I recognize Nate’s body instantly, even though his sexy hair is covered in the black swim cap and his eyes are covered in goggles. He’s several inches taller than everyone else, and I feel my face heat when my eyes lower to his black Speedo, my heart doing a little flip knowing exactly what he’s packing inside the black material. Even from an Olympic-size pool of distance, his body makes mine tingle, especially now that I’ve felt what it can do to me. He’s like a magnet, and my feet move me closer to him without my telling them to do so. I’m more than halfway to him when I’m stopped in my tracks.
“Evie?” I hear a female voice call my name, and my eyes pull up to Coach Gauntt’s position on the diving board. “You need something, hun?”
My mouth parts, and all that comes out is a stupid-sounding “Uhhh…” as my eyes go back to Nate, who has turned my way, and he lifts his goggles from his eyes, letting them sit on top of his cap. His lips twisting in a little smirk makes my pussy clench.
“You okay, Evie?” Coach Gauntt prompts again, and the last thing I want is for one of my coworkers to think I’m some kind of idiot, so I spit out the first thing that pops into my head.
“Um… yeah. I was just wondering if the pool has open swim hours. I uh… my gym doesn’t have an indoor one, and it’s gotten too cold to use the outdoor one.” That sounded believable, right? I mean, I don’t even go to a gym, but surely that would be a thing. At least I hope so.
“Oh, yeah, sweetie. Right there on the wall.” She points to the other side of the pool to where there’s a bulletin board covered in papers.
I nod and head back the way I’d come, turning the corner at the end of the pool and squeezing my planner tighter to my chest when I feel his eyes following me.
The sound of Coach Gauntt’s whistle makes me jump, and I hurry faster to the board when I hear her yell, “Next up, boys!”
“Hey, Ms. Richards,” one of my sweeter students greets me as I pass by where they’re lining up to start their race.
“Good luck, Alex,” I reply quietly, and make my way closer to the bulletin board. When I finally reach it, I let out the breath I’d been holding and force myself to focus and look for the pool hours, even though I have absolutely no intention of ever coming here to swim.
Two things happen at once that nearly make me jump out of my skin.
Coach Gauntt blows her whistle loud and drawn out, and at the same time a long, muscled arm reaches over my shoulder, a hot and tall wet body stepping up behind me as Nathaniel points to a small rectangular sign on the corkboard, and I squeak, jerking around to face him. He towers over me, especially when I’m in my flats, and with every single one of his muscles on display, and with that darkly hungry look in his heart stoppingly gorgeous eyes, I step back into the wall, squeezing my leather planner to my chest like my life depends on it.
He lowers his voice, looking me in the eyes. “This looks very precarious, little mouse.” I swallow at his words. “Turn back around and act like what I’m saying is interesting as fuck.”
My inner muscles squeeze, enough to show me I’m not nearly as sore I was yesterday. I do as he says without pause, feeling the water droplets from his chest sink into my shirt at the top of my shoulders, and I shudder.
“Did you come looking for me, Ms. Richards?” he asks me, and I answer truthfully.
“I was heading to my car, and then suddenly I was here, like I was drawn to you.”
I see his bicep flex, hear him blow out a breath above and behind me, and I feel it on my neck, giving me goose bumps. “Mmm, you don’t know how good that makes me feel, sweet Evie,” he whispers.
I reach down to rustle in my purse blindly, pulling my phone out. When I unlock it, the first thing that pops up is his picture, since I never closed out the Messages app. He sees it and chuckles as I scramble to close it out and open my Camera app, making a show of taking a picture of the hours sign.
I turn around, more controlled this time, and he smiles wickedly as he puts just enough space between us to not look suspicious. I glance toward Coach Gauntt out the corner of my eye, but she’s not paying a bit of attention to anything other than her swimmers.
“I appreciate the photo you sent me, Mr. Black. It’ll be very useful later,” I say quietly, suddenly feeling ballsy and wanting to give him a dose of his own medicine at what my words might mean.
When I meet his eyes, they’re blazing, his nostrils slightly flared. I swallow thickly, forcing myself to keep my posture, because he looks like he wants to eat me alive.
“You lay one finger on that pussy and there will be hell to pay… Ms. Richards,” he growls low, and my eyes dart around to make sure no one is near us before I whisper my reply.
“Well then it’s a good thing I have a vibrator, Nathaniel.”
All of his muscles tense, and he starts to take a step toward me, but the loud shrill of the whistle being blown saves us both from
