Chapter Twenty-Eight
Peter
She looks so hot. But unfortunately, I pissed her off enough that she won’t get out of the pool. Aricia looks up at me with her twisted up face and I just grin at her because I want her more than she realizes.
“If you won’t come out and talk, I’ll join you.”
“You’re fully clothed.”
I kick my shoes off. Then take my pants off. Aricia stares at me in disbelief, but she doesn’t stop me or tell me to put my pants on, because of course she doesn’t. As much as she wants to push me away because of all the background shit going on, we’re too old to deny the chemistry between us. It’s there. It’s always going to be there.
Once I’m down to my underwear and a t-shirt, I take my socks off. There’s a little water at the edge of the pool, but the concrete is warm so it must be heated.
“You aren’t going to jump in here, Peter.”
“Watch me.”
I run and hear Aricia scream as I cannon ball into the water next to her. My body sinks within seconds and I push my feetup against the bottom of the pool and rise to the surface. Aricia is looking at me with disbelief. The second I open my mouth to breathe, she splashes water in my mouth. And laughs.
Okay, maybe I deserved that. I cough and sputter, totally losing the control over myself that I pride myself in. I swim over and wrap my arms around Aricia, holding her against me while she shrieks, “Peter! Peter, whatever you’re thinking,don’t…”
At least she’s laughing now and not pissed off enough to push me away. I just squeeze her close until she realizes I’m not going to dunk her under the water like a biscotti in fresh espresso. I flip her body around so Aricia faces me and when she looks at me with deep concern, I mirror her expression with a smile.
“I love you.”
Her face contorts in pain again, but I’ll keep telling her until she accepts it. “Peter...”
“Just let me say it.”
Aricia sighs. But she lets me say it. This feels like progress. I only stopped by today to explain my absence for the next weekend. And because… I can’t stay away from her. If our plan to whack Inessa falls through, I want us to have good memories together.
“How did you get in here?” she asks, pushing against my chest half-heartedly. I hold her tighter.
“I broke in.”
“Hm. I should press charges.”
She moves her arm away from her sides and my body tenses momentarily in anticipation of Aricia’s next move, which I never seem capable of predicting. Her arms move slowly around me as if she just came around to the idea that she might have missed me and that the future father of her child checking in on her might be a good thing.
“I might see you a lot more if you took me to court.”
She rolls her eyes. “I haven’t been avoiding you.”
“I never said that. But now thatyousaid it…” I get distracted by her lips again. My thumb moves to that bottom lip and my fingers move in a slow, deliberate circle, practically begging for those lips to just… kiss me.
“I missed you, Aricia.”
“Enough to break the law?”
“Enough to burn down the city of Buffalo to find you.”
“Please tell me you didn’t commit additional crimes.”
Not yet.
“Of course not,” I murmur, kissing her forehead. “You’re pregnant and I haven’t received a heartless contract from you yet, so I had to make sure you were still here.”
“Contracts are not heartless, Peter. They’re…” Aricia sighs. “Beautiful.”
