"I do."

I smiled as his mouth moved down my throat and over my collarbone. "Why don't you show me the first couple bases for now?"

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"Hullo?"

I held my breath for a moment, thinking this was probably a very bad idea.

"Hullo, is anyone there?"

"Hey, Collin, it's me. JJ. From work?"

"JJ. Yes, of course. Is everything okay?"

"I was just worried. About um, well, about about the mold."

"The mold." The flatness of his voice told me he wasn't buying my flimsy excuse.

"The scary mold you told me about?" I prompted.

"Yes, of course. I remembered right after I left that I never checked your shower. I do apologize for that." He hesitated. "You're frightened then?"

"A little," I admitted. "It might not just be the mold."

"Indeed, you had quite a scare this evening." He was quiet a moment. "Would you feel better if I came and did a quick check for Cryptococcus gattii or anything else that might be frightening?"

I nodded into the phone, feeling like a silly girl, but also feeling immensely relieved. "Would you mind?"

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Thanks, Collin."

I hung up the phone and got dressed, putting on the same jeans and boots and sweater I'd been wearing earlier.

Even though I was expecting it, I still jumped when the doorbell rang. I checked the peephole to be sure it was him, and then opened the door.

"Thanks for coming over at this hour," I said. "I was just scared and-"

"Say no more," Collin said, stepping inside. "Cryptococcus gattii is nothing to trifle with."

"Er, right. Okay, the mold is this way."

I led him down the hall to my tiny, cramped bathroom. Nudging the door open, I flipped the light switch to bathe the room in a soft, white glow. I took a moment to admire my pretty, polished pedestal sink, the waffle weave towels in coordinating shades of purple and lavender, the tiny bouquet of dried wildflowers arranged in a Pottery Barn vase on a small shelf above the toilet.

"Lovely," Collin said, stepping forward to admire my decor. At least, that's what I thought he was admiring. Then I caught the direction of his gaze and looked up. There, right where I'd hung them to dry the night before, was a tidy line of lacy bras and panties arranged on top of my shower curtain rod. I felt my face heat up, but pushed past him, determined not to let him see my mortification. Or my skivvies.

"I wasn't expecting to entertain a strange man in my bathroom this evening," I said, carefully plucking my unmentionables from the curtain rod and tucking them under my towels in the basket beside the sink.

"Ah, I see. You normally only entertain strange men in your bathroom on certain nights of the week?"

"Exactly."

Collin stepped forward, peering into the bathtub to study the grout lines along the wall. He peered at the shower curtain briefly before stepping over the rim of the bathtub to inspect it from the other side.

"Fascinating," he murmured, fingering the curtain.

I stepped closer, suddenly concerned at the thought that I might have been showering with deadly fungus for several weeks. "Is it the bad fungus you were talking about?"

He glanced over at me. "I have no idea. But this shower curtain is identical to the one in my ex-girlfriend's apartment."

I rolled my eyes. "These are your keen powers of scientific analysis at work?"

"It was merely an observation."

I took another step closer to the tub, admiring the way his amber eyes glittered behind his glasses.

"So can you really tell anything about this fungus without a microscope or something?"

"Come over here and take a look at this," he said, moving a little to the side to make room for me in the tub.

I hesitated just a moment before stepping over the edge and moving into place beside him. The smell of lilacs from my shower gel and water lilies from the candles on the edge of the tub caught me in the same breath as the warmth radiating from Collin's shoulder. I inhaled the scent of fresh grass and clean wool, wondering if it was a cologne or just Collin. I breathed in again, trying not to get too carried away by my senses.

Collin scooted over a few inches, his elbow brushing the side of my arm as I moved beside him. He didn't seem to notice, nor did he notice the way I leaned closer, wanting to feel more of that heat.

Collin leaned down, his face nearly level with mine as he peered at a spot on my shower curtain. He fingered the edge of the fabric, his arm brushing my shoulder as he moved. I gripped the edge of my soap dish for balance, wondering if it was always this hot in my bathroom.

"You see this right here?" he asked, his breath ruffling my hair and making me dizzy. I leaned closer.

"What, that little speck?" I asked, pointing.

"No, that's soap scum," he said, taking my finger and moving it up a few inches. "This little bit right here."

"Oh. Yes. Is that the deadly cyber fungus you were talking about?"

"Certainly," he said, his fingers still curled around mine as we stood there, our faces mere inches apart. "We're both going to go into cardiac arrest within the hour. Any final requests before you die?"

My heart was pounding hard. I knew he was joking about the fungus, but I didn't doubt that the risk of cardiac arrest was quite real.

I let my eyes slide to his, struggling to conjure up a snappy retort or a witty comment or maybe even a fire alarm that would rescue me from doing something really, really stupid with a man who had accused me of being a spy bent on sabotaging his job.

And that's when Collin kissed me.

The kiss caught me by surprise.

So did the trail of cold water that dribbled down my neck as I bumped the shower head.

I whimpered faintly, less from discomfort than from the sheer, hot pleasure of Collin kissing me in my bathtub.

Kissing me so beautifully, so thoroughly, that I didn't notice the water slithering down the leg of my jeans.

