Page 37 of First Touch

“You look good out there.”

My eyes rose to find Reeve’s pinned on me, his sunglasses now gone. The compliment warmed through me, making my limbs tingle. He couldn’t have ever said that to Amber since she didn’t know how to swim.

It was petty. I was petty. I smiled anyway. “I usually do another twenty.”

“Don’t.” It was sharp, commanding. “Skip it. Come be with me.”

The tingling spiraled through my body, intensifying to a rhythmic pulse. I was naked and watched and turned on. And even though my long game remained Amber, I wanted Reeve. I wanted Reeve to want me.

I lifted myself to sit on the side of the pool then nodded at Reeve’s neck. “I don’t suppose I can use your towel?”

That grin. His grin. It undid me every time. “You could. But I’d prefer to watch you drip dry.”

I frowned, squeezing the water out of my hair. “Of course you would.”

“Ah, stop with the face. You like it.”

My nipples were tight beads because it was chilly but also because I did like it. I liked everything about it. Reeve knowing it, acknowledging it, only undid me further. I lost the frown. But I didn’t stand. I wasn’t sure my feet could move.

Maybe he understood that too. He stood, took the towel from around his neck, and spread it on the lounge chair next to him like a blanket. Then he came to me and held out his hand. “The heater will warm you up fast enough. Come.”

His fingers around mine sent shockwaves through my system. Or maybe it was the way he raked my body with his eyes. He lingered on my breasts, lingered longer at the apex of my thighs, his gaze touching me so thoroughly as though it were his hands instead. As though he’d already rubbed his thumbs across my nipples, pressed the pad of his finger to my clit.

He led me to the chair and it took everything not to pull him down with me. Then he let go of my hand, but he stayed peering over me while I silently wished for him to lower himself on top of me.

Finally he asked, “Would you like anything? Coffee? Water? Mimosa?”

“Would it be brought out by one of your henchmen?” I knew the answer from his grin. “I’m good. Thank you.”

“You’re not interested in company?” His tone said it wasn’t a question about whether or not I cared about being seen naked – we’d already been over that. He was confirming whether or not I wanted the sexual activity to be between me and him and no one else.

I should have told him it was up to him. I should have been willing to do whatever he preferred. That was how to snag a lover. I knew the drill.

But the reason I couldn’t say it was the one I’d discovered in the pool – I wanted Reeve to myself. I wanted to only be Reeve’s.

Could he guess that as well as he guessed everything else about me? The idea made me cringe, made me have to look away, but I simply couldn’t force myself to change my answer. Instead, I lifted my shoulder into a half-shrug, hoping I appeared nonchalant about it. “I’m more interested in the company I already have.”

He chuckled and I feared I’d answered wrong, especially when he returned to his own deck chair. I bit back a disappointed sigh and clenched my thighs together hoping for some relief.

Reeve scratched at his chest and stared into the distance. “You’re stunning, Emily. I know you know that. Incredibly gorgeous.” The admiration felt calloused and cold, delivered like statistical data. “But beautiful is a dime a dozen, especially around here. It doesn’t make you special.”

“Then I’ve failed my audition?” The bulge in his shorts kept me from worrying too much.

He twisted toward me. “Au contraire. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t beautiful. That was the first round. You made it to callbacks.” His hand swept down to his lower abs and stopped just above the band of his trunks. “I’m very attracted to you.”

I ticked my head toward his erection. “I see that.”

“I didn’t try to hide it. In fact, that’s how you pass round two.”

“I passed that a while ago then.”

“Yes. You did.” He placed his palm over his cock and my insides turned to molten lava. I wished it were my palm on him. He only had to say the word, and I’d take him in my mouth.

But Reeve was a master of patience. A master of willpower.

He dropped his hand to his side. “God, I can’t stop looking at you. You’re perfect. Your breasts are fantastic. Real, aren’t they?”

They felt heavier under his stare. “Yes. You can touch them, you know.” It was desperate and pathetic. Only a step away from begging.