CHAPTER SEVENTEEN; Having fun

Rose was ravenous. After an intense make out session in the hotel room near the hospital that she'd been spending her nights where Laurent had once again refused her touch, but brought her to about three orgasms, she felt hungry enough to eat a cow. She settled for ice-cream, not exactly logical but she had her reasons.

She smirked at Laurent who was making it no secret that he was adjusting his trousers. She licked the top of her ice cream cone again and moaned in delight, making him gasp and tug on his trousers again. If the man insisted on being the responsible one, she had to take her fun where she could. And right now, it was giving her utmost joy to make him worked up in public; next time they were in private, he wouldn't hesitate to take what she was offering.

"Knock it off Rose," he growled and she laughed.

"Stop what?" she took another deliberate lick of the cone, "This?"

Without warning, he shoved the ice-cream cone away and dragged her away from the tree they'd been lounging under.

She yelped, "Hey, that was a perfectly good ice cream"

"I'll get you the whole damn truck later" he muttered, pulling her along.

She laughed and allowed him to drag her away from the cocoon of trees at the back of the hotel. He headed towards the pool and as she was assuming he'd drag her into the bathroom or changing room, he pushed her into the water. The cold water, fully clothed. She shouted in outrageous laughter and took a gulp of the chlorinated water for her effort. From outside the pool, Laurent watched with a mischievous look on his face as she tried to remove her now tangled hair from her face. When she'd done the best she could, the bastard dived fully clothed into the pool, splashing her and then dunking her into the water. 

Screaming, she reciprocated, shoving him and trying to dunk every part of him that she could reach. Naturally, she tired long before him and had to endure one of his hands holding both of hers above her head, while the other one splashed water straight at her face. 

By the time they both stumbled out, her hair was a mess, her fingers were pruned, and she had to hold her stomach against the stabbing pain that was only getting worse the harder she laughed.

"You barbarian," she gasped out.

His eyes glinted dangerously as he glanced from her to the pool and back. Her eyes widened. "Don't you dare," she warned, backing away. 

He took a step forward, and she bolted, ignoring the judging looks that were being directed towards them and the puddles their wet dresses were making. Right now though, she couldn't care less. They were outside.

Eventually, Laurent stopped, holding up his hands in a surrendering gesture. Which she didn't believe one bit. She also stopped, leaving a few feet between them. 

"Okay, Rose. I'll stop"

She peeked at him from under her brows. With the way she was dripping water all the way from her hair, she was sure the attempt made her look more like a drowned fish than the doe-eyed sultry goddess she'd been aiming for. As if in confirmation, Laurent laughed.

"You've still not figured out why we just took a nice swim in the pool?" he asked.

"To prove that you're a wicked, evil creature?"

A look crossed his eyes, and then as suddenly as it appeared, was gone. She could hear the difference in his next laugh.

"That, and to calm down"

"Calm down?"

"Yup. I couldn't let your plan succeed. I'd have been blue-balled as fuck"

Oh. "You bastard" she cried, jumping him all of a sudden and pummeling his shoulders with her fists.

"Ow, ow, ow Rose. What was that for?" he asked, pulling her off him.

"You threw me into the pool"

"That was ages ago," he replied.

"Yes, well, I just realized the reason why" she crossed her arms under her breasts, emphasizing what she knew was the transparent material covering it.

He grabbed both her hands again, "Hey, none of that. If you make me hard again, I'll dump you into the pool again"

She shrugged, "And that's bad because?"

He chuckled at that. Then picking a towel from God knew where, he wrapped her in the fluffy material and rubbed her hair with a smaller one. 

She fell a little bit more in love with him.

Back in her room, she yawned a second time as Laurent came out of the bathroom in a bathrobe. While she wanted to know what he was hiding under the robe, their earlier activities had made her tired. She yawned again, and he glanced sharply at her.

"You're tired"

"Well, a barbarian twice my size decided to wrestle with me in the cold pool. It's not exactly a surprise"

He grinned cheekily, "I'm not twice your size, Love. But are you sure you're up to taking your bath? I feel like you're yawning every six seconds."

She yawned again, "I have to. There's no way I'm sleeping with chlorine in my hair"

He looked at her, then dashed back into the bathroom. She took the opportunity to sit on the chair. With the towel covering her hair, she was no longer dripping. She was startled awake when she felt someone touch her elbow.

"Hey, it's me. Come on, let's go" he held her waist and forced her to stand up.

She did her best to struggle but she was as weak as a new-born. "Maybe I can sleep like this, after all. Just for 20 minutes," she pleaded.

"No," was the curt response and then he supported her to the bathroom. She saw the outline of steam before her brain understood what was happening. He'd prepared a hot bath for her. She blinked up at him, speechless at the action"

He only smiled back, "Come on, let's get this towel off you. Time to get into the tub"

She couldn't even assist him as he unwrapped the towel and removed the underwear she still had on. She breathed a sigh of relief as she was lowered into the water. After the temperature in the pool, it was a bit too much but her body quickly adapted to the temperature. 

She sighed again as she felt the sponge on her skin, "Are you really going to bathe me?" she murmured.

"Hmm"

"Are we gonna have sex tonight?" She tried next.

"No"

She huffed, "When 'm awake then" 

That was the last thing she remembered. Next she knew she was being covered by a blanket in a soft bed, feeling the soft touch of lips on her forehead.

"I'm sorry, Rose" she thought she heard him whisper, but that was probably her imagination. He had nothing to be sorry for. It had been the best day of her life.