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“Your base is the toughest man in the kingdom, and I’ve seen how strong you are in the weight room and when you pinned me.” He grinned at her. “We’re unbeatable together.”
“Together,” she repeated, staring at him with those big, brown eyes.
Could they ever be together? He wasn’t any closer to solving any of the issues facing his family and kingdom. Everybody was buying that she and T were engaged. At the rate they were going, they’d hit the wedding date and he’d have to watch her marry his twin. Together for him and Macey didn’t look promising.
“Come on,” Kiera called. “We’re all ready.”
Ray glanced over. Kiera was on his dad’s shoulders and Malik on T’s. His dad and Malik were giving him and Macey interested looks. T’s gaze seemed … determined. Ray didn’t like that.
“Let’s do this,” he called out. He ducked under water close to Macey. She climbed easily onto his shoulders. He wrapped his hands around her legs and rose out of the water. The feel of her smooth, firm, warm legs against his neck and his shoulders sent liquid fire through him. His palms and fingers were wrapped around her knees. He loved touching her.
He drew in a steadying breath, but it didn’t help. He had never loved the feel of a woman like he did this one. Macey. Ah, Macey.
She leaned into him with her torso, and the heat filling his body quadrupled. He was going to combust during a chicken war.
The other two pairs came at them at the same time. It was a three-way battle with each person on top pulling or pushing and the girls squealing and everybody laughing. Ray shoved with his body and occasionally a hand, but he didn’t like releasing his grip on Macey for any reason. He didn’t care if they won.
Malik tugged Kiera right off of their dad’s shoulders. She plopped into the water and cried out, “No fair. You’re supposed to be nicer to me!”
Malik laughed and he and T turned to fight them one-on-one. Malik and Macey’s hands locked onto each other’s forearms. They pushed and shoved, tugged and pulled. Ray and T remained steady, and the battle continued. Kiera cheered for all of them while his dad watched with a bemused smile.
Ray and T pushed at each other underwater. Ray got a leg wrapped around T’s knee and he released Macey’s right leg to grab at Malik’s leg.
“Hang on to me and pull with your right hand,” he told Macey.
Macey’s legs became a vice grip around his neck, and she held on with her left arm to his forehead and yanked at Malik with her right.
Malik and T flopped forward into the water as Kiera cheered.
Ray clasped Macey’s hands with his own and did a victory dance, spinning around as she cheered. He didn’t want to let her go.
Malik and T surfaced. Malik looked at Ray and Macey with a conniving glint in his eyes. “Let’s change partners.”
“No way,” Ray teased back. “You’re just mad you lost.”
“I just want a chance to hold Macey myself. I didn’t know T was up for sharing his fiancée.”
“Malik,” Ray warned in a growl and heard it echoed by his dad and T.
Malik looked unrepentant, his blue eyes taunting. “Oh, excuse me. I didn’t believe the rumors, but apparently you are both in love with her.”
Ray’s stomach churned, and every muscle tightened. He’d worked and prayed and exercised self-control beyond what any man was capable of. He’d kept his hands, and usually his eyes off of Macey, but not his thoughts. One innocent game, that he’d enjoyed thoroughly, and Malik was calling him out. Apparently the rumors were still going strong too.
He slid Macey off his shoulders and gave her an apologetic smile. She looked so irresistible and beautiful it was another exercise in self-control to turn away from her. His dad and T were talking in low whispers. Kiera looked confused. Ray pushed through the water to Malik, grabbed his brother’s arm, and muttered, “Come on.”
Malik didn’t even try to pull away or fight him. They pushed out of the water and walked side by side to the men’s bathroom. Ray shut the door behind them and turned to his brother.
“Knock it off, Malik. We need your support right now, not you trying to stir up rumors about T and Macey.”
Malik’s eyebrows arched. “This has nothing to do with T and Macey and you know it.”
“Excuse me?” His fists clenched.
Malik got right in his face. He was brave for a little brother. Malik was strong, but Ray had him by twenty pounds of muscle and years of training and experience. “You’re in love with Macey. Any idiot can see that. Do you even realize how many times you stare at her with that tortured look in your eyes? What are you thinking?”
Ray didn’t hit him. He stepped back and shook his head, his jaw clenching so hard it hurt. “I wish I could think my way out of this one,” he admitted.
Malik blinked at him. “You all like to tease me that I’m some player, but at least I’m not making a play for my brother’s fiancée.”
