“Shh! Someone’s gonna hearyou.”
“And what? Freak out because I’m swimming? Please, I’ve done much worse, and again, nobody will come out here.” She splashes water my way. “Come on. The children will be here in less than two weeks, and we won’t be able to do this until they leave. Besides, I’m gonna be exhausted too.”
I scoff. “I don’t think there’s a timeline in which you’re exhausted.” When Lainey said she acted as if she was battery powered, she meant it. My head went straight to ways to tire her out, and I shook them out of my brain immediately, removing myself from the space I was sharing with her so I could think straight again. I’m a thirty-six-year-old man, and this one woman is pushing all my buttons in all the right places. I feel young and careless again.
“You can come race me and find out.” I take a sip of my beer as she shouts, “Trust me, there are plenty of activities that can tire me out.” I choke on the same sip.
Fuck.
She gasps. “Oh, you don’t know how to swim. Is that it?”
What?
“Aww, you poor baby. I happen to be an excellent teacher.”
I scoff, but she continues, this time floating on her back, and I fight for my life not to look at her perfect body again.
“You can get that round ass of yours over here—” Round ass? “—and I’ll teach you how to swim. It’ll be a great time, I promise.”
This woman.
“Now, if you’re just being a big ol’ chicken, that’s fine too. I won’t tease you, but you have to come in.”
You know what?Fuck it.
She keeps running her mouth as if there’s a motor behind her words. She’s so lost in the conversation she’s having with herself, she misses when I jump into freezing cold water, splashing it everywhere until I’m next to her, pulling her flush against me.
“Let me show—” the words die in my throat when it hits me. I thought she at least had some clothes on, but her round breasts are brushing against my chest right now, hard, tiny pebbled nipples pressing against my chest, and the heat of her pussy radiatesagainst my thigh. I realize how sorely mistaken I was, because Riley Banks is very much naked.
Naked and in my arms.
I tense, and she laughs. I’m glad someone finds her amusing. Me losing my job because of messing around with my boss’ little sister won’t be funny at all.
“What,cowboy? You’ve never had a naked woman against your body before?”
Brat.
Fucking brat.
Her sassy little mouth that I’m dying to taste, to kiss, to fuck.
I try to put space between us, trying to peel her off me as fast as I can, but she’s latching onto me like Velcro, wrapping her legs around my hips as she laces her fingers around my neck.
“So you do know how to swim, huh?”
“Riley.”
“Tell me, where did your words go, huh? Oh, that’s right—you only use those when you’re talking to anyone but me, or when you want to throw me off center.”
I shake my head, unable to form words. All I can think of,all I can feel, is Riley’s body against mine, how perfectly it molds to me.
All I want to do is kiss her lips and shut up her little spirals that hold no truth, because the last thing I want to do is throw her off center. What I want is for her to know that we, this, has no beginning, no way it can ever be anything more than an innocent crush.
“Riley.” Her name feels like a curse and a promise, both things I can’t handle right now, and it pains me to even mutter it like that. I’m silently pleading for mercy, begging for clemency. I’m praying she takes it easy on me and doesn’t take this as a rejection, because she didn't do anything wrong. The opposite. Because I’m greedy and can’t have enough.
“Live a little,” she whispers against my lips. I shut my eyes, pressing hard, willing her to go. Can’t she hear my silent plea?
She can’t, I don’t think so at all, since her lips brush against mine, ever so slightly. Tender, soft, careful.
