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“Great,” I grumbled. “That’s just perfect.”
“Let’s get to the bike and I’ll help you scrape all the tentacles off,” he groused.
I felt like a child following him, waiting for my punishment.
When we got there, of course, all of his friends were around, looking on with amusement.
Why had I thought this was a good idea?
Because you like to piss him off. He can’t stand when you’re dressed in your bathing suit. It bothers him because he wants you.
Those words hadn’t been my words.
They’d been Silvy’s.
When Silvy had told me that he thought Cassius liked me—as in wanted me really bad, liked me—I’d laughed in his face.
I mean, it was comical that he thought that someone who loathed me as openly as Cassius did wanted me.
But then I started to watch him when he didn’t think I was. Mirrored sunglasses. Pulling up the security app on my phone to look at the cameras.
And I’d been shocked.
He did watch me. Intently. As in, anytime I was in the room with him, his eyes were on me.
Could it be that he wanted me as much as I wanted him?
I’d admit it.
I wanted him with an extremeness that bordered on obsession.
He was all I thought about. All I wanted. All I could see myself being with.
And even Silvy’s disapproving eyes as he told me to stay away weren’t enough to deter me now.
Operation make Cassius act on his need was in full progress now.
Hence the getting into the water with him where he swam.
We were having a fun day—Karen had insisted I come—and I’d finally broken down and agreed.
Though the members of Gator Bait MC were all present.
Though they’d been at the deck bar drinking instead of swimming like us dumbasses.
They watched us walk toward them, and every one of them flinched.
If you lived near the ocean, you usually found out the hard way how your body reacted to jellyfish stings.
Mine formed huge welts, itched like crazy, and generally drove me crazy for days.
But for now…
“Come up to the top,” Cassius ordered, catching my wrist as we passed the now-silent men. “Stand there and I’ll run a credit card over it to get all the fine tentacles off.”
We didn’t stop until we reached the bikes.
They were all lined up in a row, seven of them.
All but three had those bigger seats that allowed a passenger to ride with comfort.
“Stand right here,” Cassius grumbled.
So that’s what I did. I stood still while he got so close I could feel his breath on me and waited as he ran the credit card over each lash mark on my body.
It took him to the count of two hundred and seven. Why did I know that? Because I held my breath as long as I could and counted while he touched me and got so close I was nervously waiting for what he’d do next.
When he was done and stepped away, that was the first time in a while that I could take a full breath.
“You next.” I held my hand out for his card.
He didn’t hand me the card until he physically couldn’t reach the stings.
My gaze went down to the name on it.
It was his driver’s license.
His name in bold said ‘Cassius Ulysses.’
“Ulysses,” I said as I turned it to face him and started doing the same thing to him. “That’s a different middle name.”
“My mom was really into romance books. She had a character that she loved right around the time that I was born. Hence the name,” he grumbled as I ran the card over one near his nipple. “I was so focused on your ass that I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings.”
I scoffed. “Don’t blame this one on me. This was both of us.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled. “Cover up when we get back down there.”
Over my dead body.
He could look at my tits—even though one was lashed with a jellyfish sting—for the rest of the day.
I wouldn’t put that cover-up back on until it was time to go home.
And it definitely wasn’t because the material would make my wounds itch more.
Nope. It had everything to do with the fact that I knew it would drive him fucking crazy.
And I was right. It did.
• • •
It was about four and a half long hours later that I finally started to get cold.
And not even the cover-up would help.
Today was a long, exhausting, much-needed day in the sun.
I was sunburnt. I had stings all over every available inch of my body from the stupid jellyfish, and I was hungry.
“You cold?”
I looked up to see Kobe standing next to me, holding a sweatshirt.
I nearly groaned when I took it from his hands. “You’re an angel.”
The moment I slipped it on, I sighed in relief.
I really was cold.
And the towel I was using hadn’t been cutting it. It was wet, sandy, and irritated my skin.
