Voyeur - Lacey Alexander [51]
He gave a shrug. “We’re cousins, not best friends. I see her once or twice a year, generally around the holidays. I never realized she had a wild side.”
Laura looked sheepish. “Well, now you know. Just don’t tell her I accidentally let that out. But she’s the whole reason I had that sexy bra and panties I wore for you over the webcam. She wanted me to come here and get laid. I just don’t think she meant by you.”
He laughed softly. “Will you tell her?”
“Would you mind?”
He gave his head a short shake. “I’m a big boy. I’m sure my family knows I have sex with women.”
She bit her lip, looking all too bashful. “I won’t be giving her the details, though. I don’t think I could.”
He leaned closer, peering into her eyes, and reached back under the table to gently squeeze her knee. “All right then, honey—it’ll all be our secret.”
Normally, he probably would have told Tommy once it ended. Maybe another buddy or two at home with whom conquests were sometimes shared on the golf course. Not to degrade her in any way, but because she’d be out of his life, someone they’d never know, a nameless, faceless woman who would never matter again. Yet he understood how big this was for Laura—he understood, from every reaction she’d had, and every single persuasion, that she’d been giving him an unspoken trust that she’d never given anyone before. So he could be quiet about it for her afterward, even if the guys would never meet her and it wouldn’t really matter. He could keep the details of their mountainside affair secret.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice still, soft.
And without quite planning it, he found himself tenderly caressing the inside of her knee, just rubbing his fingers in small circles. She bit her lip, looking incredibly innocent yet ready as she sat there in that sexy, see-through robe that showed off every private part of her so well.
He smiled into her eyes as an idea came to mind. “Want to see some stars, snowflake?”
“See it?” he asked, having just relinquished the telescope to her. He’d shown her Orion and was now helping her locate Canis Major, explaining the latter was supposed to be Orion’s hunting dog.
“I think so.”
“That bright star at the dog’s neck is Sirius—it’s the brightest visible from Earth besides the sun.”
“Oh, I see it now,” she said, her lithe body flinching in delight at finding it. “I see the dog shape.” She took her eye from the telescope to glance up at him from her partially bent position. “Although those astronomers had a vivid imagination to think that was a dog.”
“This from the writer,” he said cynically, teasing her. “Okay, now let’s try another one. I’d show you Lepus, the rabbit that Orion and his dog are hunting, but if you can’t buy the dog shape, seeing the rabbit is hopeless for you. So let’s look for Gemini, the twins.”
Taking back control of the telescope, he moved it until he found the large constellation he sought. Then, stepping back so Laura could look, he explained how to find it among the stars he’d focused on. “The twins are like stick figures,” he concluded, rubbing his hand lightly over her ass through the filmy fabric that covered it, “tilted heavily to the left. Although mythologically, they weren’t really twins—just half brothers.”
Slowly, she looked up at him, her eyes filled with question. “How do you know about this stuff ?”
“Another hobby,” he said. “I wanted to be an astronaut when I was little, but I guess this and my pilot’s license are as close as I ever got. Now get back to looking for the twins.”
As she turned around, he wondered why he felt a little sheepish about what he’d just told her. He supposed he didn’t go around telling women things from his childhood—or how much he happened to know about the stars, either. Laura was so genuine, so sweet, that she made it easy to let out sides of himself that didn’t always make it to the surface.
“See ’em?” he asked, placing his hands gingerly at her hips.
“No.”
He sighed. “Then you’re not looking in the right place.” He leaned in behind her, arms closing