Demanding Ransom (28 page)

Ran’s
broad shoulders and the muscles that wrap around them pull with each movement,
and his waist tapers perfectly into a V like a swimmer’s body. He still isn’t
facing me when he slinks slowly into the water and settles in. The jets make
the water roll like it’s boiling, and the steam rising out of it produces a
haze that makes the disparity in temperature between the water and the air so
evident.

I close
my eyes, pull in air because I had briefly stopped doing that, and reach my
hand to the door. I’m met with an icy chill that freezes me in place.

Ran
spins around at the sound of the door gliding open. “I didn’t think you’d
actually show.”

I’m a
little insulted, though I shouldn’t be. I’m still shocked that I’m here, too.

“I’m a
woman of my word.”

Ran
snickers. I walk the four feet on the decking toward the hot tub, my bare toes
curling against the contact on the frozen wood. Ran scans me up and down, and a
look of disappointment flits across his features before he replaces it with a
wide grin. “I’m glad you came.”

The hot
tub is sunken into the deck, so I’ll have to step down into it. But I hadn’t
counted on him being here, watching me as I take off my t-shirt to enter the
water, so I pause, playing out the scene in my head. If I remove my shirt now,
then it will look like I’m stripping for him, and I’m not about to do that. I
would look awkward and clumsy, and on top of that, it’s totally ridiculous. But
if I wear the shirt in the hot tub, I’ll look like an idiot. After two minutes
of vacillating, I decide being an idiot is better than an inexperienced,
amateur stripper.

Ran’s
been eyeing me the entire time, and when I put my toe in the water with my
over-sized t-shirt still clinging to me, he lets out a soundless laugh of air
that hangs frozen in front of him until the steam from the spa vaporizes it.

“That’s
how you’re going to do this?”

“Do
what?” I’m up to my thighs now, and the water burns my skin like hundreds of
tiny needles slicing into my flesh. My legs feel like an abused pincushion. How
did he slip in so gracefully? “Is this like a thousand degrees?” I suck in a
breath that puffs up my chest and I’m grateful for the shirt because I really
don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to how ill fitting this swimsuit is on
me.

“It’s
102.” Ran slides down in his seat and angles his neck back to take advantage of
the spa’s headrest as the jets bubble right at his shoulders. “And it’s
perfect. You’ll get used to it.”

“I’m not
so sure.”

Ran
lifts a brow. “I can name a couple other incredibly hot things that you’ve
gotten used to, Maggie,” he says, his white teeth gleaming under a haughty
smirk.

I have to
grit my own teeth for so many different reasons: to keep them from chattering
in the below freezing temperatures, to keep them from grinding against one
another to absorb the pain the searing water inflicts, and to keep them from
letting the sigh slip past that’s been on the back of my tongue since first
seeing Ran in just his swim trunks. I lower myself so the waterline hits right
above my waist and grip the edges of the spa to keep from sliding in deeper.

“You
look crazy tense, Maggie.” Ran is in the water all the way, so the froth from
the jets skims just under his earlobes. “
Relax
.
This is supposed to be relaxing. I’m pretty sure that’s why hot tubs were
invented.”

Nothing
about me is relaxed; every inch of me is tightened with anxiety, like I’m some
twisted coil ready to spring. The only way to get over the pain and the nerves
is to push myself to do this in one swift motion. Like diving into the deep end
as a kid. That’s what I’m doing. I’m diving in.

I draw
in one unsteady breath and unlock my knees to sink into the water so it rushes
over the top of my head. It burns me from scalp to toe, but the sting is easier
to endure when it all happens at once. Like ripping off a Band-Aid. I stay
under just long enough to drench my hair and as I rise above the surface, I
crane my neck so my hair spills down my back instead of over my face. I smooth
it under my fingers, pulling at the tangled ends. Once the water slips from my
eyes, I open them.

That’s
when I see Ran.

