“Hellooo, baaaa-by!”

Startled, I floundered to cover my boobs while splashing water over the side of the tub and all across the floor in the process. “What the hell! What are you – get out of here!” I threw a loofah at him but in my haste I missed.

Ignoring my demand, Rob moseyed over to kneel beside the bathtub, propping his arms on the edge and smirking at my compromising position. There weren’t any bubbles left to hide under, so I quickly drew my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. “What are you, deaf? I said get out!”

“I heard what you said.” To my amazement, he dipped his fingers in the water and swirled them around. “Water’s getting cold.”

“Then take your hand out of it!” I snapped, my cheeks flushing pink.

“I think we should let it out.” He reached underwater for the drain stopper, and his grin slowly spread as my eyes widened.

“Don’t you dare.”

“See…payback’s a bitch, now isn’t it?”

“Don’t touch that drain. I mean it.” To my horror, I felt an overwhelming urge to laugh and I pressed my lips together to suppress a smile. For some idiotic reason, whenever I get nervous I start giggling like a deranged person. I have no idea why. It’s very annoying, especially because it happens at the most inopportune moments.

“I thought we were playing You-Show-Me-Yours-And-I’ll-Show-You-Mine.” He lifted the edge of the stopper just enough to tease me, allowing a small amount of water to escape. “Well, you had your go and now it’s my turn.”

“I think you’ve had one too many beers!” That probably wasn’t even far from the truth. After all, I’d never seen him acting this cheeky before.

“Whoops. Oh my goodness – what do we have here?” He plucked the stopper completely out and held it up, just out of my reach. The water began to rush down the drain. To me it seemed to be disappearing ten times faster than usual.

“It’s not funny!” I protested, even though I was struggling not to giggle at that point. My shoulders were shaking.

“I’m not the one laughing,” he reminded me.

“All right – fine, you got me back. Ha, ha, you’re so clever. At least hand me a towel.”

“Mm…I don’t think so.”

“Hand me a freaking towel!” The water was getting perilously low, and I shoved one foot over the drain to try and diminish the flow.

“You didn’t say please…” he sang softly.

“Rob…” I looked straight at him then, directly into those hazel eyes, and something I saw in them squashed my impulse to laugh. I don’t know what it was, but all of a sudden the only impulse I felt anymore was the overpowering urge to kiss him. And not only that. I had the craziest compulsion to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him on top of me and let him do me six ways to Sunday, right there in the bathtub.

My expression must have been transparent because his smile inexplicably faded. He hesitated for a moment, his eyes searching mine. For what, I can’t say. But I guess he didn’t find what he was looking for there. Straightening, he tossed me the drain stopper and walked out without a word.