Page 24 of After You

He moved the hose just slightly, the water splashing closer to her toes peeking out from her sandals.

She saw the motion, and probably felt a few cold drops. “Kyle.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not going to get mewet.”

His eyes locked on hers. “No? You sure aboutthat?”

She licked her lips and he felt a surge of satisfaction. He was affecting her. He shouldn’t like that so much. But he definitelydid.

“Okay, why would you do that? I come out here to talk and you want to have a water fight?”

“Maybe.”

“Really?”

“Or maybe I just want your grandmother to see us having a water fight.”

She looked confused. That was okay, since her back was to the house—where Alice and Ruby were still blatantly watching from the kitchen window.

“Why would you want that?” Hannah asked.

“Because it will make her happy to see us getting along and being like we used tobe.”

Hannah swallowed hard. “That’s…dangerous.”

“Oh? How so?” Would she find it tempting?

“I don’t want to get her hopesup.”

Okay, maybe not tempting. Or at least she wasn’t admitting that. But they were, actually, on the same page, even if she didn’t know ityet.

“Yeah, remember that,” hesaid.

“Rememberwhat?”

“That you don’t want to get her hopes up.” Then he moved the hose, splashing water over Hannah’sfeet.

She shrieked and danced from one foot to the other, trying to avoid the water stream. “Kyle!”

Yep, he wanted her messy. And wet. In so many ways. But he shut that thought down. Then started it up again. Wet. In many ways. Yeah, he wanted that. He wanted her affected. He wanted this, being here, with him, to do something to her. He followed as she started around the car, trying to get the vehicle between her and the water stream.

“Oh, come on, you always ended up wet when we did this in the past,” he said. And he absolutely meant the double entendre. It was an easy one, of course, but no way was he going to pass itup.

“Kyle!” she gasped, and he knew it wasn’t from the cold water that he managed to splash on the backs of her calves. She was surprised he’d saidthat.

And he could understand. It wasn’t like he’d never said anything dirty to her, but it was usually in the heat of the moment. And even then, it had been rare. Hannah just wasn’t the type of girl you talked about sex with in her grandmother’s driveway.

“This is going to happen, Hannah,” he said. “I’ve got thehose.”

She whipped around when he thought she was going to continue around the car. The water stream hit her right in the stomach, drenching her from the waist down. She gasped at the cold and he quickly diverted the water. He hadn’t been intending to spray her likethat.

But before he could say so, she planted her hands on her hips. “You’ve got the hose? I always got wet? What are you, twelve? What are you doing?”

He couldn’t help it—he grinned. She was clearly pissed off and she looked…adorable. Half of her wet and messy, half still perfectly styled and put together.

“I didn’t mean the hose comment like that,” he said honestly.

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