I let out a laugh and shake my head. “No, no, I won’t be weird. And I won’t bring you baked goods. You wouldn’t want them anyway.”
“I’ve heard your baking really sucks.” A beat of silence takes over before she sniffs and steps back. Suddenly, my arms feel utterly empty. “You know what I need right now?” The fake levity is back in her words, but I let her have it.
“What?” There’s a moment of hesitation, her eyes drifting down to my lips, then back up in a way that sends my entirebody on alert. But then she’s moving, stepping away and to the pile of clothes on her bed, stuffing them into a bag, and then moving toward the kitchen. I follow her, intrigued, as she opens her fridge and pulls out a six-pack of hard ciders.
“I need to get drunk in a hot tub.”
I let out a loud, relieved laugh and nod.
“You know what? I think I can make that happen.”
SIXTEEN
This was a terrible fucking idea.
Maybe my worst idea ever.
Because moments before, Hallie stepped into my bedroom dressed in her bathing suit, a small string thing with little bows resting on her full hips, an open cider in her hand, and a nervous smile on her lips. I almost popped a fucking boner, like a teenager who just saw the hot babysitter in her bathing suit. I ushered her through the sliding glass doors in my room that led to the hot tub, telling her I’d get my own beers and meet her out there.
But now, I’m panicking, pacing my room, and my eyes keep drifting to the doors. The backlight gleams like a beacon, trying to beckon me on and encourage me to give in to my temptations.
Get it together, King, I tell myself, taking deep breaths to try and settle my heart.She just opened up to you. She has had a very rough day. Don’t be a fucking creep.
With that final reminder, I head into the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing three beers for myself. I’m cracking one open before shucking my shirt off and tossing it onto the kitchen island. Then I down half of the beer for courage like some unhinged frat boy.
With one last breath, I make my way back to my room, refusing to pause as I slide open the glass door. The vision sends my pulse racing and my cock hardening.
Hallie is in my hot tub, her hair a bunched mess on top of her head, one arm resting along the side of the hot tub. Her head is tipped back to the darkening sky as if she’s asleep, her chest rising and falling slowly and gently with each breath.
She looks fucking magnificent, the ties of a bathing suit around her neck taunting me. All I can think about, despite my best judgment, is tugging the strings, letting it fall, and revealing the curves that have been tormenting me for some time now.
I can’t deny that, for the past few years, Hallie Young has been someone difficult to ignore, a gorgeous woman I was always able to categorize asnever could be mine. I managed to because it was always supposed to be Hallie and Madden. One day, they would come to their senses, and my brother would stop fucking around and give her a fresh start, a family, and a white picket fence.
Except she laughed at that idea.
She told me she would never choose Madden.
And more importantly, her final words have been ricocheting through my mind ever since:“If I were to go for a King, it would absolutely be you.”
Her eyes track me as I move across the patio, setting the extra beers into the snow and a fresh one on the side of the hot tub. She shifts, setting her elbow on the edge of the hot tub, her eyes locked on me as her fingers play with the string of her bathing suit top. It’s a nervous move, a mindless fidget I don’t think she realizes she does when she’s overthinking things, though usually it’s with the tiny curl of hair at the back of her head that never makes it into a ponytail.
She watches as I move up the small set of stairs and then climb into the hot tub, settling in with a sigh across from her. Atleast I still have enough of a rational mind to sit opposite her, I suppose. Without breaking eye contact, I reach over and grab my drink, taking a long pull before setting it back down.
That’s when she lets out a laugh, a slight shake of her head. “I didn’t think you’d actually do it.” I keep my eyes locked on hers, then raise an eyebrow. “Come in here with me.”
“Want me to leave?” A beat passes, and she holds my gaze before speaking, challenge in the words.
“No. I could use a little company.” Her tongue darts out, wetting her lips, andthatgoes right to my cock, stiffening it. Thank God for the bubbles of the jets, I suppose.
We sit in silence for a few minutes, Hallie off in some other land, and me stuck on not watching her tits or trying to see through the water at her body before she sinks into the water with a groan.
“Okay, we need to lighten this shit up,” she says with a laugh.
“What?”
“It’s so awkward, Jesse. I can’t sit here in silence with you in a glorified bathtub.”
“This was your idea,” I remind her. She looks me over, eyes lingering on my lips before she takes a sip of her drink and smiles at me.
