“Yes.”
I blew out a breath.I should stop now.Wrapping my arms around my waist, I suddenly got a chill, but it wasn’t from the water.It was deeper than that.
“There is a dark side to this world,” he told me.“But I’ve never killed an innocent man.”
So, he just killed bad men?Like that show I’d watched with Calvin … I forgot the name of it.Was he mentally disturbed, like that guy had been?I didn’t feel in danger with him.It was the opposite.
“Why?”I asked.
He shrugged.“Different reasons.But they all deserved it.The world is better off without them in it.”
He wasn’t God.He didn’t get to just decide who lived and died.I took a step back without thinking.
He watched me, then licked his lips.“Pickles …”
The way he said the nickname he called me sent a shiver over me, but it wasn’t a bad one.It should be, considering what he’d just admitted.But it wasn’t.I was a very stupid girl.
“You wanted the truth.I swore I’d give it to you.I don’t lie,” he told me, then took a step in my direction, causing the water to move around him.“I’d kill the bastards who killed your parents if I could find them.”
I sucked in a breath and held it.
“I’d make them suffer for the shadows and sadness I see in your eyes when you think no one is looking.”He stopped inches from me.I hadn’t moved.“I was raised not to let the law handle it.We handle it.It’s how it’s always been done.Their ways are often broken and not sufficient.Ours are.”
Breathe.I had to breathe.I did so slowly as my heart raced in my chest from his nearness.
“You’re here because Calvin knew our method of protecting you was the only one that would be successful.”
His gaze dropped to my lips, and I was once again not inhaling oxygen.
“The only thing that you’re in danger of here is me touching you.”His tone was husky.
I jerked when the palm of his hand touched my bare side, but I didn’t move away from it.I stared at his face as his eyes traveled down my body, stopping at my chest.
“You’re grieving,” he said in a thick voice that sounded pained.“Your life has been ripped apart.I’m many things, but I won’t take advantage of that.”His eyes snapped back up to meet mine.“But I think about it.”He swallowed hard.“I think about things I want to do to you, how much I want to show you just how good my cock feels, stretching you as I fill you.”
Oh my God.I was panting.I could hear it.
“I want to hear how you cry out when I take one of your nipples into my mouth and bite down on it,” he told me as he ran a finger over the edge of my bikini top.Causing me to tremble as he dipped it inside my cleavage.“But I won’t.It’s not what you need.You need a friend, and that’s what I’ll be.”He leaned closer to my ear.“Unlike Calvin, I’ll be honest about it though.How much I want your body.How my cock aches when I think about it.”
My eyes drifted closed as I took in an unsteady breath.
“We’ll be friends,” he said, then pressed a kiss to my cheek.“Good friends.Because I need you too.We’re both grieving.And fucking wouldn’t help us with that.”
I felt him start to move away, and my eyes flew open.I wasn’t ready for him to do that.The rush of pleasure from having him this close didn’t need to end yet.
He slid his finger from between my breasts, then over to my pebbled nipple, which was poking against the material of my bikini top.
“I just need to see one thing.Then I’ll stop.We can swim, lie out in the sun, enjoy our day as friends.You can even ask me more questions,” he said.
“Wh-what?”I stammered, ready to agree to anything.
“I need an accurate visual of your tits.It’s only fair.You’ve seen me naked.Just give me one peek.”
I nodded.Just like that.Never in my life had I been asked something so bold.Yet here this man was, doing it, and I was agreeing.
A low, pleased growl came from his chest.“Turn your back toward the house,” he directed and moved me himself as he gripped my waist.“No one else is getting a look at them.”
Someone else was out here?I started to spin around to see, but his hold on me prohibited it.
