Free Vegas Knights by Marina Maddix Page A

pairs of shoes, from running shoes to the most uncomfortable-but-exquisite-looking pair of silver Manolo Blahniks. Her fingers grazed the strap of one, tingling at the rhinestones that pocked its length.  
      Kelly pulled herself free from the gravitational pull of the closet. But all the pretty clothes , a voice inside her head whined. "No," she told the voice. "We're going to take a shower and go exploring."
    The light from the bedroom windows allowed her to gauge the scale of the bathroom as she searched for the light switch, but when her hand passed over an almost invisible panel and the room blazed into brightness, she was dumbfounded. The master bath was almost as large as her entire apartment. Granite countertops were speckled with actual fossils. A 10-foot square shower was situated next to the biggest bathtub she’d ever seen. Heated towel racks lined one wall. Two toilets sat side-by-side behind a glass block partition. This stumped her until she realized with a smack to the forehead that the funny looking one with all the knobs must be a bidet. She’d never seen one up close.
    She turned a circle in the middle of the room, taking it all in. Then she caught sight of herself in the full-length mirrors that lined one wall. Her blond hair hung in sweaty clumps around her face, which was streaked with dirt. Her leathers hugged her large frame. Curious, she turned her back to the mirror and craned over her shoulder to see what her ass looked like in them. "Ugh. No wonder he left in a hurry."
    Vowing to never look in those mirrors again, Kelly pulled open every drawer and cabinet until she found the toiletries and towels. She was no longer overheated since the apartment was nicely air conditioned, but she was certainly looking forward to spending some time out of the leathers. She shrugged out of her jacket and pulled her t-shirt over her head. The cool air made her nipples pebble. Invigorated, she peeled the pants off, then rolled the soggy — and rather ripe — wicking bottoms down her curvy thighs.  
    She couldn't help glancing at the mirror again, but this time she didn't wince. Instead she turned this way, then that way, appraising herself. She was a big girl, and no amount of dieting would ever change that. At six feet, she towered over most women and many men, and her full figure only added to her resemblance to Xena, Warrior Princess. But unlike Xena, she was a good 15 pounds over her ideal weight — a weight that many women would probably consider obese — but her breasts were perky, she had nice, soft curves, and her round ass stood out proudly from her body. She ran her hands down her damp skin, thinking it was a body a man could get lost in. In point of fact, he had.
    She could almost understand why Rick was attracted to her. Almost.
    Skimming her hands up and across her breasts, she caressed the tight tips. Feeling sexy despite the layer of grit coating her skin, she cocked out a hip, thrust her chest up and out, and ran her hands up to her hair. She was going for a classic Brigitte Bardot pose but when her fingers became entangled in her sweaty locks and she got a whiff of her armpits, the illusion shattered. "Yuck! Time for the shower."
    Stepping into the tiled stall, Kelly discovered four nozzles situated vertically on all three sides, with a large showerhead centered above each of the three sets. The control knobs and buttons were far from self-explanatory, but after a few minutes of fiddling — and a few unexpected blasts of cold water in very unwelcome places — she figured out what each one controlled and had the glass door steamed over in no time.
    Standing under the spray of the main showerheads washed away the filth that the weak showers in the grimy motels couldn't touch. The apricot scrub she found in a drawer pinked her skin while the coconut butter conditioner filled the room with a tropical scent. The only way this could get any better is if Rick walked in right now , she thought. She