I steeled myself and glanced up. Into the green eyes of Henry … I couldn’t remember his last name.
Relief flooded me so strongly that it was almost like an endorphin rush. “And it’syou!” A grin split my face, and I let my eyes rove over his bare torso. God, he really was superbly made. “You’re stalking me, aren’t you?”
My grin widened at the perplexed expression that crossed his face. “No, that’s … nonsensical. I swim here often. It’s purely coincidental.”
I took pity, patting him on the arm. “I’m just teasing.”
He visibly relaxed. “Because, really, on balance it is far more likely that you are stalking me, Irina.”
O Doamne, the way my name fell out of his mouth! I could not get enough of that. “Really?” I quirked an eyebrow. “Because I swim here often too, you know. Your argument kind of falls flat if that’s all you’re basing it on.”
“Well, that and the fact that I found you lurking in my bedroom a week ago.” His expression remained neutral, but the twinkle in his eyes hinted that maybe he was flirting with me?
Please let him be flirting with me!
I fluttered my eyelashes. “Perhaps I wouldn’t mind if I found you lurking in my bedroom.”
Ah, there it was! The blush! It started on those prominentcheekbones and spread inwards until his nose was pink. The insane urge to go up on my toes and kiss the flushed tip of his nose had me squirming. Which was bad, because squirming plus clit piercing equalled semi-aroused Ri—a state I was already mentally in the second I saw him.
“As long as you brought your pussy cat along with you,” I teased. “The fluffy one, what’s his name again?”
“Abernathy,” he replied. “And the Siamese is Trinket.”
I snapped my fingers. “That’s right! The strange rich man cat names!”
He looked at me like I was certifiable, and I couldn’t hold back a giggle, which turned the tip of his nose even pinker.
“Well.” He cleared his throat. “I did come here to swim. As I often do. With no ulterior motives, so … it was nice to see you again, Irina.”
I could have melted into a happy little puddle right there on the pool deck. “You too, Henry.”
While pretending to do some limbering stretches, I watched him slip into the fast lap lane, adjust his goggles and push away from the edge. His body cutting through the water was mesmerising. So mesmerising I could almost forget about my shitty morning.
I sighed and set about tucking my untameable hair up into the swim cap. And then I joined Henry Last-Name-Unknown in the fast lane. As he reached the far end of the pool, I pushed off. The water drowned out the sounds of the swim centre, creating a little bubble where it was just me and my thoughts as I powered through the water.
There were a lot of thoughts today. But the ones I knew I should be focusing on—the ones about how to keep my uncle and other interested parties back home from getting too suspicious—kept sliding out of focus every time Henry’s lean, muscular body passed me in the water. I could have sworn that the temperature heated ten degrees. I wondered what those toned arms would feel like wrapped around me. How tight his abs would be as I dug my fingers into him, while I worked my way down his body with my mouth, until I reached his?—
—Get your imaginary mouth off Henry Whatshisname’s peen and focus! You have serious problems, and they’re not going away just because you’re horny.
Damn it, the sensible part of my brain was right. I did have big problems. Rumi reporting me was frightening, although shehadgiven me a month. A lot could change in a month.
Stefan’s warning about someone being sent to manage me needed to be my priority. Because as toxic as Rumi was, she had nothing on the Romanian threat. I’d have to forge a letter from the faculty to keep him off my back. It was risky, but what option did I have?
I just hoped that would be enough to keep them on the other side of the world. At least until I worked out a more permanent plan.
One that didn’t involve giving in to Rumi …
I reached the end of the pool and burst out of the water, lungs suddenly tight, the way they’d felt when I hurried off the bus.
“Aww … you’re looking a bit unfit there, Irina.”
I tore the goggles from my head, finding Finley fucking Williams smirking down at me. Desperately I pulled air into my lungs, hoping I didn’t look like I was having a goddamned panic attack in the pool.
Because Iwashaving a goddamned panic attack.
“Funny how a couple of weeks out of the water can have such an effect on fitness, isn’t it?” Her smile looked more like a predator baring its teeth. “Why are you even still here? I thought you’d been booted back to whatever bumfuck eastern bloc country you come from.”
Breath filled my chest, my contempt for this nasty little bogan trash bag overtaking all other emotions. “Oh, didn’t you know? I won an academic merit medal—the faculty practically begged the government to extend my visa so I could stay to attend the graduation ceremony next month,” I lied. I’d been a firm believer for the last four years that ‘P’s equal degrees’, but Finley didn’t need to know that.
