Yvette’s expression flickered and she looked unsettled as she processed what I’d said to her. Then her face split into a beaming smile. “Oh, I like you. You’re feisty. Sawyer needs someone like you around.”
“I need someone like him around actually. He’s been… Well, he’s been Sawyer.”
She was about to say something when Sawyer swam up and slotted himself beside me.
“Are you harassing my boyfriend?” He held on to the edge of the pool and drifted closer, dusting a kiss against my cheek.
“He’s harassing me, more like, but it’s okay because I think I like him.”
“You think you like me?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, that’s high praise. Sometimes I’m still unsure about this one.” Yvette pointed at Sawyer. “I’m going to get my laps in. We’ll do lunch after. Don’t stand me up, writer boy.”
She pushed away from the wall and swam off, leaving me to look at Sawyer.
“You stood her up? Isn’t that dangerous?” I had to fight the urge to keep my hands to myself in the pool. A dripping wet Sawyer was almost more than I could resist. I could have watched him swim all day long, and something told me this wouldn’t be the last time I tagged along to the pool.
“As you can see, it’s something I’m still paying for.” He pulled himself closer to the edge of the pool. “I’d gotten wrapped up in my work and when my alarm went off to remind me to go meet her, I might have silenced it, telling myself that I’d just finish that one thing and then I’d leave.”
“Oops.”
“Oops, indeed. She holds a grudge too.”
“I’m glad you don’t.” Under the water, I reached for Sawyer and gripped his hip. “It means a lot that after that bullshit with Asher, you’ve tried to get along with him.”
Sawyer moved a little closer to me. “He’s important to you. And he’s young.”
“Yeah, but I’ve known couples who broke up for a lot less.”
“That’s because they weren’t right for each other.”
Sometimes, I didn’t need him to tell me he loved me because I could see it when he looked at me. He got this kind of soft, sappy-eyed look that gave me butterflies in my stomach when I saw it.
“Is that so?” I managed to say, though the truth was that I wanted to pin him against the side of the pool and kiss him. Iwas drowning in him and all the emotions he stirred in me. But I knew if I kissed him, I wouldn’t want to stop, and this was a family-friendly place. That didn’t stop my brain from trying to script a whole-ass adult film in my head. You could take the performer out of the porn, but you couldn’t take the porn out of the performer.
“I think so, yeah.” Sawyer leaned closer and I caught the way his eyes sparkled. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“If you’re thinking that we need a private pool so I can do all kinds of obscene things to you, then yes. I am thinking what you’re thinking.”
“It’s torture, right?” Sawyer laughed and then suddenly dunked his head under the water. A bunch of bubbles burst to the surface, and then he reappeared. Freshly wet, the way water dripped off his eyelashes as he blinked.
“If it wasn’t something that should only happen in an adult film, I’d drag you into that changing room and fuck you silly.” I’d moved closer so I could lower my voice to a whisper. I heard the way Sawyer sucked in a breath. It made me happy to know he was as affected as I was. “But in real life, if you get caught, you probably catch charges.”
Sawyer snorted out a laugh. “Oh, God. I can only imagine how mortified I’d be.”
As if to prove his point, his cheeks turned a pretty pink that went up to the tips of his ears. “Although, it would be a fun story to tell the next time my parents demand my presence.”
He looked at me with a pained expression. “If you want to meet them, I’ll make it happen. I promise I’m not hiding you, but I don’t actually have a lot to do with them. Yvette is more family to me than they are.”
“I can see how she’d fit nicely into the role of annoying sister.”
Amusement made Sawyer’s eyes twinkle. “I’m so telling her you said that.”
I put a hand to my chest in mock horror. “I thought you liked me.”
“You thought wrong.” Sawyer paused. “Because I love you.”
I’d probably never get tired of hearing Sawyer say that to me. And the more I was around his almost naked body, the harder it was to keep my leering to a level acceptable in public. “Catching charges for public indecency is looking increasingly tempting.”
