Page 181 of Let the Game Begin

Neil frowned in confusion, so I explained.

“The sweater with Tinkerbell on it, it was from my grandma Marie. People might think it’s hideous or childish, but it has a great deal of sentimental value for me,” I informed him, feeling my heart beat a little faster at the memory of my beloved grandmother, who’d been gone for two years at that point. Neil grew serious again and stroked my calves with both hands, drawing lines and circles with his fingers and igniting a white-hot flame within me. Then, he moved up to the hollow behind my knee and rubbed me there slowly, so slowly that a shiver moved across my shoulder. A spark of irrepressible cunning flickered in his golden eyes.

“All the more reason to keep calling you…” He paused for effect. “Tinkerbell,” he finished, his tone light and pointedly angelic as he ceased the minor contact between us. “So are you coming after me or not?” he demanded before diving back into the water and swimming away from me along the bottom.

My eyes widened in sync with the elegant movements of his strong arms, pushing through the water. Neil seemed to me like both a marvelous dolphin and a dangerous shark at the same time. I took advantage of his submersion to pull the hair tie off my wrist and put my hair up into a high ponytail, a few strands falling loose around my face. Then I lowered myself slowly into the pool, though I continued to hug the edge. With my back to the crystalline expanse, I looked over my shoulder to see where Neil had gone. Suddenly, I sucked in a breath as two hands positioned themselves on my hips and a flawless body pressed itself into my back.

“Finally…” he whispered, brushing the nape of my neck with the tip of his nose, and the sheer wickedness I heard in his voice had me standing at attention.

My body tensed immediately, and I gulped as I felt his erection poking between my butt cheeks. Neil had no problem letting me feel it. In fact, it seemed he was trying to provoke me because he slowly ground himself against me, triggering the familiar yearning between my thighs.

Damn it.

“You… You…” I babbled softly, unable to articulate the questions that hung on the tip of my tongue. I licked my bottom lip and exhaled in a desperate attempt to get the words out.

“I… I… What?” he asked in a singsong voice. His voice was low and teasing, and this time my lower abdomen quivered as well.

Goddamn it.

“Weren’t you… I mean.… What happened to…stargazing?”

“They can gaze at us,” he whispered, and I raised my face to look at the glass ceiling over us, offering a panoramic view of a spectacular starry sky. I turned to him and met his eyes, which could have given the stars a run for their money, so golden and luminous.

I lowered my gaze and slipped away from his humid breath on the back of my neck and the curve of my collarbone because I didn’t want him to seduce me, though he could have done it without much effort.

“What else do you like to do? Besides reading?” I swam a distance away before stopping and looking at him.

He heaved a defeated sigh, and after a few moments, answered:

“Draw, play sports.” He moved toward the steps, giving me a sidelong glance.

“Wanna get out?” he suggested with a severe expression, as though something were suddenly irritating him.

I watched his masculine hands grasping the ladder and then Mr. Disaster used his biceps to lever himself up and out of the pool. He stood there, pausing to allow me to appreciate his sculpted form. I saw what appeared to be a white bathing suit wrapped around his rock-hard backside. The fabric, extremely thin and practically transparent, made me suspicious.

I climbed out as well, following him over to one of the chairs, and sincerely hoped that he wasn’t just wearing his boxers.

Neil stretched out on the lounger, crossing one ankle over the other. I swallowed hard when my eyes caught on the massive, crude bulge visible through what I now realized were, indeed, waterlogged white boxers.

“Well? Are you going to join me?” He looked at me, pretending not to see how obviously embarrassed I was. His gleaming golden eyes, however, rimmed with wet eyelashes, lit up with mischief, and a slow smile curved those beautiful lips.

Feeling uncomfortable, I grabbed my bathrobe and patted my chest and thighs dry. Then I tossed it back down and walked right toward the mysterious devil who was brazenly staring at my breasts. My nipples were hard, and the wet fabric did nothing to hide them. I was feeling especially appealing in that moment, and I sincerely hoped he was suffering as much as I was.

“You can sit next to me or on top of me. Your choice.” The evil glitter in his eyes was terrifying yet inexplicably seductive.

“The last time I sat on top of you, you destroyed the pool house,” I reminded him and twisted my mouth into a thoughtful expression. I had never really understood what had happened in that moment, right after we…

“Because I hate that position. It makes me feel suffocated,” he answered vaguely, his gaze sinking down hungrily to my legs. I let him trace their lines with his eyes, like I was a blank canvas and he was a paintbrush.

“Then why did you just suggest that I—” But he answered before I could finish the question.

“Because I know you like feeling me between your legs.” His voice was a sweet whisper, a stark contrast to his burning gaze that laved me slowly as though Neil longed to envelop my body in his hands.

“What makes you think that?” I asked but Neil leaned forward, and in one firm movement, took me by the wrist.

“Shut up and get over here.” It was a subdued order but an authoritative one. In no time at all, I found myself lying motionless on the chair, like a mouse in the clutches of a venomous snake. Neil moved on top of me, supporting himself on his forearms on either side of my head. Then, hiships slipped between my thighs and pressed down right there, where I had been throbbing for so long.

Silvery drops of water streamed down his tanned skin, while his eyes grew dark with deranged desire. I tried to resist, but I began quivering all over: my shoulders, my hands, my legs, everything.