The towel dangled like bait for a trap #mfrwhooks
I’m continuing with a sneak peek at the opening of my WIP — the third and final book in the Passion Island trilogy, Triple Wedding.
Teegan, who gets a shock when she gets home from work — a stranger is in her house, wrapped only in a towel. He claims to be the brother of her roommate, but she’s never heard of him.
He sighed. “I arrived in Eastcott this afternoon with only a rucksack and the clothes on my back, so she said I could stay here awhile. She gave me the teal room…if that’s all right with you.”
Although Teegan kept most of her consternation inside, she let her face show a bit of it. Any friend—or brother—of Mercedes was a friend of hers. That went without saying.
But if he was destitute, could he be trusted not to steal?
The fact that Mercedes was honest proved nothing. Just look at her own family. Teegan’s sister Pandora was an immoral disgrace, but that proved nothing about her.
“Do you want your towel back now,” he said, “or can it wait until I’m dry?”
“Very funny.” At least she hoped he was joking. “It can wait.”
She shouldn’t feel the heat of blood suffusing her cheeks. Addoray’s colonists had left most of Earth’s nudity taboos behind. Bathhouses were coed, public—and clothes-free. It was a signpost of her success that she had a tub large enough to share with all the friends she didn’t have time to make.
Nudity was acceptable in the controlled environment of a bathhouse, but she was alone in the house, chatting with a naked guy in the close quarters of the hallway. The air seemed to tingle against her flesh, reminding her of the situation’s intimacy. She was way too tired for flirtation, though not as tired as when she’d come through the door.
“Nice to have met you, my sister’s extremely generous roommate.” He inclined his head in a deep nod, an unusual but gallant note of politeness, and then went into the teal room. Before he shut the door all the way, he looked out and met her gaze.
The door hid him, except for a now-naked hip…and a tantalizing bit more. He extended his arm through the opening. The towel dangled from his hand like bait for a trap.
When she didn’t take it, he dropped it and closed the door.
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