‘No, honestly.’ She shifted on her seat. ‘Please don’t. I told them no and they got it, so it’s done now. And now they’ve seen that I’m far more into sketching hot young men than threesomes with oldies.’
Jamie grinned. ‘Young, eh? Well, thanks very much.’
‘Well, you are. And you’re “tsss”.’ She mimed touching something hot with a wet finger.
Blood roused in Jamie. So they had mutual attraction. But flirting back wasn’t an option, not while she was painting him and inside his jeans was a cock twitching for trouble. Instead, he asked, ‘How’s the sketch so far?’
Alicia gripped her pencil between her teeth and focused on the contents of the easel. Jamie’s high school art teacher had done that sometimes, but it had never come close to giving him an erection like it promised to now. What was she thinking about? If he were staring at a half-naked image of her, he knew what would be on his mind and it wouldn’t be assessing the quality of the art. Eventually, and thankfully, Alicia removed the pencil from her mouth and spoke.
‘It’s not bad, but I’d say you’re going to need to sit there for another hour, at least. Are you getting restless?’
‘Aye, a wee bit? I’m not the best at sitting still for too long.’
‘You want to do something that involves more activity?’
Oh shit.Jamie had to move. Now. The mere hint from Alicia of ‘more activity’ and all the suggestive neural connections in his brain were firing up. It wasn’t fair. She almost broke him just by existing. He’d need to suggest something else quickly.
‘Aye, how about we go down to the main building for a swim?’ He liked the idea of the cool, calming pool water around the parts of him that were getting fired up. ‘You fancy it?’
‘I love swimming. We can finish this later or tomorrow. I’ll head back to my lodge to get changed into my bikini and meet you down there? I don’t want to keep you waiting.’
Bikini! Fuck!Jamie got up and walked to the kitchenette for a drink of water, blessedly relieved to do so before the thought of Alicia in her bikini trumped everything. ‘Sure,’ he heard himself say. There was no backing out now. ‘I don’t mind waiting, though,’ he added. ‘But if you’d rather meet me there, be extra careful when you head down the path in this weather.’That’s it, talk about the weather.
‘I’ll be fine.’ With a wave of her hand, Alicia dismissed the possibility of falling. ‘I’ll leave the painting stuff here but promise me you won’t look. Otherwise, it will put me off doing the rest.’
‘I promise. Leave your sketchbook on the side and I won’t go near it. I know how to behave myself.’
‘That’s a shame.’ Tilting her head to the side, she flashed him a smile that dazzled Jamie like full-beam headlights. ‘I’ll see you downstairs. Can’t wait to get wet.’
What. The. Fuck?Jamie nearly checked to see if his eyeballs needed fixing back into their sockets. There he’d been trying to stop thoughts of Alicia in a bikini and she came out and said that it was a shame he knew how to behave himself. And when going to the pool, to meet a guy dead on and say you couldn’t wait to get wet: well, that had nothing to do with swimming.
At the poolside, Jamie slid the robe off and laid it on a lounger with his towel. He stretched for a minute or so, then dived into the deep end, the cool water enveloping him, dousing his arousal, for now.
Jamie being a surfer, swimming was a good way to keep muscles in shape, the only frustration being that his strokes were so long that he barely took any time to reach the end of the short pool. After around twenty tiny laps, he stopped, pulled his goggles up and scanned the poolside. An older man and woman were getting out of the water and the family in the children’s pool were larking around. But where was Alicia?
The door to the poolside opened and a woman in a robe, swimming cap and goggles entered. Jamie turned away, but in record time his eyes were on her again. She had disrobed and was sporting a gold bikini. Alicia.Fuck!He’d known this would be dangerous but his risk assessment had wholly under evaluated everything. The golden skin, the smooth stomach and the curves of her breasts sitting perfectly inside the cups of the bikini. It was too much to grapple with in a public place. Jamie dipped his gaze to the rippling water, pulled down his goggles and pushed off down the length of the pool. But the goggles weren’t sealed properly and had to stop to adjust them. And that’s when his gazefell upon Alicia again, but this time she was under the shower. Her eyes were closed, the glimmering water was flowing over her skin like a luscious liquid gold waterfall and her bikini was clinging to her curves.
Jings! Jamie couldn’t be staring at Alicia like this when she didn’t know about it. But as he turned away, there was a micro moment between his gaze leaving her and hitting the water where he could have sworn that she opened her eyes, flicked them his way and smiled.
Chapter 16
Alicia
Alicia concentrated on the hot, viscous water streaming over her skin. This brawny Scotsman was seeping inside her. Flowing through her. Saturating her. And she wanted him to. How was this happening? Before coming here two days ago – yes, only two days ago – Alicia hadn’t wanted anyone to look at her. She still didn’t, but Jamie got through the cracks. He was different. The magical combination of his brawn and his energy made him like a bodyguard she wanted to cross all the boss-employee boundaries with.
Alicia was wearing a cap and goggles in case Dean and Diana were at the pool, or anyone else who might recognise her. Besides not wanting to be bothered directly, she enjoyed the fact that Jamie didn’t know she was Alicia Donoghue and she didn’t want him finding out from anyone but her.
For a short time, Alicia was mesmerised watching Jamie swimming laps. He had a powerful stroke, and moved through the water with grace and speed, his strength propelling him efficiently down the length of the pool. Atthe shallow end, he flipped himself over and headed back. A tide swelled within her. She moved to the edge of the pool and sunk down.
Until her muscles were warmed up, Alicia kept her stroke long and gentle. Then she pulled through the water with more drive, her blood pumping harder, at its most intense as she passed Jamie going the other way. The current between them zinged. He must be able to sense it, too. Or did they put something in Scottish swimming pools that she didn’t know about?
After a couple of laps, Alicia stopped and allowed her breathing to steady. Moments later, Jamie came to a halt next to her and leaned his broad glistening forearms on the edge of the pool. She took in the measure of him. He was beyond measure.
‘Hey,’ he puffed, lifting his goggles. ‘I was struggling to keep up there for a bit.’
‘Oh, no you weren’t, but thank you.’ Alicia did a quick recce of the pool area. They had the place to themselves now, and outside the wide glass windows snowflakes were still whirling around. ‘Would you like to take a sauna?’ she asked, emboldened by the sense of privacy.
‘Aye,’ Jamie agreed. ‘I’d love to.’
