She’d just stepped onto the dock when shespotted his blond head on the opposite side of the lake. The waterhad turned his hair a shade darker. The sun glinting on it as hesliced across the water brought out the golden highlights withinthe thick mass. She abruptly stopped walking; her mouth went dry.She gawked at the fluid flex of the muscles in his biceps,shoulders and back as he swam. Her heart leapt in her throat; shevividly recalled what it had felt like to be held within thosearms, what it had felt like to have that frame enveloping hers.
Torn between turning and running into thewoods or jumping into the water in order to cool herself off, shetook a step away from the end of the dock. She was so busy tryingto decide what to do, that her choice was taken away from her whenhe reached the end of the dock. Resting his hands on the metaldock, it shifted in the water when he heaved himself effortlesslyout of the lake.
Water trickled over his golden skin, downhis carved chest, and over abs she wouldn’t have believed real ifher own fingers hadn’t run over their inflexible ridges. Shefollowed the water downward to his bared groin area. She couldclearly recall his smooth, taut skin swelling within her hand. Evenflaccid, his dick was still thick and hung against his thigh. Thatcould have been inside of her last night, she realized. Her heartraced with excitement; a strange tingling began inside her.
She finally tore her eyes away from him andfocused on the dock beneath her feet. She couldn’t be one of themany who he barely remembered. No matter what he’d said about hernever being like the others, about possibly being his mate, theywould part from each other, and time would make her fade into themultitude. Especially for him, as there were hundreds of years inhis future compared to her handful. Maybe, if she was lucky, shehad a dozen years left, but she doubted it. She’d never expected tolive past twenty-five; even when she’d been a little girl, she’danticipated an early end to her life.
So, if hers was an early demise, what did itmatter if she became one of the many fifty years from now? Shewouldn’t be here for it. She wouldn’t know if he remembered her ornot. She would know now though; she could experience him now andfor the next few days. The urges of her body warred with her pride,and her apprehension of what this man could do to her heart. She’dbeen nearly broken many times in her life, but she’d always managedto pull herself back together again.
She wasn’t sure she could pull herself backtogether after him. Not if she let her guard down, not if sheallowed herself to open up to him. Her father may not end up beingthe one to destroy her after all. It may well be Ian instead. Andthen there was her mission, the only thing that had been keepingher going for the past four years. The only thing she’d had tofocus on in order to keep her sanity, and he was definitely thebiggest distraction from it that she’d ever encountered.
Water ran off of him, dripping in splattersonto the metal dock. He had no care for his nudity as he stoodbefore her in all his glory. The dock shifted beneath her feet ashe walked down it without making a sound, something she’d thoughtimpossible given he reminded her of an impenetrable mountain mostof the time. She had to lift her arms to keep her balance when hestepped off of the dock.
He walked across the sandy beach toward atowel she hadn’t seen draped over a rock there. A pair of jeans saton the rock next to it. Treated to the vision of his taut ass, shehad the urge to grab hold of it, and more insanely, bite it. Ahysterical giggle rose up her throat; she held it back.
Ian kept his gaze focused on the trees as hetoweled himself off. He’d been hoping the chilly lake water wouldhelp to drown his sexual appetite a little, and it had beenworking, until he’d spotted her standing on the dock. Now herealized he could stay in the lake all day and still desire to beinside of her. He felt her gaze boring into his back as hemoved.
“If you keep staring at me like that, I’mgoing to forget your constant refusal of me and take you righthere,” he said as he ran the towel through his hair. She didn’tknow how to respond to that. She hastily glanced away from him andfocused on the shimmering water of the lake. “I didn’t say you hadto look away.”
“You enjoy making me uncomfortable,” sheaccused.
“I was out here, minding my own businessuntil you came along.”
“Won’t happen again.” She spun on her heeland stepped off the dock. The sandy beach slipped beneath her feetas she walked away from him. The smell of fish and fresh waterfilled her nose, but she was focused on one thing, not turningaround and kicking his balls up inside him.
She never heard him approach. Hematerialized at her side like some kind of genie let out of itsbottle. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“For a walk,” she replied without looking athim.
“I’ll come along.”
“I was minding my own business until youcame along!” she retorted.
He slapped his hands over his heart, “Youwound me lady.”
If blood could actually boil, hers wouldhave been bubbling over. Thoughts tumbled through her mind rapidly,but she couldn’t think of anything to say to him. Choosing silence,she continued on, pretending he wasn’t beside her. She was almostall the way around the lake when he spoke again. “Is your plan toignore me now? We should talk about what happened last night, aboutwhat you are to me.”
“What youthinkI am,” shereplied.
He stared at her bent head as she walked;her eyes remained focused on her feet. “Iknowwhat you areto me. I understand if you’re reluctant to talk about it right now,but it will have to be addressed. There are things you have to knowabout mates, what this bond could do to me if it’s not completed,or if we allow things to continue to grow between us.” She finallylooked at him again. “This is an eternal bond.”
“Maybe you’re mistaken.”
“We’ve already established my past, I canassure you not one of those womenevermade me feel the wayyou do.”
“Lust…”
“This is far more than lust. If you’re notready to talk about it, fine, but don’t brush it off as somethingsimple and passing, it’s not.”
Paige stared up at him, uncertain of how toproceed. “I’m not ready to talk about it.” Maybe it was cowardly,but there was only so much she could deal with right now. Head-on,she reminded herself. But right now she wanted to give a big oldfinger to head-on. She’d gotten out of bed and spoken to him, shefigured that was good enough for now. She still needed time tothink over everything happening between them and what he believedher to be.
“Fine. Would you like to go for a swim?”Heat flushed her face as she recalled his undressed state earlier;she shook her head. “The water is refreshing, once you get used toit.”
“No.”
“You don’t need a bathing suit. I’d farprefer you without.”
She shot him a fierce look. His eyessparkled in the sunlight filtering through the trees when he smiledsweetly back at her. “I wouldn’t wear one anyway.”There,she thought, happy to throw him a little off balance like he did toher all the time. His eyes darkened; they raked her from head totoe with a hungry gleam that made her breath catch. So much forthrowing him off balance; she felt like she’d been knocked over bya wrecking ball. “But I’m not going swimming.”
