Her swallow is audible and I feel her body tremble. “I’m not sure of anything anymore—not since you showed up.”
I lean in close, my mouth hovering above hers. “Then let me help you figure it out.”
Closing the distance, I capture her lips with mine.
The kiss is much different from the frantic, adrenaline-fueled one from outside the bar. I make this one slow and deliberate. I can taste her hesitation, the slight resistance as her mind battles with her body. But then she melts into me, her lips parting on a sigh that I swallow with a brush of my tongue.
My hands grasp her waist under the water, pulling her so close, she’s practically sitting in my lap.
Mouth tasting like vanilla-mint and desire, her hands slideup my chest to tangle in my hair as I back her against the smooth stone edge of the pool.
Bracing one hand against the rock beside her head, I slide the other down to squeeze her tight round ass beneath the water.
“Fuck,” I breathe into her mouth. “I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you passed out on your desk.”
She pulls back slightly, eyes wide and dazed.
“Tell me,” I murmur, my forehead resting against hers.
“This is… insane.” Her voice is breathless, shaky. “I should push you away, pretend this never happened.”
“But?”
“But I can’t stop thinking about how you make me feel.” Her hands are still tangled in my hair and I’m loving it way more than I should.
I brush my lips along her jaw, tasting the sweet mineral water on her skin. “You deserve someone who looks at you like you’re the fucking sun and moon. Someone who can’t breathe when you’re not in the room.”
Her pupils dilate as I cup her face in my hands. “Someone who wants to memorize every inch of your body with their tongue.”
I shift, shoving my hands beneath the thin fabric of her bikini bottoms, fingers digging into the soft flesh of her ass as I claim her mouth. When she gasps against my lips, I seize the opportunity, deepening the kiss as I slide my tongue against hers, exploring every inch of her mouth.
The water swirls around us as I lift her onto my lap and she straddles my thighs. Her wet skin slides against mine, creating a delicious friction that makes both of us groan into each other’s mouths.
My hands wander, tracing the curve of her ass before sliding between her legs from behind. When my finger glidesup her center, she breaks the kiss with a gasp, her head falling back. Even underwater, I can feel how hot and slick she is for me.
She whimpers, her hips instinctively rocking against my touch. “Oh, god.”
“Eyes on me,” I command softly, and her eyes flutter open. The sight of her pupils blown wide, lips swollen from my kiss nearly undoes me.
Her thighs tighten around my waist as I continue to stroke, slowly circling my finger at her entrance.
“Ryder,” she moans, nails digging into my shoulders. “I can’t?—”
“Yes, you can,” I growl.
When I increase the pressure, her eyes fly open, panic replacing the haze of desire as she shoves against my chest and I slide away, too stunned to stop her from climbing out of the water.
“Where are you going?”
“I write slow-burn romance, and I just realized what we were about to do wouldn’t happen until at least halfway through the book.”
“Seriously? We have at least thirty minutes left.”
“Seriously. You really want to help me write, clear my writer’s block? Then you need to take it slow. Make me burn for you.”
“Right. Kind of like what you just did to me.”
“What did I do to you?”
