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“Look, I’ll even give you a free shot.” I backed off, motioning to the basket, and she swam up to dunk the basketball in.
“Cheap point, Gemmie,” I chastised, then dove under the water to grab her legs. She let out a shriek of laughter as I yanked her down. I came up with the ball in hand and scored while she resurfaced, sputtering, wiping her hair out of her eyes. “Tie game.”
Fixing her bikini top back in place from my roughhousing, I caught sight of a dark pink nipple. And I was glad the water was so cold, keeping my blood cool and my dick from tenting.
When she lifted her head, she caught my staring again. But this time, I narrowed my eyes. I was playing to win.
“I didn’t think you were the rule-breaking kind, Jason.”
“You should know I have a one track mind. When there’s something I want, I don’t stop until I have it.” Then I tossed her the ball, but she was clearly caught off guard by my words and missed the catch. She had to swim after it, and I easily blocked her next shot.
We went back and forth, more grab-handing than shots taken, and by the end, I was backed up against the pool wall, holding the ball above my head while Gemma clawed at it. “Game point.” I tossed her a dark smile then lobbed it over her head and scored before holding my hands around my mouth like a game announcer. “From the three-point line!”
She slapped the water. “It’s like playing with an octopus. Legs and arms everywhere.”
“Come on now, Gemmie. Don’t be a sore loser.”
“I am not a sore loser.” She glared up at me through her wet eyelashes. “Best out of five?”
“I don’t know.” I checked an imaginary watch on my wrist. “It’s getting pretty late.”
She ignored the fact that the floodlights over the pool had turned on to illuminate us, the sky almost navy now, and pushed at my shoulder. “Come on.”
“If you insist on continuing to be embarrassed like this—”
“You’re so arrogant.”
I moved close, so close I could see individual flecks of amber in her irises, and I lowered myself so my chin dipped into the water. Reaching for her waist, I whispered, “But you kind of like it, huh?”
Her only reaction was her throat bobbing on a swallow, and I snatched the ball from her. “One more game, then.”
By the time we finished playing, the moon was high above and most of the guests had left. As Gemma wrung her hair out, I snagged towels from a small outdoor shed, and when my phone rang, I nodded toward it. “Can you grab that for me?”
She picked it up, her lips pinching at the name on the screen before exchanging it for a towel.
I rubbed at the back of my neck when I saw it was Bridget. I’d honestly forgotten she even existed for a while. When I was around Gemma, I was sucked into her atmosphere. There was nothing but her and her hot, bright light.
“Hey, Bridge,” I said, my voice calmer than I felt as I watched Gem wrap herself up in a towel. I had trouble paying attention to Bridget asking me where I was and if I wanted to hang out, especially when Gemma not so subtly stepped closer to me. “I’m at a picnic,” I told Bridget. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
When I hung up, I scrubbed my hand over my head, unsure how to play this since Gemma appeared so curious. Before I even got a chance to explain, she said, “Bridget?”
“A friend.”
She nodded slowly, suspiciously.
“Why? You have that jealous look in your eyes again.”
“Jealous?” She huffed. “It feels like you’re projecting. Like you want me to be jealous.”
She had me there.
I didn’t necessarily want her to be jealous, but I wanted her to acknowledge this…whatever it was between us.
“So,” I said, completely blowing off her last statement. “You and I have a date. When’ll it be?”
“No, thanks. I’ll pass.”
“You can’t pass.” I ran the towel over my chest and torso. Gem’s focus followed. “That was the bet. You lost three games. I told you it wouldn’t include cows.”
