Page 20 of Close to the Edge

I watched her swim one lap. Then another. I breathed in and out. Slow, deep to get myself under control.

No joy.

“Lily.” My voice pulsed with the quiet fury running through my veins.

She didn’t stop. Her strokes were flawless and efficient, her strong kicks propelling her swiftly away from me toward the far end of the pool. I trailed after her, watched her execute a neat underwater flip, turn and launch herself into another lap. The move was smooth enough for me to see the wireless swimming earbuds plugged into her ears. My pissed-off barometer ticked up another notch.

I tugged my T-shirt over my head and stepped out of my sweatpants before diving into the pool. Two hard kicks later, she was in front of me. Alarm flared in her eyes as my hands closed on her arms. She fought back, clawing and thrashing the water before she realized who she was fighting.

In that time an unhealthy number of what-if scenarios whizzed through my head, darkening my already foul mood.

“Are you out of your mind?” I made no effort to keep my temper from showing.

She sluiced water out of her eyes with one hand and attempted to push me away with the other. The hell I was budging. “Can you not yell at me, please?”

“I asked you a question.”

“Well, you’re not going to get an answer if you don’t let go of me. Or lower your voice by a couple of thousand decibels.”

Fine, so my voice was a little loud. It was barely daylight and I’d slept like shit. “I said—”

“I heard you the first time. I’m pretty sure the neighbors heard you, too.” She attempted to break free. I held her tighter, propelling her from the center to the side of the pool.

The water wasn’t deep but with her small stature, her feet dangled above the bottom. When she tried to move again, I trapped her with one leg.

She wriggled, braced one hand on my shoulder. The small charge that detonated inside me at her touch was perfectly echoed in her expression. A tiny hitch in her breathing, and then her hand disappeared into the water. “What are you doing?” Her voice squeaked but that fire that was never far from the surface blazed pure challenge with her glare.

I shoved away the effect of her hand on me and glared right back. “I think that’s my question. What the hell were you thinking, coming out here on your own?” I demanded.

The first rays of the sun chose that moment to emerge and bathe her face in golden light, illuminating the pearls of moisture dotting her pale, beautiful skin. I couldn’t take my eyes off the three fat drops clinging to her top lip. Or the pure temptation of her full lower lip.

“I couldn’t sleep. Swimming relaxes me—wait, why am I explaining myself to you?” She shifted impatiently, her toes brushing my bare calf.

I clenched my teeth and tried not to let the heat stabbing my groin distract me. Now that I had her attention, it was probably wise to let her go.

Not until I made my point.

“Do I really need to spell it out to you? And these things in your ears?” I tugged the earbuds out and tossed them onto the tiles. “How the hell do you expect to hear anything with them plugged in?”

“I always swim with my earbuds in. And no, I can do without that narrow-eyed judgment. This is my home. My life. I can do whatever I want.”

“You have a thing for control. Trust me, I get it. But you don’t know when this creep will step things up another level. Why the hell didn’t you wake me if you wanted to swim so badly?”

She blinked. “I swim every morning, and I don’t need your permission to do it.”

“For fuck’s sake. That’s what I’m here for—”

“I’m not going to live in fear and let some random stranger pull my strings!”

The forceful words hit the tranquility of the cool morning. Echoed all around us before settling like a boulder between us. Lily froze as if her outburst had electrified her into silence. The stunned look on her face confirmed she hadn’t meant to voice them.

When she went a little pale, I frowned my concern. “Lily—”

“Let me go!”

Her hands rose in the water. One braced on my stomach, the other brushed my upper thigh, then my bare hip. Her green eyes went wide. A moment later her gaze dropped down my chest, and then lower. She gasped. “Are you...naked?”

Despite my disgruntlement, I smiled. “I don’t get my favorite sweatpants wet for just anyone, sweetheart.”

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