His eyes
are the largest they’ve ever been and his mouth is open like it’s ready for
words to drop from it, but nothing comes. I see his broad chest rise and fall
rapidly just under the surface of the water, and he shakes his head quickly
like a dog after a bath.

“Are you
okay?” I ask, genuinely concerned because he looks like he’s in pain. Maybe the
temperature of the spa is finally getting to him, too.

“Um…”
Nothing else comes out. He hasn’t blinked for at least a minute.

“Ran?” I
wave a hand in front of his face. “Are you alright?”

Still
nothing.

“Ran?”

He
blinks three times, his dark eyelashes flickering. “Yeah?”

“I asked
if you were okay.” I scoop all of my hair to one side and wring it between my
hands and the droplets that trickle to the surface of the water are swallowed
up in the jet-created foam. I shouldn’t have dove under like that. Now my hair
is absolutely freezing, completely soaked and chilled by the frosty air. With
my luck the strands will probably turn into icicles and break right off and
I’ll end up sporting some ridiculous pixie haircut that I definitely can’t pull
off.

“No, I’m
not okay.” His face remains expressionless. “I’m recuperating, Maggie.”

“Recuperating?
From what?” I wrap my hair in a bun and use a strip of it to tie around it and
hold in place. I’m a little worried it might permanently stay this way.

“From
just witnessing the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

My
entire body jolts and I contemplate jumping out of the hot tub.

“Shut
it.” I can’t come up with anything else to say, and since that seems to be my
go-to with Ran, I use it freely.

“Seriously.
That was hot.”

I want
to drown myself right here in this mini whirlpool. I think there’s probably
room to if I really tried. Why is it that I seem to find a way to absolutely
humiliate myself in front of Ran in every situation that we’re in?

“I
wasn’t trying to be hot.” The fact that I’ve kept on this oversized shirt is
proof of that. “I’m wearing a t-shirt, Ran.”

“I see
that.” He glances down and I sink up to my shoulders under the bubbling current
to hide from his gaze. “And trust me, it’s hot.”

When I
bind my arms over me, I suddenly realize that I’ve just given Ran his very own,
private, wet t-shirt contest viewing. Seriously, I’m beginning to think the
Dough Boy ensemble from earlier was much more my speed.

“Maggie,”
Ran says, wiggling his shoulders under the stream from the jets. “I know you’re
trying to be modest, and I find that cute as hell.”

“I’m not
trying to be anything.” I make the mistake of lifting my shoulders out of the
water, and it’s as though the fabric instantly freezes into a thin sheet of ice
layered over my body. Maybe the shirt wasn’t such a good idea.

“You
have
to be freezing in that, right?”

I bite
down hard on my frost-covered bottom lip and I’m sure I’m going to pay for that
tomorrow. Like at the dentist when they numb you and you can’t feel a thing and
spend all day chomping down without worry, only to realize you’ve mangled your
mouth once the numbness wears off.

“You’re going
to freeze with that on, just so you know.” Ran closes his eyes and curls into
his corner of the spa, allowing the jets to massage his back and neck.

“I
know.” I half-swim, half-walk over to the seat diagonal from Ran and slip down
under the water like he has.

“So take
it off.” His eyes are still closed. “I promise I won’t watch, Maggie. As badly
as I might want to.”

“I’m
fine.” I allow myself to relax a little now that I’m under the water. The heat
feels good against my aching muscles, each one feeling the burn from the many
trips down the mountain earlier this afternoon.

“If
you’re planning to keep yourself covered, I just wish you would have borrowed
one of my shirts instead.” Ran’s eyes remain closed, almost as though he’s
daydreaming. “That might be the only thing to make this hotter, if that’s even
possible.”

“I’ll
just have to see about getting one from you, then.”

Ran’s
eyes open slowly and the smile that eases onto his mouth can be seen in them,
too. “Are you having a good time, Maggie?” The roll of the jets makes it so he
has to talk loudly to be heard, especially because I’m still several feet away
from him, occupying my own personal hot tub corner.

“Here at
the cabin? Or with you?”

