CHAPTER THREE
Lyric
“Not listening!” I shout as I throw my shirt on the ground. My pants follow and I kick off my shoes. I only hesitate for a second before sliding my panties off and my bra, too. I know I’m giving him a good look at my ass, or at least as good a look as he can get in the dim moonlight. That’s a bit nerve-wracking but I’m caught up in being me, and when I get these kinds of wild ideas, there’s no keeping them from happening.
I run into the lake and when the water reaches my thighs, I dive and swim forward. The water is cool and beautiful and I’m absolutely thrilled by the way my whole body seems overcome by the excitement of it all. It flows around me like a caress, and naturally, that makes me think about the possibility of caresses I might get from Phillip. I finally surface and turn treading water. I see him on the shore and he looks stunned.
I giggle and call, “Come on, Phillip. What’s the matter, afraid of the water?”
“Get back here!” He shouts. “Right now, damn it!” His voice is stern and almost angry and, for the love of God, it turns me on to no end.
“Awwww,” I say with a laugh. “Does Phillip think he’s the boss of me?”
“Damn it, Lyric,” he says. “Get back here!”
“You’ll have to catch me,” I laugh. “If you can!”
“God Damn it!” he shouts. Then, I watch him pull off his shirt. It’s a good start. He tosses it on the ground but he doesn’t finish undressing. He pulls stuff from his pockets, drops them on the ground, kicks off his shoes, and dives in after me, still wearing his jeans. I giggle and kick backward.
God, it’s gonna be fun when he catches me!
I realize right away that he’s a damned incredible athlete. Staring at him is intoxicating, and because of that, I don’t move very quickly. By the time I think to get away he’s reached me. He grabs my arm and I kick and giggle. “God Damn it!” he shouts. “Stop that!” Naturally, I just do it more. He suddenly swims around me and hooks his arm through over and around me. I laugh and he turns and swims for shore. I kick and laugh but there’s no getting away from him.
When we get to the shore, he pulls me up quickly and I’m so fucking turned on! I’m also having a great time, laughing and giggling. He stares at me, shaking his head and I giggle more. He says, “Damn it, didn’t you read the… Fuck!” He grabs my arm and yanks me toward him. I think he’s pulling me to him to fuck me but he’s not. He pulls back shouting, a loud, primal kind of scream.
About twenty-five feet from the water he stops. I giggle again and he turns me around.
He turns me around just in time for me to see, even in the moonlight, the silhouette of the most terrifying thing I have ever seen. “How… this area doesn’t have crocodiles,” I whisper.
“It’s an alligator,” he says. “There are nine or ten of them here. Some idiot bought a bunch of alligators to raise for food, thought he’d be the next Cajun food celebrity. He didn’t have anywhere to raise them and used this pond, illegally. He didn’t know what he was doing, of course. The only way the county could get rid of them would be to drain the pond, but they couldn’t because there’s some kind of endangered freshwater clam or something in this lake.”
He turns me around and stares intently at me. “Why didn’t you listen to me? Why didn’t you stop?”
First of all, it’s sexy as hell to see him angry. Second of all, something powerful occurs to me. “My God,” I whisper breathlessly. “You saved my life.”
“Why didn’t you listen to me?” he asks and this time there’s an edge to his voice. It frightens me but I’m still focused on the fact this god of a man just rescued me from certain death, so instead of answering I lean forward and kiss him hard on the lips.
He is too stunned to react at first and I take advantage of his surprise to wrap my arms tightly around his neck and make the kiss last longer than it otherwise would have.
Finally, Philip gently but firmly pushes me away. His eyes are stern but a small smile plays across his lips. Still, he is very serious when he says, “That was a very dangerous thing you did, Lyric. You could have gotten hurt. I know you were just trying to have fun but from now on, I want you to promise you’ll listen to me when I tell you to stop doing something that’s against the rules. Do you promise?”
I nod, face flushed from the kiss.
“Answer with words, Lyric,” he says.
I gasp slightly at the roughness of his tone and my nipples grow rock hard. “I promise.”
He nods, then steps away from me. “Wait here,” he says. Then he turns and heads back toward the lake.
“Where are you going?” I call.
“I have to get my wallet and keys,” he says.
“You can’t!” I cry, alarmed. Images rush through my mind of alligators ripping him limb from limb and suddenly I am terrified. “I promise I won’t go back to the lake!” I call desperately. “Please come back!”
“Wait there!” he says. Then he enters the water.
The next twenty seconds are simultaneously the most terrifying and the most exciting of my life. Philip wades quickly toward the spot he pulled me from the water. Almost immediately I see an alligator, then a second. They swim in slow, lazy circles around him as he dives under the water to search for his lost wallet and keys.