Page 76 of The Season
“If you think I’ll give up that easily…” I growl, bending forward so that my lips are close to her ear. Close enough that I can smell the saltwater scent of the water coming off her skin, alongside something feminine and warm. “Then you don’t know anything about me, Miss Lily Dean. Not a goddamn thing…”
Her thighs slide against me, smooth and slippery feeling, making my boardshorts ride up as her hands dip to my stomach, delicate fingers digging with surprising strength into my flesh. I think she’s meaning to tickle me, like I’ve been doing to her, but the feel of those fingers against my stomach, right above the waistband of my boardshorts, it has all the wrong signals firing in my brain like lightning bolts.
The arousal that’s been simmering just below the surface bursts forth, my cock going fully hard between us, straining for her like some underwater creature with a mind of its own. I should move back, should let her go, put space between us. Instead, as if completely controlled by my hindbrain instincts, my hold on her tightens, my fingers widening as I splay my hands over her hips, my thumbs resting just below her hipbones as I pull her toward me.
Her hands still, her lips parting and eyes going wide as they meet my own. I can feel the soft flesh of her body against my cock, can feel the heat of her searing through our swimsuits. I swear to god, I can even feel the frantic thrum of her pulse beneath my fingertips.
“Liam…” the word comes out as a whisper, mingling with the steam rising off the water around us. It could be a plea or a warning, but my body shudders in pleasure at the sound of my name on her lips.
“I’m going in the hot tub now…”
Antoine’s voice cuts through the red-tinged haze of lust clouding my mind, and I drop my hands, stepping back and instantly shivering at the comparatively cool water flowing between us.
“…if you two want to join.”
Antoine’s formal tone is cold, and Lily bites her lip, her cheeks flaring red with embarrassment. The sight of her discomfort has my own anger rising up again, and I turn to scowl at Antoine.
“The hot tub sounds great,” Lily says, turning to give Antoine an apologetic smile. She swims a few strokes toward the stairs, then pauses, treading water to turn back to me. “Are you coming?”
I reach down, trying to surreptitiously adjust my board shorts, silently willing my throbbing cock to calm the fuck down. “Yah.” My voice sounds gravelly, almost raspy. “I’ll join you guys in a few.”
Antoine gives me a scathing look that tells me he knows exactly why I’m lingering behind. I lift one brow at him in reply, silently daring him to say anything. He’s had his hands all over Lily every single night since she arrived. He can take that judgmental look and…
“Oh wow that’s hot,” Lily hisses as she steps into the hot tub. She lifts one leg out, then the other, shooting me an accusatory look from across the room. “Why didn’t you tell me it was so hot?”
I grin, but my smile quickly falters when Antoine steps into the hot tub beside her, one muscled arm wrapping around her shoulders, his green eyes finding mine.
“Is it always so empty in here?” Lily asks, completely oblivious to me and Antoine’s telepathic showdown. She glances around the pool room before sinking slowly into the hot tub. “We must have had the whole place to ourselves for at least an hour.”
“Yah,” I say, trying not to grind my teeth when Antoine sits down right next to her, pulling her so close she must be halfway on his lap, his eyes locked on mine the whole time in silent challenge. “Hardly anyone comes here, not since that big gym opened up a year ago.”
“Oh,” she murmurs, and I think she’s answering me, but then her eyelids flutter shut, a sigh escaping her lips, and I’m not quite sure. My hands clench into fists at my sides as I stand on tiptoes, straining to see above the lip of the pool, but from where I am in the water, I can’t see below their shoulders.
“You coming in?” Antoine asks, those perfectly shaped lips quirked up in an almost smile, expression icy as the blizzard that’s raging outside this forgotten haven.
My legs move as if they have a mind of their own, propelling me up the stairs and across the worn tile floor, to the sunken hot tub in the far corner. I step into the water, ignoring the searing burn that has every one of my nerve endings screaming out in protest, and take a seat next to Lily, close enough that my thigh brushes her own, giving Antoine a pointed look as I lift my arm and rest it on the ledge behind Lily’s head, not caring that his arm is merely inches away from my own now.
Lily blinks at me in surprise, cheeks flushed and lips parted. “Oh. Hey there,” she says, probably aiming for casual, but there’s a huskiness to her voice that wasn’t there before. Her gaze drops to my chest, and for a brief moment, I’m hit by a wave of self-consciousness that I don’t think I’ve felt since high school.
She’s probably used to sun-browned bodies and thick muscles. To guys who spend every day building their upper bodies surfing or paddling of whatever else it was that athletic friend of hers was so great at doing.
I don’t think my skin has seen the sun for more than two weeks at a time for the past six years. And while I’ve got good muscle tone, I certainly don’t have Antoine’s build. I’ve got a skier’s body—massive thighs, a strong core, but my arms… well, it’s not exactly like I’m out there lifting weights or anything.
“What was the tattoo on your hip?” she asks, and now that I look, I can see her eyes are focused on the water, not my chest. On the tattoo now hidden below the surface of the hot tub. “Japanese, right?”
I feel a twinge of satisfaction at her words, a silent sort of pride and relief that comes with correct recognition. The amount of times people have asked me about my ‘Chinese tattoo’ in the locker room at work has been enough to make me keep it covered up.
“Yah, it is.” I feel the faintest of smiles curve my lips. “Good guess.”
She wrinkles her nose at me. “It wasn’t exactly a guess.”
Before I can ask her what she means, the arm Antoine has draped over her slender shoulders moves, his fingertips caressing the length of her upper arm, the back of his hand brushing against my exposed side in the process. He doesn’t seem to notice, but every nerve ending comes alive at that simple, accidental touch, and I momentarily lose the ability to speak.
I stare at their bodies, at how close the pair of them are to me, since I stupidly positioned myself right next to them in some sort of possessive power play. I should move. Should slide a few inches over, should tuck my arm back by my side…
“What does it mean?” Lily asks, her eyelids fluttering shut as she tips her head back. The move has her head resting on my arm instead of the pool ledge, damp hair draping across my bare skin.
“It saysichi go, ichi e,” I mumble, barely aware of what I’m saying.
