His body heavenly.
Scenes of them, naked and entangled, flashed through her mind. And for a moment, she was befuddled. They’d never been together in the literal sense, but the smells and images felt like actual memories.
Then gravity took over, and all thought abandoned her as they hit the pool.
Water closed over her head a second time, and bubbles rushed past as she instinctively kicked. She opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of him beside her, hair floating, expression as inscrutable as ever. His mouth hovered over hers for the briefest of heartbeats, giving her the ridiculous impression he meant to kiss her.
Disappointingly, he didn’t.
He released her with a small shove, sending her upward.
Nadia broke the surface with a gasp. She slicked water from her face as startled laughter and sharp exclamations rippled across the patio.
Luc emerged a beat behind her.
With a glance over her shoulder, she checked his reaction.
Water gleamed on his black hair, tracing the hard lines of his neck and shoulder as he pushed the dark mane back from his face with one hand. He appeared entirely unbothered, as though being shoved into the pool by her had been expected.
The surrounding chatter died into whispers, and people openly stared.
Katie, at the pool’s edge, laughed. “Well, your silly game escalated quickly.”
Nadia, pulse out of control and nerves buzzing, met Luc’s gaze. She waited for a sign she’d miscalculated. His mouth curved, not into an amused smile, but in clear approval.
“Bold,” he stated quietly. “But as I said, untrained.”
Her body tingled in reaction, and she had the wild desire to drag him up to her apartment.
Luc reached for the pool’s edge and hauled himself out with infuriating ease. In one clean move, he had exited and stood above her, every inch composed despite their audience.
“Careful, pet,” he said, his voice low and even. “You’ll begin enjoying skirmishes like these.”
Too late.
She already was.
10
“Dinner tonight, but then I have to head home at the ass-crack of dawn. My vacation is over Monday, and I still need the weekend to decompress,” Katie said as she packed her bag.
Their visit had been wonderful. Having her best friend close again had helped Nadia fight her chronic loneliness. It also helped to keep thoughts of Luc at bay.
Mostly.
“You should move in with me,” Nadia suggested.
“I already have an apartment and a job I have to get back to, Tart.”
“Yeah, but what’s tying you there? You hate it. Relocate. I’ll help you find a position, and I’m sure Luc has connections.”
“Two thirty-four-year-olds living like college girls?” Katie asked with a cynical scoff. “Yeah, we might as well get ten more cats while we’re at it.”
“There might be something to that. I mean, two best-friend spinsters. We’ll be modern-age Golden Girls. Scaled down, of course, with tons of animals.” Nadia was only half joking. It had been four days since the pool party, and other than a quick text to tell her he had to leave town on business, Luc hadn’t bothered to contact her. Her future prospects were as grim as this town’s name.
“He might just be busy,” Katie said with uncanny insight.
“I was talking about us, Minger.”
