I gasp and look at him with mock offense. “Cute little piglet? How dare you. You can’t just say things like that to me.”
His smile widens. “Looks like I just did.”
I flick water at him. He splashes me back, and for a minute we’re just two grown men acting like children, sending water over the edges of the tub until we’re both laughing too hard to keep going.
When it quiets again, Noah shifts a little closer, water rippling around his shoulders. There’s something softer in his face now, something warm that makes my pulse kick.
“I’m glad you came with me this weekend,” he says quietly. “I don’t think I could’ve survived this on my own.”
I want to ask what Rick said to him in the woods, what exactly rattled him so badly, but I don’t want to break whatever this is. So I just look at him, a little dazed, suddenly too aware of how close he is. “I’m glad I came too.”
For a moment we just sit there, with nothing between us but the sound of the water. Then, in the distance, I hear voices getting louder. The others must be heading over from the lake.
“The goblins are coming,” Noah says with a quiet laugh, clearly hearing them too, but he doesn’t move away. If anything, he edges closer.
“Yeah,” I say, my voice coming out rougher than I mean it to.
Then it happens.
I don’t know who moves first, him or me, but suddenly Noah is right in front of me, his hand sliding around the back of my neck, his face tilted up toward mine. There’s a beat, one suspended breath where he just looks at me, his eyes asking a question I don’t know how to answer.
Then he kisses me.
This isn’t like last night’s kiss, the one that started as performance and turned into something else. It isn’t like the shy accidental kiss on the ridge or the quick, chaste peck at the lake after we won. Noah’s lips are hot against mine, insistent, almost desperate. His other hand finds my thigh under the water and slides higher, coming to rest near my hip.
Fuck. This feels good.
I part my lips, letting him in, and he takes it right away, deepening the kiss. His tongue glides against mine with no hesitation, like he already knows what he wants. Heat curls low in my stomach, and I’m suddenly, painfully hard, my thin boxer briefs doing absolutely nothing to hide what he’s doing to me.
I should stop this. I should pull back and remind myself this is pretend, that I’m here to help him through a difficultweekend. But one of his hands is at the back of my neck, the other caressing my thigh, and I can’t seem to remember why stopping is even a good idea.
A moment later, Noah’s hand slides higher, and I gasp into his mouth when his fingers brush against—oh fuck—my very obvious erection. He stills for a split second, surprise flashing across his face as he realizes what he’s touching. But before either of us can react, before I can die of embarrassment or explain myself or say anything at all, a voice cuts through the moment.
“Ew, guys, gross! Stop making out here. It’s a shared space!”
It’s Maya, rounding the corner of our cottage with Rick and Cassidy right behind her. Noah jerks back from me so fast water sloshes over the edge of the tub, his eyes wide, his cheeks burning red.
I sink lower, grateful for the churning bubbles hiding the state I’m in.
Jesus Christ. If there was any chance Noah hadn’t noticed how hard I was when we made out last night, there’s no chance he misses it now. He fucking touched it. And now his sister and his ex are ten feet away, watching us. If there were a button that could vaporize me on the spot, I’d hit it without hesitation.
“Like you haven’t done worse in public,” Noah shoots back, his voice impressively steady for someone blushing that hard. “Remember Daniella?”
Maya rolls her eyes as she throws her towel over the side of the hot tub. “That’s different.”
“Yeah,” Noah says with a short laugh. “It’s worse.” But he still isn’t looking at me. In fact, he seems to be making a point of not looking at me, and the little bit of space he’s put between us suddenly feels enormous.
“We were alone in that locker room,” Maya says, then adds, “Well, until our coach decided to walk in.” She steps into the hot tub and sighs as the heat hits her skin. “God, that feels amazing.”
Rick and Cassidy follow her in, settling across from us. Rick’s face stays neutral, but I catch his eyes flicking between Noah and me before he looks away. For a guy who’s suddenly decided to act straight, he pays way too much attention to my fake boyfriend.
“This is heaven,” Cassidy murmurs, leaning her head back against the edge of the tub. “I could stay here all day.”
My body is still humming from Noah’s touch, my heart hitting so hard against my ribs it feels like it’s trying to get out. I keep my eyes fixed on a point just over Cassidy’s shoulder, afraid to look at Noah, afraid he’ll see exactly what I’m thinking written all over my face.
What the hell just happened? What am I doing? Is this still part of the act, or is it something else?
Noah’s touch still burns on my thigh, the ghost of his fingers lingering there even though we’re not touching anymore. I can’t look at him. I can’t look at anyone. My whole body feels hot enough to boil the water around me while I sit here trying to figure out what that kiss meant.
