrance of her cunt. More than anything she wanted him to slip his thick digit inside, to fill her up.

Instead, he repeated the slide of his fingers, using two fingers now. And then three. Then four. Until his whole hand pressed against her and she was crying out as she pushed into him.

Her orgasm was quick and sweet and she was barely aware of his fingers moving over her bra, over her hard ni**les.

“Take it off,” she begged, but he shook his head.

“No. You’re beautiful in your lingerie.”

The words “you’re beautiful” echoed through Emma’s brain and she desperately wanted to give Jason as much pleasure as he was giving her. Taking him by surprise, she shifted in the water, pushed her thong aside, and slid onto his hard length, gasping for breath, slipping up and down on his penis.

“You said you wanted it hard and fast,” she said. “You said you wanted to hear me scream.”

“Emma,” he groaned, and then again, “Emma,” as her climax began anew. She could take him deep, so deep in this position. His hands were on her br**sts again, his thumb on her clit and he was pushing higher and harder in her, making her orgasm impossibly intense. She screamed out, for the first time in her life giving voice to her pleasure, and he pulled out and shot into the water, but she was too far gone to notice.

She lay back against the tile rim of the huge tub, her eyes closed, her chest heaving as she tried to regain her breath. She was vaguely aware of being wrapped in a large, plush towel, being carried out of the bathroom, and finally curling into Jason beneath a warm, thick duvet.

And even in an exhausted sleep, the joy of being with Jason colored all her dreams.

Nine

Sunlight streamed across the bed, and Emma blinked in confusion as she looked around the unfamiliar room. Her bedroom in Palo Alto was shaded by a huge elm and she’d never heard so many birds singing all at once. She inhaled Jason’s spicy, delicious scent and warmth spread through her from head to toe.

Now she remembered. She was in his bed. In his house.

Just hours earlier, she’d been in his arms.

The rational part of her brain told her that he had left without so much as a “good morning” or “good-bye” because he had to open his restaurant. But inherent insecurity had her wondering if the real reason he’d crept away in the early morning hours was because he couldn’t stand the sight of her, didn’t want to face up to sleeping with her again.

Sliding out from beneath the duvet, Emma opened the French doors that led out to a large redwood deck, complete with a hot tub and a view of grapevines. She took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of nature into her lungs. The beauty all around her refused to let her wallow in negative thoughts. Besides, what did she possibly have to complain about? She’d not only reconnected with Jason, but he’d made passionate love to her three times in two days. All of her dreams were coming true one by one, and now, the only thing she needed to do was make sure that she remembered to act like a fun sex goddess, rather than a sophisticated, yet desperate, suburban divorcée.

Maybe, Emma mused as the sun warmed her skin and a squirrel skipped from an oak tree limb onto the wires that held up the grapevines, if she could just keep Jason on his toes with increasingly wild and sexy antics that he couldn’t refuse, she could break through the wall around his heart that she herself had been so instrumental in constructing.

On any normal day, the first thing she would have done upon waking was go for a long run. She’d learned back in high school that running was the best way to stay thin. She’d never been fast enough to join the cross-country team, but she had the will to keep pounding the pavement, mile after mile.

But nothing about being here, in Napa, with Jason was normal. She felt like she was living in a fantasy world where she was having enough sex to easily offset her lack of exercise. Besides, in her rush she hadn’t packed her running shoes.

After a quick shower, she wrapped herself in his thick, extra-large robe and rummaged through her overnight bag for something flirty to wear, something that would make Jason’s eyes grow big with appreciation. But she already knew all she would find was a standard beige knee-length skirt and sweater set.

How had she lived thirty-two years in these clothes? No wonder her office assistants always rolled their eyes at her outfits. Could they be any more boring? Yes, it was definitely time for a change.