He laughed. “No.” He slipped one shoe off, then the other. “But they’re hot as hell.”

“I thought so, too.”

He took her hands and pulled her up, then turned her around so her back was to him. “I like these laces in the back.”

He started undoing them. “But honestly, Molly. I’m going to have to get you out of this thing, because I want to touch your skin.”

She inhaled, let out a breath. “That would be nice.”

Every touch of Carter’s hands along her back was sweet torment. And he took his time undoing the laces, which she’d had to embarrass herself and ask her sister to do up for her while she was getting dressed at her parents’ house. Which meant Emma had known what she was planning, but once she’d bought the corset, there was no other way, because she couldn’t get into the thing without help.

Or out of it, for that matter.

Emma had been nice enough not to say a word, other than give her a secret smile in the bathroom mirror as she’d laced her up. She owed her sister—big time.

And now, as Carter oh-so-delicately and oh-so-slowly undid the laces, she bit down on her lower lip. She’d had no idea that someone getting her out of this corset could be such a sensual thing, but his knuckles caressed her back, and his breath sailed across her neck and there was his erection she knew he deliberately brushed against her butt, making her incredibly aware that this was taking way too damn long.

Until he separated the back of the corset and turned her around to face him.

“While I like this—a lot—that was some damn torture, Moll.”

“For me, too.”

He looked down, his fingers grazing the swell of her breasts. “Did it hurt?”

“That’s not exactly what I meant.”

He lifted his gaze to her face. “What did you mean, then?”

“That while you were back there undoing the laces, I was kind of hoping you’d hurry up.”

He pulled the corset from her, tossing it to the chair, then cupped her breasts in his hands, using his thumbs to draw circles around her nipples. “Are you on a timetable, Molly? Do you have a curfew?”

She cocked her head to the side and shot him a look. “No. And you know what I mean.”

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I was thinking when I first saw you that I wanted you naked and underneath me in an instant, so yeah, I get the impatience, believe me. But we have all night, right?”

“Yes, we do.”

“Good. Because I want to take my time so I can put my mouth and my hands on every inch of your body.”

If he kept talking to her—and touching her—this way, she was going to explode. She supposed that was the end game, but he was stretching her patience to the limits, especially when he knelt down and peeled her stockings off, every movement way too slow to her liking. Still, she appreciated the way he skimmed his fingers over her calves and back up her legs, pausing to kiss her thighs.

Her breath held, especially when he nudged her legs apart and kissed her inner thighs.

She felt those bolts on his neck slide along her legs, lifted her head . . .

And saw a green Frankenstein face. She expected him to make some kind of grr noise.

She burst out laughing.

Carter jerked his head up.

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” she said between fits of laughter. “But Frankenstein is going down on me.”

He cocked a brow, jerked on the bolts glued to his neck, pulling them off. “I told you.”

“I know you did. I just didn’t expect . . .” She laughed again.

He stood. “Don’t. Move. I’ll be right back.” He headed toward the bathroom, then stopped, turned to her and pointed. “And don’t start without me.”

That made her laugh even harder. She rolled onto her side. “I promise to let you do all the work.”

She heard the water turn on, then it hit her that she could stand to rinse the white stripes of temporary hair dye out of her own hair and the fake blood off her neck. On the plus side, she’d been dying to try out Carter’s oversized shower.

She grinned and pushed the bathroom door open, letting the warm steam envelope her, then opened the shower door.

Carter’s back was to her, and she admired the muscle she saw there. He turned to face her.

“Much better,” she said, looking at his clean face as she shut the shower door behind her.

“Decided on a shower, or did you just miss me?” he asked, moving out of her way so she could stand under the jets.

“Both.” She let the spray wet her hair, then reached for the shampoo bottle. “Plus, if you were going to wash the monster away, I probably should, too.”

“Babe, there was nothing monstrous about you. You just looked full-on sex bomb.”

She couldn’t resist grinning as she shampooed her hair. “Well. Thanks for that compliment. But you know, I’m already in your shower, naked, so you don’t have to throw them my way.”

“Just stating the truth.”

After she rinsed her hair and used some conditioner, he grabbed body wash and poured it into his hands, then soaped her up from her shoulders down to her toes, which felt amazing, especially since he once again took his time touching her body, lingering at her breasts and between her legs, turning her into a quivering pile of turned-on woman. By the time she rinsed, she tingled all over. The pulsing jets and the warm steamy water only added to the sensual allure of being in the shower with him.

Plus, she had to admit, she liked having warm, wet, naked Carter all to herself. His hair stuck up in spikes, his eyes looked a more clear green, and his erection hadn’t abated since the moment she’d stepped into the shower with him, a fact she took quite personally in the best possible way.

When he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to kiss her, she moaned against him, needing to feel his body against hers. She wrapped her hand around the nape of his neck, glad to be rid of the makeup and costumes and just feel naked flesh against naked flesh.

And when he cupped her breast and teased her nipple, she sucked on his tongue, urging him on. His cock slid between her legs and if it weren’t for the fact they didn’t have a condom in the shower, he could be inside her right now, assuaging the ache that beat an incessant rhythm deep in her core.

But soon his hand was there, massaging her, his fingers sliding inside as his thumb found her clit and rubbed back and forth.