Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
That’s not what’s on my mind right now, though. It’s the fact that we’re alone by the pool. Zeke’s dressed in his usual black outfit: jeans and a T-shirt. A T-shirt tight enough to highlight every single one of his rippling muscles. My mouth waters at the sight of him. What would he think if he knew about the many nights I’d spent fantasizing about what he’d look like if I pulled that shirt off?
“You never did go for a swim,” I remind him, teasing a little now that I’m buzzed, and it doesn’t feel so scary and awkward.
He jumps a little, like the sound of my voice startled him after so much silence. “I’m not in the mood for a swim.” Coming from him, that’s practically an entire novel’s worth of words. For a while, I actually thought he was mute, that he didn’t have the ability to speak at all.
“The party is over. There’s nobody here to guard me from.” I take a look around, grinning. “Go ahead. I won’t tell on you.”
His gray eyes meet mine from the other side of the patio. “Why does it matter? What do you care?”
I wish my body wouldn’t get so hot and prickly all over when he looks me in the eye. How can he not see what he does to me? That I went from resenting him to craving his presence? And now, it’s not his presence I want more than anything. It’s his nearness. He might as well be a million miles away instead of sitting in a deck chair, not thirty feet from where I am.
“I just figured maybe you should have a little fun for once. I mean, it can’t be fun for you, always having to follow me around. Right?” I get up, a little unsteady in my platforms. It’s easy enough to slip out of them, and now I’m on level ground, I’m a little more sure of myself and make the barefoot walk around the Olympic-sized pool to where he is.
“It’s my job. It’s not supposed to be fun.” His gaze darts away in the direction of rustling in the trees surrounding the property. It’s just the warm night breeze, but he’s always on guard.
“Don’t you ever get time off?”
“You should know better than to ask a question like that.” There’s something close to humor in his deep voice. A hint at a personality under that stony exterior.
“So come on. Let’s go for a swim. I won’t tell.” I even give him a coy little smile, biting my lip at the end. He’s a man, like any other man. And I’m not blind. I’ve seen him looking at me, glancing my way when he thinks I’m not paying attention. I know what it means when a man looks at me that way. I’m not a child.
“I’ll go first, if you’re too chicken.” I reach behind my neck, my fingers finding the ties from my cover-up. I tug the ends and let the fabric fall from my body, revealing the skimpy two-piece my father would absolutely die if he knew I was wearing.
And Zeke knows that, too. His head snaps around in the direction of the house before his eyes find me again. “Are you out of your mind? He’d kill you if he saw you in that.”
“Yeah?” It must be the vodka cranberry giving me courage, driving me closer to Zeke one step at a time. Of course, he’d kill me, which is why I changed my suit during the party and kept the cover-up on over it. “Then I guess he shouldn’t see me in it, should he? What do you think I should do?”
“Mia…” He groans, stretching out his long legs and laughing in a regretful sort of way.
“I mean, I could always get rid of it. Would that do the trick?”
Zeke’s tongue darts over his lips like they’ve suddenly gone dry, and it makes me bolder than ever. It gives me the courage to reach behind me again, this time tugging at the strings holding my top on.
He lets out what sounds like a strangled groan. “Don’t do this.”
“Come on. I’m a grown woman. Almost nineteen years old and out of high school now. What are you afraid of?” I let the top fall away, my nipples going hard the second the air hits them. Before I can lose my nerve, I tug at the ties on my hips and let the bottom fall off, too.
He can’t pretend he’s not interested—otherwise, why are his eyes glued to my chest? He might be the most difficult, unreadable man I’ve ever met, but at the end of the day, he’s still a man. He knows a good body when he sees one. Just because I’ve never been with anybody doesn’t mean I don’t know what I have working for me.