Kai did not hesitate. “I would.”
She clucked her tongue. “Sococky.”
“I’m not the one starting hypothetical fights.”
“You’re certainly not the one ending them,” she said sweetly.
With a huff of laughter, Kai rolled onto his front and swam slowly back to the water’s edge, parting the surface with long strokes of his strong arms. He waded close enough to rest his elbows on the bank and peered up at her beneath the damp waves of his hair, droplets beading like little jewels on his face, his throat, his shoulders.
She fixed him with a glare.
“Stop that.”
Kai only blinked up at her, eyes widening to flash the green in their hazel. She wascertainhe meant to remind her how prettily they matched the leafy canopy above their heads.
“Stop what?” he said innocently.
“Trying to distract me from our hypothetical fight.”
Kai leaned his weight into his hands, dragging himself halfway out of the water until they were face to face, his lips a breath from her own and his eyes wickedly bright. Adeline tried not to notice the cording in his biceps as he held himself up; she failed miserably. Stupid, beautiful arms. His grin sharpened at her audible swallow, and when he spoke, his voice was low and smooth.
“It wouldn’t be much of a fight, Princess.”
And whatever retort she might have managed was crushed between them when he leaned in and caught her mouth against his own. If he hadn’t been distracting before, he certainly was now—distracting andsilencing. He kissed her so thoroughly she forgot how to breathe. Kai shifted to one arm so he could cup the nape of her neck in his hand, spreading his fingers in her hair; tilting her head, tracing her jaw, tongue parting her lips. A thrill of sensation cascaded down her spine, warm and heady enough that for a moment she didn’t even register his hand at her throat. Did not miss the weight of the pendant, either—not until the wave of cold spring water was already crashing over her head.
Adeline broke their kiss with a scream, clutching tight to Kai by instinct, and then immediately breaking their embrace with an almighty shove. His laughter burbled on the surface as he disappeared beneath the water, but he emerged still chuckling, sweeping his wet hair out of his eyes. He had the audacity tolook absolutely devastating, standing upright in the waist-high shallows with shimmering beads collecting in the hollows of his chest and the lines of his abdomen. The pendant in his hand caught the light as he held it up, glinting green in time with his wink.
Adeline gave a low, shivering growl as she pushed to her knees and yanked her wet dress over her head.
“Oh, you havenoidea what you’ve started, Your Majesty.”
Kai didn’t look particularly worried as she slid into the water in her underthings. Quite the opposite, in fact. He remained where he was, toying idly with the chain of the pendant and casting a glance at her beneath his brows as she fought to wade closer. All at once, the pressure of the water shifted, parting like nothing more than air when a forceful wave took her by the hips and dragged her across the short distance. She landed, squealing, against Kai’s chest, and when she recovered enough to make a swipe for the pendant, he immediately raised it above his head and out of her reach.
He smirked. “You’ll have to do better than that.”
Adeline attempted another scowl, but the effect was quite ruined by the giddy laughter that bubbled out of her. She rose on her toes, straining for the pendant once more, but succeeding only in bringing herself face to face with her tormentor, where it was all too easy for him to catch her in another kiss. She didn’t pull away; didn’t even consider it at first, and when her competitive streakdidtug at her attention, she ignored it a moment longer.
She could let the kiss unwind.
Let herself sink into him, hands spread across his bare chest. Let loose a needy little mewl against his lips that had himgroaning and kissing her deeper, his hand lowering to grasp at the back of her waist and crush her body against his. She felt the cold bite of the pendant on her skin, and a thrill of triumph rang through her, chasing the spill of heat that Kai’s touch sent down her spine. Victory was just within her reach, and the eager edge to her kiss only worked in her favour, drawing Kai further and further from his own wits.
Her hands travelled slowly down his chest, one smoothing over the taut swell of his arm and the other dipping beneath the water to trace the muscular vee of his hips. His mouth parted against hers in a low groan—and she had him. He was still blinking the heat away when Adeline bounced backward with the pendant in hand. She waved it at him, and as he stared uncomprehendingly after her, she returned his earlier wink, perhaps atouchmore viciously.
And Kai huffed a laugh.
“Well played,” he said, still half-panting. “Still making good use of those training room tactics, I see.”
She beamed sweetly at him as she fastened the pendant around her neck.
“Why change a winning strategy?”
“If I say you won, will you come back over here?”
She hummed, considering. “Only if you say itverynicely.”
Kai spread his arms wide, watching her from beneath a cocked brow as he offered his conceding bow.
“You win,” he said.
