Page 104 of Steal My Heart

“Is swoony a word?”

“It is now.” She gives her nose another blow.

“Yes, Laurie is the Queen of Carnival. I have pull within the organization—perhaps enough to get Laurie replaced last minute, for the right price—but placing you front and center would be too risky. We tried that once, and I’m not doing it again.”

Especially not with the mayor thinking he’s going to have a little taste of what’s mine. My chest rattles with possessiveness.

“Why didn’t you tell me she was the queen?” Remi presses.

“I wasn’t trying to hide the fact from you; our planning got interrupted, and rightly so. I’m proud of you for not giving up.” I press a kiss to the top of her head. “You will be comfortable in the water. In fact, let’s start right now.”

Removing her mask, I begin tugging the zipper of her gown.

“What are you doing?”

Shifting Remi off my lap, I remove my mask, flinging it across the courtyard. My jacket is next to come off, and I get to work undoing my bow tie. “I believe it’s called skinny dipping.”

Chapter Thirty

Angelo

Remi’s eyes go wide. “No way.”

Rising, I step out of my shoes, dispatching one sock, then the other, before moving my hands to my belt. Locking eyes with Remi, I unfasten it.

She gasps as I yank it out of the loops of my pants, bringing it taught in my hands with a decisivesnap. Gnawing on her bottom lip, she whispers, “That’s a maybe.”

My cock agrees, but I refuse to be deterred. Giving the belt a toss, I remove my pants and boxers, stepping out of them.

“That’s a definite,” Remi says, eyeing my erect cock, “but let’s just stay right here.” She pats the seat beside her before shrugging her shoulders out of her dress; it falls to her waist.

I greedily take in her breasts, nipples hard enough to cut stone. “Tempting, but I like my idea better.” Falling to my knees, I grab Remi’s right foot and unfasten her heel, then her left, before tugging her dress all the way down. “Lift up for me.” She does so, and I shimmy her panties down, giving them a toss.

“Please don’t throw me in,” she begs, her chest heaving, not from arousal, but fear.

“Why on earth would I throw you in?” I ask her.

“Knew it was waterboarding!”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

I silently rise, walking naked across the courtyard. “Come play with me,” I call.

Joie de vivre.

Is this what it means? Because if someone would have told me I’d be strutting around my courtyard naked, I’d have called them insane.

Climbing the steps of the shallow end, I lean my back against the pool ledge, facing Remi.

“That’s playing dirty,” she calls when I begin stroking my cock.

“By definition, skinny dipping is playing dirty.” I grit, my hand tightening around the head.

She takes a few hesitant steps toward me. “I don’t want to be in over my head.”

Way too late for me.