Oh, you know,
“Uh … good.”
Good. My cheeks are
He stood there, tall and silent and nodding, with that perpetually clenched jaw. The tension between us grew thicker than the steam, and I just couldn’t understand why in the world this guy was standing across from me.
He’d seen me at my worst, and then he’d rejected me. Why come back for round two?
He slid closer to me, and I felt the flow of the water around me change. My body instantly responded to his closeness, and his cocky smile told me he could tell. His arm brushed my chest, and the tips of my breasts tightened. I made a strangled sound somewhere between the wheezing of a fat asthmatic and the squeak of a dog’s chew toy. In other words, the noise that came out of my mouth was light-years away from being sexy. He chuckled and kept reaching past me to extend his hand to Jenny. With his body invading my space, and my face close enough to him that I could see close-up the stubble on his jaw, he focused on her. “Hello, I’m Hunt. It’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Jenny. Likewise.”
Even his name sent tingles down my spine.
“Is that short for Hunter?” I’d been wondering.
He pulled back from Jen, but stayed firmly inside my personal bubble. His face tipped down toward mine, and he murmured, “It’s not.”
“So your parents just named you Hunt?”
“Not exactly.”
“God, vague
He smiled, and that smile reached into my chest and rearranged everything in me.
“There you go calling me God again.”
Where was a desk when I needed to slam my head against it?
Lukas chose that moment to reappear at my side, and one desk wouldn’t have been enough. I needed a whole fucking classroom.
Hunt glanced briefly in his direction, then at Tau and John standing nearby, before focusing back on me. He said, “I didn’t realize you were here with others.”
I grinned. “You scared of a little competition?”
He laughed, and the sound unrolled down my spine on a shiver. He looked at me like the idea of him having competition was absurd. And damn it if he wasn’t right.
He asked, “What about your other friends? The ones from the other night?”
I shrugged. “We weren’t really friends. But this is Jenny.” I latched on to her like she was my lifeboat.
He smiled. “Yes. We met. A few seconds ago.”
I would welcome Armageddon if it would shut my stupid mouth.
“Right. We’re staying in the same hostel.” A hand slid across the small of my back, a large male hand that didn’t belong to Hunt. Lukas. Damn it. “Because we’re
Foot … meet mouth.
Jenny stood next to me, a peculiar look on her face. And I could imagine it was odd … watching me self- destruct. No need to visit Mount Vesuvius, I was my own natural disaster.
Jenny clapped her hands together. “Oookay, I believe it’s time for drinks. I
Oh God, yes. I could use a vodka IV drip right about now.
But then I looked at Hunt, and remembered where alcohol had gotten me the night we first met. If I hadn’t been so drunk, things could have gone very differently. He wouldn’t have rejected me, my brain wouldn’t currently be a disaster zone, and I would have gotten him out of my system that first night.
But I also needed to relax. He had me wound so tight, that my normal cool, sexy demeanor was nonexistent.
I took a long, slow breath.
“One drink,” I told Jenny.
Then I was going to get things back under control. Life was giving me a mulligan, and I was going to take advantage of that faster than a quarterback on prom night. That is, me taking advantage of the quarterback, not the other way around.
I slipped sideways until Lukas’s hand fell away from my back, and I stood close enough to Hunt that I could feel his warmth even over the heat of the water. I said, “Come with me?”
“I would have thought you had enough to drink the other night.”
I frowned. “It’s just one drink. My first of the night. Come, have a little fun.”
He hesitated.
“Or I can just catch up with you later.” I moved toward Lukas, whose hand was already reaching for me.
I didn’t make it more than a few inches before Hunt’s hand was at my waist, pulling me back toward him.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Lukas frowned, but I wasn’t about to feel bad. Not when I was getting what I wanted. Just the touch of Hunt’s fingers on my waist had my heart sprinting, so I could only imagine what more contact would do. Lukas went to join Jenny instead.
She smiled. “Well, then, to the bar.”
I almost laughed. John was up ahead, no doubt trying to ignore the fact that his sister was now juggling the interests of three men, Tau included.
We followed behind them, and I took a steadying breath. I had no idea what Hunt wanted from me, but I knew what I wanted from him.
One night. Enough to erase the crazy in my brain, and get me back on track.
“Your new friend seems a little reluctant to leave you.”
My brows furrowed, and I followed his gaze not to Jenny but to Lukas, who kept looking back and forth between Jenny and me.
“He’ll get over it. We literally met like two minutes ago.”
“I know. I saw you when you came in.”
My head whipped toward him so fast, I was in danger of pulling a muscle.
He
“I really enjoyed that little spin move you did while you were trying to hide.”
I couldn’t catch a fucking break.
“I wasn’t
The words evaporated from my tongue. God, that sexy smirk was going to be the death of me.
“Okay.” I rolled my eyes. “So I
“It wasn’t that bad.”
Those are always the words you want to hear from a guy you’re trying to sleep with … not
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
His eyebrows lifted, and it drew my attention to his eyes, the color of a thunderstorm.
“It’s a room full of women in bikinis. What do you think I’m doing here?”
I tried not to let the sour taste of those words show on my face.
“I meant what are you doing
We climbed the few steps that led out of the pool, and as gravity pulled the water back down to the earth, my swimsuit clung tight to my skin. I turned to see him standing still on the top step, his eyes cascading down my skin along with the water. He shook his head, and this time he didn’t force himself to look away from my body like he had the night we first met. His eyes traveled down my frame, and then up again. The tips of my breasts
