“You’ve got me hovering over a pool in a beautiful dress, would you believe me if I said yes?” It was my turn to arch a brow.
“Clever little girl, aren’t you?”
“I’m not little,” I muttered, earning a few snickers from the women watching him. Feeling helpless, the desire to curse strengthened by the second. But that wasn’t me. I was strategic in what I did.
“Let her go!” Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Jake rush toward us.
“Can you swim, baby girl?” Zayne ignored Jake’s breathless arrival.
“You wouldn’t dare.” My eyes rounded and I shifted my gaze catching sight of a smiling Ishara.
She wiggled her brows at me, and I sent her a death stare. Then to my surprise, I heard her reply, “she can swim.”
Zayne glanced at her, winked, then locked gazes with me again. Expecting him to pull me up, I watched in horror as he unclasped his fingers, one by one. My chest began to rise and fall in quick succession following my rapidly booming heart rate.
“Don’t,” panic made me squeak.
Holding me with just his pinky finger, he blew me a kiss and let go. My scream was cut off by the shock of my body hitting the cold water before I sank. Spluttering, I broke the surface to laughter all around the pool. Threading water, I watched Zayne peeling off first his vest then his shirt. The ladies who were laughing forgot about me and feasted their greedy eyes on his naked torso. I thought he was going to jump in as well, when he leaned down, offering me a hand. Ignoring him, I dragged a hand down my face to wipe off the excess water then swam toward the stairs.
As I climbed out, the cool air drifted through my wet dress and my teeth began to chatter. Goosebumps littered my skin and I shivered. Zayne was there waiting with his shirt and held it out to me. About to shove his hand away, I glanced down my body, realizing my dark nipples were not only tight from the cold but were visible through the translucent white material.
Jake appeared next to Zayne, his dark gaze roaming over my body before zeroing in on my nipples. When he licked his lips, nausea tickled my throat. Grumbling a series of incoherent curses, I was glad to see Ishara rushing toward me with a large towel in her hand. I grabbed it and made a beeline for the front door.
“I’m going home,” I called out to her, and she nodded, walking me to the car. When Rex didn’t make an appearance after a minute, Ishara started the car and drove us home.
“Do you know who that was?” I pulled the towel tighter around my body.
“Who?” Ishara asked turning up the heat.
“The asshole that threw me into the pool.” I rubbed the back of my hand over my dripping nose. She glanced at me with a shrug. “That’s the guy from the restaurant.”
“Holy shit.” She turned wide eyes on me. “That’s your sexy man, the one who made you wet?” I nodded. “Godfreakingalmighty, he’s hot.”
“Nice of you to notice,” sarcasm coated my words.
Ishara reached out and squeezed my hand. “I didn’t expect him to let you fall when I said you could swim. I thought he was kidding.”
I rolled my eyes, too annoyed to care. “Well, he’s got a sick sense of humor.”
“And a fucking gorgeous chest and ass and face and—”
“Would you stop already?” I grumbled. “Yes, we can both agree he’s hot.”
“Hey.” She laughed. “I’m just messing with you and you’re right, he’s an asshole, a gorgeous asshole but an asshole.” She crossed her eyes at me, and I burst out laughing.
Shaking my head, I calmed down. “Did you see him take that chocolate log from my mouth? I mean he didn’t even care if anyone was looking.” My body immediately heated at the thought of his kiss in the parking lot.
“Babe, I’d let that man take whatever the fuck he wanted if I were you. That kind of hot doesn’t come around often and he’s so into you, it's not even funny.”
I brightened at the thought. “How do you know?”
“Because I’ve been in relationships, and you haven’t. You can tell by the way a man looks at you that he’s into you. Plus, he took off his shirt in front of everyone for you. Who does that? Trust me, if it was a younger guy, he would’ve probably just laughed at you and high-fived his buddies. That back there was a man.”
“Yeah, well, another disastrous meeting. I won’t see him again, thank goodness,” I mumbled.
Ishara glanced at me. “Serendipity, babe.”
Did serendipity say that your fated one must make a fool out of you every time he sees you? Leaning my brow against the glass, I watched the passing scenery, dreaming of light brown eyes once more.
