Page 23 of Forbidden Kisses

"I can do it," I said.

"Oh, thank you. I don’t want to accidentally flash anyone."

Her words were like gasoline poured on fire. The idea of seeing her without a bra was intoxicating.

"Turn around," I commanded.

I sucked in a deep breath as she twirled, pulling her hair to one side. It had come undone from her bun when she came down the slide.

I pulled at the elastic strings, knotting them. Her skin was smooth beneath my fingertips. I was trying my best not to touch it, but it was impossible. While I did a second knot—to make sure this didn't happen again—the backs of my fingers brushed her. There was no mistaking her reaction. She shuddered as her skin turned to goose bumps, then sucked in a breath.

Fuck, she felt the tension between us too. I wasn't imagining it.

"Is it okay if I turn around?" she whispered.

"Yes."

I was so deep under her spell that I didn’t realize until it was too late that the gentlemanly thing would be to take a step back and put some distance between us.

Slowly, she turned to face me. My mouth almost brushed hers, and she gasped again.

I looked at her mouth for a split second.What would happen if I kissed her right here, right now? Pinned her against the edge of the pool and devoured her the way I want to?

She took a step back and cast her gaze downward. Her breathing was labored. Then she turned to the slide, looking at Jeremy.

"He's not coming down any time soon, is he?"

Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked at the top of the slide. He and his friend were sitting down cross-legged. Jeremy was gesticulating with his hands.

"No, he's probably telling him things about Spider-Man."

Riley laughed. "Yeah, that's the one thing that gets him so animated."

That impulse to kiss her intensified. How did she know my boy so well already?

"I used to be just like that when I was telling my sister my favorite stories growing up. She was much younger than me, so obviously we couldn't read them at the same time. I’d sit on the family couch in our trailer and do my best to reenact it. She loved it so much."

She grew up in a trailer? That sounded hard. "Was it just you and your sister, or do you have more siblings?"

"No, just that one sister. I think my parents wanted more kids, but they couldn't really afford it. We were cramped in the trailer as it was."

"Where did you grow up?" I asked.

"Florida."

"Do your parents still live there?"

She shook her head. "No. My dad took off when we were kids. Mom lives in Montana now, still in a trailer. One thing that's on my wish list once I've made it as a lawyer is to buy her her own place. She’d love that."

That was an ambitious goal, and I liked her even more for it. "You're a good person, Riley."

She shrugged. "Mom sacrificed a lot so my sister and I could go to the best schools. And let me tell you, that’s a hurdle when you live in a trailer and are barely making ends meet.”

I’d somehow moved close to her again. She half turned, glancing up at me. I couldn’t look away from her mouth.What has gotten into me?

When she licked her lips, I couldn't stifle a groan. She didn't miss it, her blush intensifying. She turned around, but I could still see the goose bumps on her arms when she raised them, waving. "Jeremy, come on. We're waiting."

He grinned and slid right down to us, landing in the water perfectly and then swimming toward me and Riley.