Page 48 of Playing Pretend

I grip tighter to the edge of the pool. I clench every muscle. Hold my breath to stop from pushing this further. Right up until the moment her movements slow.

Her pleasure recedes. Her body becomes lax.

I pull back, drowning in the sight of her as she stares wide-eyed and blinking across the pool.

She was made for me. No one can convince me otherwise.

I can’t come back from this. I can’t return to normal. To a relationship without touch. Without unbridled lust.

“I…” She swallows. Licks her lips. “I, ahh, should go...”

Fuck. “What’s the rush?”

We both know what it is—her fear, her inhibitions.

“I need to get ready for dinner.” She slides off my leg, the blush I’ve grown accustomed to bleeding through her cheeks.

“Then wait a minute and I’ll come with you.” I can’t go anywhere with a hard-on the size of a tree trunk.

“No.” She dips under my arm, snatches her cell from the pool’s edge, then wades toward the stairs. “Enjoy the water. I, umm, I’ll see you later.”

CHAPTER9

Piper

“Piper, wait,”Rome calls after me.

Nope. Not possible.

This whole trip all I seem to be doing is running from him, yet there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

The alcohol has well and truly gone to my head. Everything is hot—my face, my limbs, my womb. Not to mention my pulse, which beats like an out-of-control freight train.

I need to get out of here.

I climb the pool stairs, stumble slightly as I lunge for the lounger to snatch a towel and my dress, then rush to get inside.

I know I’m being ridiculous. I’m only compounding my embarrassment by fleeing…but either intoxication or shock has me scooting my dumb ass the hell out of there.

I escape to our suite, find a clean dress for dinner, shut myself into the bathroom, then sink to the floor, my body still tingling with a post-orgasm high.

It isn’t until my butt is firmly planted against the tiles, my head leaning back against the door, that I realize what I’m staring at—the exact spot that put our friendship on a collision course for damnation.

What the holy heck am I doing? And why does my body love it so much?

I came easily. Without penetration. In a public pool.

That perverted fuck is rubbing off on me. And my insides won’t stop humming over it.

How is this fair? The one person who shouldn’t affect me sexually is letting off chemistry firecrackers while the rest of the male population leaves me icy.

I bury my head in my hands, my mind swaying from one too many cocktails. I succumbed to temptation too easily. I rode my best friend like a pony at a carnival while he murmured heart-palpitating filth in my ear.

This isn’t healthy. So why can’t I quit hearing those words in my head or feeling the associated stomach flips that go along with it?

“You’re stupid.” I drop my hands to my sides and press my head back against the door. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”

The suite door opens and I hold my breath as footsteps carry past my hiding space, then the television turns on.

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