Page 51 of Endurance
He narrows his eyes. “Gareth is a devoted footballer. Nothing will stop him from getting his eight hours of sleep. We should be safe.”
Biting my lip, I reach under my dress and slide my black bikini bottoms down and toss them to him. He catches them deftly with one hand and brings them right to his face, inhaling deeply.
I laugh and shake my head. “Animal.”
“Tease,” he replies, his eyes turning positively feral.
I do the same with my top and, before I lose my nerve, I slide my dress down, letting it pool around my feet. I’m now standing before him in nothing at all. The look he gives me makes my knees tremble. It’s one of complete and total animalistic attraction. He drinks in every bare inch of me—not at all shy, not at all polite. He ogles me as if I was made for him.
And I let him.
I resist all my previous insecurities about my body.
I’ve never felt such instant comfort with a man before. Perhaps it has to do with our first time together. Or perhaps it’s the fact that we’ve had sex more than a dozen times in a short burst of time. That much intimacy and that much exploration can certainly help a person find comfort. Or perhaps it’s the fact that every time I’m naked with him, he has this look of tunnel vision as if nothing else exists in the world besides me and him and what he wants to do to me.
I move to walk past him and over to the water, but he captures my wrist in his hand, stopping me in my tracks. He jerks once and I fall into him, my hands coming to his arms and my breasts brushing against his chest.
“You’re fucking gorgeous.” He states it with a deep growl and seizes my lips in a surprising and possessive kiss. His hands slide down my backside and he pulls me against his erection.
I pull back with a sharp intake of air and whisper, “Ditch the trunks. We’re skinny dipping.”
He lets me slip out of his grasp, and I quickly dive into the water, expecting it to cool down the raging inferno swirling in my belly. I’m shocked to find it’s warm, like a glorious bath. I pop my head up out of the water with a smile.
“It’s a warm water pool!” I exclaim. “Oh my God, it’s wonderful. Get in here.”
He shakes off the heated look in his eyes and moves to pull his trunks down, his package standing at a full salute. “What you do to me, woman.” Shaking his head, he drops down into the water right next to me.
His hands immediately reach, pulling me to him. We tread water in the deep end, our legs tangling together as we swap giggles and kisses and brush up against all our overly sensitive wobbly bits. There’s something delicious about skinny dipping that makes me feel like a sex goddess. And skinny dipping in a warm pool is downright erotic, especially when Tanner looks at me the way he’s looking at me now. His blue eyes are stunning next to the water. It makes me nervous.
“Tell me something, Belle Ryan,” he says, his breath uneven as he swims over to the shallow end by the steps. “Why don’t you have a boyfriend?”
His question makes me frown. “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
He sits down on a step so the water is chest high on him. With a shrug, he leans back and props his elbows on the step behind him. “That’s easy. Don’t want one.”
“Same,” I repeat, swimming over next to him. I rest my arms on the edge of the pool, my bare breasts touching the smooth tile.
He scrubs his hand over his wet face. “Well, why don’t you want one?”
I think about that for a moment. “I suppose I’m focusing all my energy on my job.”
He raises his brows. “Well, you’ve managed to balance a fake relationship with me okay.”
“That’s different,” I reply.
“How?”
“Because I don’t have to give you anything emotional. I just have to give you some time…and my body.” I grin.
His eyes narrow thoughtfully at my response. “What if you did have to give me something emotional? What would change?”
“Well, everything.” I wipe away some water streaking down from my hair and onto my face. “You say I’m crazy now. Wait until you see me when I actually care about someone. If Ifeeltoo much, I turn into a life-ruiner. Indie’s the only friend I’ve ever managed to keep, and I think that’s because we’re cut from the same cloth.”
His brow furrows. “How do you mean?”
“Her parents want nothing to do with her. Mine want nothing to do with me.”
“Surely that’s not true. You’re a doctor. They must be proud of you. Hell, I’m proud of you.”