"Er, you seem to have turned on the faucet," Collin observed, not sounding too concerned as he continued kissing a trail down my jawbone and along my throat.

I nudged the tap off with my wrist, barely caring that the water had probably just ruined a $400 pair of boots. I just wanted Collin to keep kissing me. I slid my palms up his arms, over shoulders that were surprisingly muscled, and up the back of his neck. Twining my fingers in his hair, I caught the edge of his glasses, knocking them askew on his face. Without even breaking the kiss, Collin pulled them off and tossed them out of the bathtub.

I gripped the back of his head, pulling him to me, angling my body up so I could feel more of him. His hair was baby-fine and curled around my fingers. He responded by moving harder against me, the pressure of his chest making my breasts tingle pleasantly.

I was breathing hard now, dizzy with the scent of lilacs and lilies and Collin. His hands cupped my shoulder blades, curving around the pointed bones to press me more firmly against him as his mouth continued to do amazing things to my throat. I gasped as the tip of his tongue found the sensitive spot behind my left earlobe. I let my head fall back, willing myself not to lose consciousness and hit my head on the faucet.

Collin's hands slid lower, circling my lower back before sliding around to my waist, then up toward my ribcage. I felt him fumble with one of the buttons on my cardigan, then another. I tried to remember if I was wearing nice underwear or if I'd just stashed it all in my towel basket.

A few more inches, a few more buttons, and we'd both be finding out.

"This is crazy," I murmured. I was almost surprised to realize I'd said it out loud.

"Should I stop?" he breathed against my throat, his hand hesitating on the next button.

"No," I gasped. "Maybe. I don't know."

Collin stopped kissing, but kept his mouth on my throat, his palm against my ribcage. "You don't sound very certain," he murmured, his accent noticeably thicker.

I took a shuddery breath. "Don't you think there's something wrong about necking in the shower with a stranger I met at the dump a week ago? A stranger who has accused me of some very bad things?"

I felt his lips curve into a smile, his mouth still pressed to my neck. "A stranger from the dump. I like that. Makes it sound quite scandalous."

I opened my eyes and glanced around at my bathtub, at the half-bottle of expensive shampoo, at my pink razor resting on the rim of the tub, at Collin standing there fully clothed looking so irresistibly charming that I thought I might just be imagining the whole thing.

I took another breath.

"I forget. Don't we hate each other?"

"Right," Collin said. "Romance does tend to dampen hatred just a skosh."

I grinned. "This is your idea of romance?"

"I'm sorry. You don't find mold inspections to be erotic?" The rumble of his voice was so disturbingly arousing I shivered. A few more seconds and I was going to start taking off my clothes.

"Sadly, I do find it erotic. What does that say about me?"

Collin laughed and began to kiss his way perfunctorily back up my throat, under my chin, along my jawbone. He placed one last kiss on my left cheekbone then took a deep breath, his chest pressing harder against me for one dizzying, heart-stopping moment.

He drew back, his eyes blazing and a little unfocused as he slid his hands to my shoulders and held me away from him.

"We should probably stop," he breathed at last.

"Because the fungus will kill us and we only have a few more minutes to live?"

"Certainly. But you're right, this is a bit daft. We should take this more slowly or we might end up doing something irresponsible."

"Reckless," I breathed.

"Wanton."

"Risky."

"Salacious."

"Wild."

"Okay, I'm becoming lightheaded here," he said, and pulled back a little further. He slid his palms down my arms and found my hands, drawing them together and pulling them up to his mouth. He planted a light kiss on the knuckles of my right hand, then the left. His face was still flushed, his breathing still fast and irregular. I suspected that if I reached for his belt buckle, he wouldn't object.

I took a step back.

Bad idea. I hardly knew Collin at all, and the few interactions we'd had with each other had been mostly adversarial.

Then there was the issue of my relationship with Daniel and whatever funny thing was going on with Pete. Slow down, JJ, I told myself, and took another step back.

"Okay," I said brightly. "So I take it my bathroom is safe from deadly mold?"

Collin glanced quickly at my shower curtain, his expression making it clear he'd forgotten the entire reason we were standing fully clothed in my bathtub.

He let go of my hands and cleared his throat. "What you have here is just your standard, average, everyday shower mold. Nothing a little Clorox won't take care of. Sorry to disappoint. You might want to think about a new shower curtain though."

"Oh," I said. "Thank you. So what were you going to show me before before-"

"Before?" he repeated, looking amused.

"Right."

Collin poked his finger at a spot on the curtain. "This little bit of mildew right here looks just like Mickey Mouse's head."

I stared at him. He smiled. My knees weakened again and I averted my eyes, smoothing the front of my sweater.

"Well then," I said, waiting a moment before daring another look at him.

He was watching me, his expression unreadable. I didn't know what was going through his mind, but I knew I was still contemplating grabbing him by the neck of his sweater and dragging him to my bedroom.

"I should probably go," he said finally, his eyes telegraphing the message that he was none too eager to do that. "Unless you'd feel safer having me sleep on the couch tonight?"

It was a tempting offer. Very tempting.

But I wasn't so sure I was up for temptation tonight.

"Thanks, but I'll be okay. I really appreciate you coming over, Collin."