‘You think this is f...funny,’ she choked. ‘You...you...’ Her voice was suspended by another fit of coughing to the backing track of his laughter.
Recovering slightly, she hit at the surface of the water, angrily pounding it with both hands, which only made him laugh louder when her feeble efforts failed to direct much more than a drop on his tailored linen trousers.
Teeth gritted in determination, she flipped onto her back and beat at the water with her feet until she sank.
When she surfaced again he was still standing there, as dry as a bone, his hands thrust deep inside his pockets. ‘Sorry,’ he said, not looking the least bit sorry.
Marisa smiled and floated forward, her arm barely raising a ripple now as she slid gracefully through the water. His own smile died as he watched her progress, completely riveted. She was as innately elegant in the water as she was on land.
Marisa reached the side of the pool and began to tread water. ‘I suppose I must have looked pretty funny,’ she commented, tilting back her head to look at the tall figure at the poolside. She stretched up a hand, pushing the sagging strap of her sundress that was floating around her like a bell up along the curve of her arm. ‘Give me a hand up?’
The moment he reached down, long brown fingers extended to catch her wrist to haul her out, she took a deep breath, and sank to the bottom, using her foot to spring-board up out of the water. As she broke the surface her hand shot out and as she grabbed his extended wrist, she fell back into the water, holding on hard.
Caught by surprise, he seemed to hover on the edge for what seemed like an age before he lost his balance, though somehow he still managed to twist so that he hit the water in a creditably clean dive and emerged only a few feet away.
‘You little—’
She saw the retribution shining in his eyes. ‘No, Roman!’ she exclaimed, holding out a hand and shaking her head.
He shot her a white grin and she felt her pounding heart respond to his devilish teasing. ‘Yes... I think yes...’
With a squeal she turned and began to swim away. Even hampered by her clothes her body was sleek in the water and she was fast but not fast enough, because he overtook her in seconds.
He caught her calf and sank with her; she went down twisting and turning like an otter to free herself, looking like a mermaid as she struggled to escape his grip, her hair floating like pale fronds of exotic seaweed around her face.
When they broke the surface he had her around the waist, her back against his front as he pulled her in close.
‘Surrender?’ he said in her ear.
She went limp in his arms. ‘Yes.’
The moment his grip relaxed she slithered away and swam a few strokes before she flipped over and suspended her hands, patting the water either side to keep herself afloat and laughing her triumph at him.
Roman, the water streaming off his brown face, his dark hair slicked back, didn’t return her smile, the sudden intensity of his stare making her own smile flatten, the sparkle in her eyes fading as, heart thudding with a mixture of excitement and fear, she waited for him to cover the distance between them in a couple of powerful strokes.
When he stopped and lifted his head he was only a foot away.
‘Roman.’ Her lips moved but she couldn’t hear her breathy whisper above the frantic thud of her heart.
Their glances caught and held.
Unable to think beyond the need pounding inside her, she watched Roman reach out to her, his fingers sliding over her wet hair as he cupped his hand around the back of her head.
There was no resistance in her as she floated into him, her face coming up to his, her nose grazing the side of his own. This no longer felt like a game; it felt urgent, the urgency inside her as strong as the need to draw in oxygen.
She didn’t close her eyes even when his face blurred darkly through her half-closed lids and the hissing ebb and flow of their breaths mingled and became one.
Feeling the rightness of it, she tilted her head fractionally to one side to allow him access. He covered her mouth, her lips parting as the tip of his tongue traced a path along the plump lower curve before, with a groan, he plunged his tongue inside her mouth.
With an answering groan, her legs wrapping themselves around his waist to anchor herself up tight against his body, she kissed him back, matching his frantic hunger with her own. She could feel the heat of his body even through the layers of wet clothes as she pressed close, but still not close enough as the hunger that had exploded inside her took control.
The kiss was so all-consuming that she wasn’t really conscious that they had sunk beneath the water until her lungs began to scream and in unison they kicked for the surface. They floated apart dragging air into their lungs, until he had enough to strike out for the side of the pool. Beside him Marisa matched him measured stroke for measured stroke.
He hauled himself out of the pool in one smooth fluid motion, the ripple of the powerful muscles in his shoulders and back visible through the clinging fabric of his shirt.
She watched, waiting for the hand he stretched down, allowing him to pull her up as though she weighed nothing until she was standing beside him.
‘Ro—’ Her voice was lost in his mouth, the kiss fierce, and hungry.
She kissed him back without restraint, giving in to the craving that sang through her blood. Her arms were around his neck when