“Both.”
Ran lifts his arms out of the water and folds them up behind his neck. His
biceps flex with the effort and I can’t help but follow the rivulets of water
that slide down them. I’m starting to get dizzy. Damn it. How long does it take
to dehydrate from staying in a spa too long?
 
It has to be more than five minutes,
right?

“It’s
not so bad,” I reply vaguely.

Ran’s
shoulders lift an inch in laughter. He’s humoring me, I’m sure. “You do realize
that you have me half naked in a hot tub and you’re still pretending I have
cooties, don’t you? This would be a dream come true for most women.”

I don’t
answer him. I try to, but the words die in my mouth, along with any other
response other than launching across the hot tub toward him to claim the kiss
that I’ve been craving all day. I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t stand it
any longer.

“I need
to do something.”

Ran
cocks his head. “And that is?”

I
briefly seal my eyes shut and when I open them, I hold up my index finger. “You
have the deepest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.” Ran tilts his head further to the
left so it’s almost resting on his shoulder, like he’s trying hard to
understand what I’m doing. “Seriously, when I look into them, it’s like I’m
staring into the depths of the ocean—like I’m diving into some unexplored
world that holds so many secrets and discoveries. They’re captivating, Ran.” I
pause.
 
“
You’re
captivating.”

I feel
like I’m in a fight with the volume of the jets and they’re winning, so I swim
off my seat and lessen the gap between us so I don’t have to shout over the
motor. I raise another finger. “Your quick wit and well-placed
innuendos—though incredibly inappropriate at times—are a major turn
on. I want to hate you for what they do to me, but it’s hard to hate something
that makes you feel
that
good.”

Ran’s
eyes are smaller than they were a minute ago, and his brow is pulled taut over
them as he strains to understand.

I hold
up three fingers.

“I love
your loyalty. With your job, with your dad, with
me
. Even when you don’t get anything out of it. It’s an
overwhelmingly admirable trait—not one you see in many guys your
age—and it sets you apart from everyone else.”

I scoot
across the hot tub nearer to Ran so we’re just a little over a foot from one
another. He’s dropped his hands from behind his neck and now has them laced
across his chest, his head still slightly cocked and his lips pursed in mild
confusion.

I hold
up a fourth finger.

“I love
your willingness to forgive, and the grace you extend toward those that have
wronged you. Many people go to the grave harboring hatred and guilt, but you realize
the importance of each day and the necessity to give it up. You’re incredibly
wise, Ran. There are people that cling to a grudge on their deathbed, unwilling
to let it out of their grasp. You’re not like that, and it’s the most
refreshing thing about you.”

I hear
him swallow and see his Adam’s apple pull in his throat nervously. I regulate
my breathing, bring myself so close to him that I’m all but in his lap, and
hold up my hand, all five fingers raised, as I face him. Ran lifts his hand out
of the water and presses his palm to mine, the trail of liquid curving down our
fingers to the length of our arms. His eyes don’t falter from mine when he
hooks his free arm around my waist and pulls me all the way to him. The
resistance of the water softens our movements and I glide forward so I’m
pressed to his chest. Our linked hand is chilled by the exposure to the air and
he rests it between us, but my shirt freezes against our skin and the shiver
that overtakes me can’t be hidden.

With the
hand that’s around my waist, Ran fingers the hem swimming along my stomach and
raises an eyebrow as if to ask for permission. I nod and he gently pulls the
shirt up. It’s sodden with water and the heaviness makes it hard for him to do
one handed, so I help by wriggling out of it. It’s an odd sensation that once
it’s finally off of me, I feel so much warmer than before.

“You.
Are. So. Beautiful,” Ran breathes in between kisses pressed onto my forehead,
my cheek, across my nose, and onto my other cheek. He leans his head back and
drinks me in. I want to wrap my arms over myself to hide from his gaze because
this swimsuit makes me feel vulnerable and exposed. But the expression held on
Ran’s face makes me feel anything but those two things. Seeing him adore me
like this strips away any of the earlier fear that I had.