She pushed off the side of the pool, landing in the water and diving deep. I followed her, not because now I wanted to swim, but because I didn’t want her to be able to avoid this talk anymore.
I cornered her at the side of the pool and caged her between my arms. She was so damn close and now dripping wet.
Damn, I’d give everything for a second chance. “Don’t run from me. I’ll find you, and I don’t care how many restraining orders you’ll put on me until you get that we can be friends.”
Her eyes studied me, then she started to smirk. “That’s really creepy. And not just a little.”
I laughed. “I come from the streets. I don’t know how to do non-creepy.”
She nodded. “I see…”
I moved in closer, just because I wanted to and she had nowhere to go. I did keep my eyes peeled for any sign of her feeling uncomfortable, but when her fingertip trailed up my chest, I felt as if I’d won the lottery. “I promise, I’m still a guy who can make it all right for you. And I want to hear all about your worries, your sorrows, and the amazing butterfly you saw the day before.”
Her eyes widened. “You remember that?”
“Of course.” I swallowed. “Had we been older when I first met you, like five years down the road, I know I’d have looked at you differently. I was a boy from the streets and you were an angel. A pure and cute angel. You and I were meant to meet, and you know it.”
She cocked her head, her lips beckoning me despite no one being around to see us. “Kip…” My name was barely a breath, and I couldn’t resist.
I kissed her, kissed her like nobody’s business, and it was amazing. It was exactly the way I wanted it because this wasn’t for show, and the little sigh escaping her was like air to my lungs.
I felt revived, reborn, and when she wrapped her arms around my neck, I couldn’t help but think that we had a chance, a real shot at something good.
Suddenly she pulled back, as if remembering where we were and what we were up to, but the damage was already done.
I knew what we could have, and that would be my new goal in life now.
Even as she swam away from me, leaving me with a hard-on I’d never get rid of—until I had a chance to get Belle where she belonged.
In my bed and my life.
Belle
I needed to get away from Kip. He was clouding my senses each time he was too close, and it was the last thing I needed.
I had a plan, and it didn’t involve anyone from my current life.
I wanted my mother exposed for the fraud she was, and my stepfather to see what kind of woman he’d married. I wanted Kip to have his revenge, but then he needed to get lost again. I knew what he wanted, could see it in his eyes when he looked at me, but I couldn’t get over the thought of him having been with my mother.
I wanted to, figured it wasn’t more than dating a guy in school, but the truth was, it was not the same.
The guys in school dated a couple of girls, had slept with them all, but none of them had shared my blood—or had birthed me. And I didn’t care if half of Silvercrest’s student body wouldn’t care, I did.
I also thought about being friends with him, just because I didn’t think it could hurt knowing someone ‘from the streets’, but then we’d be constantly around each other, or at least talking to each other, and that wasn’t on my plan, either.
I pushed out of the pool, aware of Kip’s eyes on me, and wondered what it would be like to give in once, to erase her mother’s claim over him, but…
Shaking that thought off, I walked away. “Anabelle, where are you going?”
Taking a deep breath to reply something, but my mother appeared, a smile on her face as if she knew we were faking it. “Trouble in paradise?” She tapped her fingers along her arm, the shining red nails taunting me.
“There’s no trouble.”
She arched a brow. “Of course not. Although, for people newly in love you are quite…quiet.”
God, I hated her more every damn day. Spinning in my heel, I met Kip half way between the door and the pool, and I was on him before he even knew what was going on. My mother was watching, and would be watching, and I was going to stake my claim—even if I wouldn’t keep Kip.
I kissed him, my hand wandering down his abs and straight into his board shorts.
“Belle…” He didn’t stop me for long as I wrapped my hand around his cock, and with only a little incentive he was rock hard. “Oh,” he whispered and I glanced over my shoulder. Sure enough, Corinne Jones wasn’t going to let me get away with pretending this time.
“You wanted to come from my hand, didn’t you? You don’t mind if I prove something to her, do you?” I gave him a smile and he drew me in again.
“I’m yours to do with as you please.”
I squeezed his cock in my hand and he moaned, the sound raw and clearly not meant to escape. I wasn’t as experienced as many of my fellow students, but I knew without a doubt that I could get him to come in his pants without much of an effort.
“Can you feel the way my fingers wrap around your dick? Is it aching? I think it must be, being as hard as steel…”
He groaned, his head dropping forward as his hands came to my hips as he sought for something to hold onto. Changing my rhythm, I twisted my hand on the
