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“I’m not so sure this is a good idea,” Kaison says.
“Oh, what’s wrong?” Callie taunts. “Are youchicken?”
“No.” He puffs his chest out, something I’m trying not to stare at. The boy, er, man has muscles for days. He looks way too good with his shirt off. How am I supposed to fight him? And how is that remotely appropriate given our circumstances as coworkers? I can’t put my hands on him like that.
But Callie is determined and tugs me toward the pool. The next thing I know, we’re jumping into the deep end and swimming toward the area where we can stand up.
Kaison swims toward me, and the closer he gets, the better he looks. My skin is on fire just thinking about him touching me.
“Okay, girl. I’m going to get underwater and you climb on my shoulders. Then I’m going to stand up and you’ll fight Kaison and try to knock him off Weston’s shoulders.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard,” I say.
“Ha!” Kaison says. “That’s what you think. It’s not so easy to take me down.”
Weston ducks under the water, and Callie follows suit. That’s my cue to climb aboard. I wrangle myself onto her shoulders and watch as Kaison does the same.
I meet his gaze as our partners begin to stand. I wobble a little at first, but then Callie wraps her arms around my legs and I steady myself.
Kaison is rubbing his hands together like he’s ready to demolish me. He might just do that. I’ll probably jump right off of Callie’s shoulders just to keep him from touching me too much. But that would mean giving up, and I’m no quitter.
Weston and Callie walk toward each other, and I go for Kaison before he has a chance to knock me off first.
He looks so good that it’s distracting. I wrap my arms around his torso and begin tickling. His body is rock hard, and my mind almost goes blank. It’s hard to focus with my hormones raging inside, pleading for me to stay in this man’s arms in a very different way, but I tell them to shush. They don’t know what they’re talking about.
He squirms atop Weston’s shoulders, his body moving under my hands, and he feels oh so good under my fingertips. “Hey, that’s fighting dirty,” he says. He swats at my hands to get them away from his ribs, but I come right back and go for the tender spot under his arms.
He howls and pushes me away, but I come right back.
“Weston, this woman is relentless.”
“Oh, you have no idea. I’m just getting started.”
His gaze meets mine, and then he does something unexpected. He licks his lips slowly, like he’s thinking about something very different from chicken fighting.
Oh, no. We aren’t going there. We can’t. I plow into him, ignoring how amazing and addictive his body feels against mine, and I knock him from Weston’s shoulders.
I pump both fists in the air, and Callie and I cheer.
“Girl power!” she screams.
“You know it, baby!” I yell, disentangling myself from her arms and swimming away from her as Kaison comes up out of the water, looking like one of those models in a perfume ad with water running down his hair and his wet, perfectly chiseled body.
But have I really won? Because now, I’m staring at him like a fool, and I feel the walls I’ve put up against him getting weaker by the moment.
14
KAISON
After swimming, I shower and change and then head over to check on my mom. She’s awake, sitting up in her bed with her leg elevated and ice packs covering her knee. She’s staring at her phone and looks up when I come in. I can hear some silly video playing.
The video stops. “Oh, hi, Kaison.” She pats the bed next to her. “Come sit down.” I climb in beside her and glance over at her phone to see the phone paused on two kittens fighting.
“Funny cat videos?” I ask.
“I need something to keep me occupied while I sit here bored to tears.”
“Maybe you can move out to the living room so you can be around us more.”