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Exhaling heavily, I finally step out on the patio. The moon is a sliver tonight and the air smells of burning mesquite wood. This might be the last cool snap before the long, brutal hot season sinks its teeth in. With my head tipped back, I look to the clear sky as I consider my next move.
On one hand, I’m tempted to run out of here before I wind up doing the walk of shame at the crack of dawn.
On the other hand, I’m having fun. A shock. But absolutely true.
A compromise takes shape as I pull my phone from my purse.
Setting a time limit on this social exercise would nudge me back to reason, whether I want it or not. My father’s driver, Vito, has been a stalwart family soldier for decades. He stays on call even when my father is out of town, as he is right now, taking a weekend vacation in Newport Beach. But Vito, forever protective and loyal, will always come whenever I call.
And if I do call there’s no cancelling. Vito isn’t a fucking Uber. Once roused, he’s like a demon unleashed from hell. He’d merrily bulldoze right through Conner’s backyard gate to retrieve me.
My thumb hovers over the digital keypad. Every sex-starved sense in my body joins forces and begs me not to hit send.
I press the send key anyway.
As expected, Vito responds immediately. He’ll be here to pick me up within the hour.
A vague twinge of regret is set aside. For now there’s a short time gap to fill. And the steaming hot tub a few feet away doesn’t look like a bad way to spend that time.
Conner’s tuneless whistling echoes from the house. It only takes seconds to kick off my shoes and strip down to my bra and panties. The elastic band I pulled from my hair earlier is still around my wrist and it comes in handy now. After tying my long hair up, I waste no time climbing into the hot tub.
The steaming water clashes with my skin and my jaw locks with a wince. Within seconds my body adjusts and by the time Conner reappears in the backyard I’m comfortably occupying a corner in water up to my shoulders.
As for Conner, he couldn’t be more delighted. “You beat me to it. How’s the water?”
“Freezing.”
“Liar.” He tosses a pair of fluffy grey towels on top of my discarded clothes. “But I like it. Lie to me about something else.”
“I have a boyfriend.” A foreign word to me. There have been plenty of men I’ve enjoyed fucking for a little while. Not one was worth more effort than that.
Conner smirks at the phony answer. He hooks his thumbs into his scruffy jeans and slides them over his hips, exposing more skin and a pair of flimsy boxers that leave little to the imagination. His face is pointed down as he steps out of his jeans and it almost feels like an intrusion to ogle so brazenly. If I had any manners I’d turn my head and stare at the hot tub bubbles instead.
But my manners are few and far between so fuck it. Call me a pervert. I feel like watching. And if I wasn’t drooling before, I’m sure as shit ready to start now.
Conner Wiseman could inspire poetry and art. To look at him, he’s sculpted perfection.
It occurs to me he’s putting on a deliberate show with his short striptease, flexing this way and that beneath the glow of the patio lights. No objection from me.
Barefoot and showcasing just how effectively his pro athlete assets fill out a pair of boxers, Conner saunters over to the edge of the hot tub and grins at me before vaulting cleanly over the side and landing with a small tidal wave.
He ducks under the water for a second and surfaces with the brawn of Poseidon. Slicking his hair to his skull with one hand, he backs into the opposite corner and studies me in the blue tinted lighting.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“For splashing me in the face just now? I’ll recover.”
“Good. But that’s not what I meant. I’m talking about what happened in high school.”
I sit a few inches higher to escape the heavy steam. “You don’t owe me any apologies, Conner.”
“Giving you one anyway.” His frown manages to be adorable. “You know that night of the party when we were all hanging out in the kitchen? Dani pulled me aside and warned that I needed to be a good guy where you were concerned. I wish I’d listened.”
Remorse isn’t something I taste often but it is bitter. Unlike Conner, I don’t struggle with memory gaps. I wish I could forget that I was a raging bitch to Dani from the moment she stepped into West Emerald Prep. In spite of that she still looked out for me. Dani is a much better person than I am. At least I’m aware.
While I struggle with a crisis of conscience, Conner plows ahead with his sincere apology tour. “Haven, Ireallynever wanted to hurt your feelings back then. Always felt shitty about it.”
I shake my head. “Conner, stop. I know how I behaved and I know it was unjustified. Look, I was cringing over making an ass out of myself. And the whole school knew we’d hooked up so I got tortured with a lot of trash talk.”
