Page 141 of Loyalty

Siena gave him another one of those looks. “Yeah, but—”

John reached up out of the water, grabbed her wrist, and yanked hard. Siena fell in the water with a shriek, coat, shoes, white dress and all. He kept his hands on her waist as he pulled her high, and let her break the surface.

“Oh, my God,” she growled at him, smacking his bare chest. “You ruined my coat!”

John kissed her lips, kept one arm around her back, and dragged the sopping wet coat off her arms. He tossed it aside to the side of the pool. “And I’ll buy you a new one.”

Siena sucked in a sharp breath. Her white, off the shoulder dress was almost entirely see-through now. Her wet hair stuck to her face. The caramel locks were darker when wet. John brushed them out of her eyes.

“I can’t believe you did that,” she said.

John smiled. “You have to be a little risky with me, Siena.”

“I told you I wasn’t a good swimmer, John.”

“You’re doing okay.”

“Because you’re holding onto me!”

“I always will,” he returned easily. “You know that, don’t you?”

Her anger melted away instantly. “Yeah, I do.”

“Good.”

Carefully, John moved them to the other side of the pool where it had that shallow slope for a good five feet. Siena rolled over to her back, and let the water lap around her while John sat beside her.

“I’m sorry about my mom,” he said after a moment.

“Don’t be. She really wasn’t trying to hurt you, or scare me off, John.”

“Doesn’t seem that way.”

“I wouldn’t ever lie to you.”

He looked down at her. “I know.”

And yet, he still had the tendrils of distrust and betrayal where his family was concerned. It was disconcerting. Like his heart was being tugged in two different directions. A familiar war that fought back and forth with his thoughts and emotions.

Overwhelming, really.

“I am worried about you, though,” she whispered.

John glanced down at her, and saw the truth in her gaze. He didn’t want her to worry at all. Not about him. He had his shit handled.

Didn’t he?

In a blink, he had rolled himself from his backside, to be hovering over Siena. She looked up at him through thick lashes, and gave him one of those sweet grins. He couldn’t help himself but to lean down and catch her teasing little mouth in a kiss.

Against her lips, he murmured, “With you, I am always fine.”

“Are you?”

Sea-blue eyes searched his gaze again.

“All the time, I feel like I’m drowning.” John dragged a finger down Siena’s parted lips and over the column of her throat. “Drowning in too much of everything. Responsibilities. Emotions. Reactions. People. Business. It never stops. Like I’m on my back in water, and it’s getting higher by the second.”

Kind of like her right then.