“I’m fine.” But she shuddered with a full body shiver, belying her words. She smiled self-deprecatingly. “Well, I’ll warm up swimming, anyway.”
Her body was covered in goose bumps, but it was the hard nubs of her s behind her scant bikini top that drew his gaze.
And held it.
He watched in inescapable fascination as the wet lycra of her swimsuit did nothing to hide how the already hardened pebbles tightened into fine points.
“Sebastian…” The husky desire mixed with confusion in her voice was a potent aphrodisiac.
She wanted him and didn’t know what to do with that need. What man would not be drawn by that combination of innocence and feminine awakening?
She did not move, her body frozen there, half in the water. Her breathing increased to pants, further revealing arousal so unfamiliar to her. Her small hands fisted at her sides, her knuckles turning white.
Had any woman exhibited such intense desire for him?
Perhaps it was the result of Lina’s innocence. Hawk hadn’t had a since high school. He had a strict policy of keeping his liaisons limited to experienced women who weren’t looking for a relationship much less a lifelong commitment.
So, what the hell was he doing looking at Lina like a wolf did his prey?
He forced his gaze to lift to hers. And it was worse. The evidence of her interest in him shone brightly in her doe-brown eyes. Damn it.
Unblinking, her gaze fixed to his, she bit her bottom lip and damn if he didn’t want to replace her teeth with his.
If he didn’t do something soon, he was going to end up giving her her first time right here in the lake. His entire body vibrated with the need to go to her.
It took every ounce of his formidable self-control to turn and dive into the cold water. When he came up fifteen yards from the shore, she was only a few feet behind him.
Treading water, she grinned. “You aren’t supposed to dunk yourself, don’t you know that?”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, really.” Without further warning, she launched herself toward him.
Her hands pushed against his head and he let himself go under as his training took over and he used her momentum to get her into a hold she had no hope of getting out of. He brought them both up, breaking above the water to the trill of her laughter.
Her smile was unrepentant. “Now, that’s how you’re supposed to get dunked.”
“You sure about that?”
“Of course. It’s in the rules.”
“The rules?”
“You know, the playing in the water rules?” she asked, her eyes lit with a mischievous spark.
“I don’t know those rules.”
“Why is that I wonder?”
“Maybe because I don’t play.”
“Everybody plays.”
“Not me.”
“Then I suppose I’ll have to teach you how.”
His mind immediately latched onto several images of things he would like to teach her. And not a single one of them was anywhere as innocent as playing in the water.
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?” he asked, genuinely confused.
“Looking at me like you want to eat me.”
He stared at her, for once speechless.
She laughed as she kicked out of his now lax hold. When she was several feet closer to the shore, she stopped and faced him, her chin just above the waterline. “What does that mean? The look.”
“I…” He didn’t know what to say to diffuse the situation. Sure as certain not the truth.
She took another couple of steps backward so the water wasn’t so deep around her. Her head ed to one side and she looked at him like a chemistry lab experiment that wasn’t going the way she expected. She started chewing on that way-too-kissable, full lower lip of hers again.
Then she nodded as if making some kind of internal decision. “Look, I’m not very experienced at this sexual attraction thing. Okay?”
He nodded because it seemed like she wanted a response.
“Good. Some guys…especially ones a few years older than me, would be put off by that.”
“Uh…”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you’re not, but the problem is, I don’t know what stuff means. Like that look you were giving me…” Her voice trailed off and she looked away, clearly uncomfortable with the direction of their conversation.
For which he felt profound gratitude. “Do you really want to talk about this?”
“Um…no…I just—”
“You’re doing fine.”
“I am?”
“Yes.” That, at least, was safe to say.
“Oh, good then…I…”
He took advantage of her preoccupation and dove for her, figuring that her idea of water play had to be better than talking about the overwhelming attraction between them that should be anything but on his side. She expelled her air in a shocked gasp as she fell backward under his weight.
Without thought, he sealed his lips over hers, breathing his air into her lungs as they went under the water together.
He twisted his body and brought them both up again, breaking the connection of their mouths as water ran in rivulets down their faces.
She shook her head, laughing. “That was wild.”
He tried to dunk her again, but this time she was ready for him and slipped out of his grasp. They played like that until she was gasping, “Uncle, uncle…I give, I give.”
“I’m not your uncle, but I’m glad to hear you recognize my superior water playing skills.”
“Funny, funny.” She sighed and relaxed, linking her hands behind his neck. Then, she wrapped her legs around his waist. “That’s better. You wore me out.”
“Poor you,” he choked out, trying to maintain some semblance of distance with her attached to him like a limpet.
Was he the one who had thought playing in the water was safer than talking? After fifteen minutes of her hands gliding over his body as she attempted to pull him under the water, he was hard as a rock and twice as hungry for her taste. And now, apparently she considered him her resting place. The position of her legs around his waist was way too tempting for the precarious control he had over his libido.
“It might just have a little to do with the fact that you are almost a foot taller than me.”
“What?” he asked, having totally lost the train of their conversation. Hell, he was in a different depot entirely.
“The reason you won our water fight. You’re bigger than me…it gives you an unfair advantage in the deeper water.”
“You should have kept us in the shallow water then. It’s all about strategy.”
“I’ll remember that.” Her gaze flicked to his lips…and stayed there. Her small pink tongue darted out to lick her own lips as they parted in unconscious but unmistakable invitation.
That one small move was the final nail in the coffin of Hawk’s control and he did what he’d been wanting to do since they got in the water. He leaned down and took her bottom lip between his teeth. He sucked on it gently as she made a soft, surprised sound.
That sound went through him like an electric shock and his arms locked around her, pulling her body fully against his. She fit like she’d been created to be just there.
Her eyes opened, their chocolate depths glazed with passion. She was so beautiful…so perfect in her arousal.
He gave into the silent plea in her gaze and kissed her, taking her mouth fully with lips, teeth and tongue. She whimpered, her body writhing in unconscious abandon against him. He memorized her body with his fingertips, touching every centimeter of skin he could reach.
She broke her mouth from his, wildly turning her head side to side. “Sebastian!”
“It’s okay…let me touch you. You were made for my touch.” He paid little attention to what he was saying, his words a natural outpouring from his desire.
However, there remained a small flicker of awareness in the back of his mind. That marginal ability for rational thought was surprised and maybe even a little worried at the possessiveness of his own words.
“Yes.” She pressed into his hands, her own kneading his neck like she didn’t know what to do with them.
He had just enough presence of mind not to encourage her to return the caresses.
He cupped the indent of her waist, marveling at the perfection of the curve. Even with the conservative protection of her family, it was unbelievable to him that she remained so untouched. Her natural sensuality and beauty were an irresistible aphrodisiac.
She kissed him back with unfettered passion while her body trembled with a need he was only too greedy to fulfill. However, he would not to her for the first time in the middle of a lake. There were many ways to satisfy the conflagration burning between them that did not require him buried in her al body. And if it took the last shred of his sanity, he would do those things rather than claim her body irrevocably as his.