“I wasn’t?—”
“You would have left the patio if I hadn’t called you back.”He got to his feet.“Do you want the hot tub?I’m ready for a swim.”
The last thing she needed was warm, swirling water to stir her senses even more.“I was planning on a swim, myself.”
“Think we can share the pool?”
“Of course.”She tossed her towel on a chaise, took the pins from her hair and executed a shallow dive into the illuminated water.The cool shock of the water was like a brisk slap in the face, one she probably needed.She swam under the surface to the deep end and glided up beside the diving board.She glanced around to locate Ry, and her breath caught.He stood in the arch behind the waterfall like some Polynesian god, the golden accent lights caressing his muscles as he braced for the dive, pushed cleanly through the cascading water and jack-knifed into the pool.
He came up next to her, his hair darkened with water, his eyes seeming to mirror the turquoise blue of the pool.“Want to race?”
She’d do anything that would distract her from the sight of his virile body.“Okay.”
“Four lengths of the pool.I’ll give you a head start.”
“Nothing doing.”
“I should have guessed.”He hooked both hands over the side and faced the shallow end.She followed suit.“On three,” he said.“One, two,three!”
Freddy pushed off, but his counting reminded her of pulling his pants off, which reminded her of massaging ointment into his thighs, which reminded her of what she was trying so hard to forget.She swam, determined to break the languorous hold of her forbidden passions.He pulled ahead, and she redoubled her efforts.She’d taken trophies in school for the Australian crawl.
But she was racing an athlete, she remembered, as he lengthened his lead.And what did it matter, this silly race?After it was over, she could go inside, having proven she could handle close encounters of the sensual kind with Ry McGuinnes.
On his last lap, near the middle of the pool, he went down.She saw the water close over his head and immediately thought he’d had a leg cramp.It would be logical after all he’d been through today.Concerned, she dived for the bottom, following the trail of bubbles.The pool was nine feet deep near the drain.He could drown if she weren’t here to haul him out.
She reached him and grabbed his shoulders.He grabbed back and pulled her toward him.She struggled, thinking he was going to drown them both.She wasn’t strong enough to break away.He drew her closer, despite her efforts to push him back.Then, just before their bodies entwined, she saw his smile.
Light-headed from lack of breath, she held on as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pushed from the bottom of the pool.As they shot upward, he captured her mouth in a dizzying kiss of conquest.
They burst to the surface, and he threw back his head but didn’t release her.She gulped in air just before they slipped beneath the water again and he reclaimed her, thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth.The liquid kiss as they sank to the bottom of the pool made her mind spin and her body thump with need.Sanity deserted her and she wrapped her legs around his hips to press shamelessly against his arousal.
This time when he pushed them to the surface, he kept one arm around her and used the other to maneuver them to the side of the pool.
“You’re crazy,” she whispered, starting to disentangle her legs.
“You’re right.”One arm anchored them to the side of the pool, the other kept her close.His blue gaze burned into hers.“You’re absolutely right.”
Her heart thundered in her ears.“And I’m as bad as you are.”
“You looked beautiful tonight.Was that for me?”When she didn’t answer, his gaze searched hers.“I keep trying to put you out of my mind, Freddy, but then I see you again, looking so kissable, and all my resolutions go out the window.”
She could barely breathe.“But we agreed this would be a mistake.”
He tightened his grip.“Then why does it feel so right to hold you?”
Her resistance ebbed as her body melded with his.“You should let me go,” she whispered.
“I know.”He leaned closer for another kiss.
A cough from the shadows invaded the sensual mood.
“What was that?”Freddy asked, her eyes probing the area around the pool.
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“Well, I did.”She pushed him gently away.“And even if I didn’t, someone could come along at any time.”
He reached for her.“Then we’ll go somewhere more private.”
