by Leslie Kelly
Play it safe for a change and get out of here. Now.
But she couldn’t. Instead, she stood there, watching the way his body moved, wondering how a man could look so masculine when doing something as basic as exercising.
Finally, after a few long, voyeuristic minutes, she watched as he paused for a breath at the ladder beside her feet. That’s when he saw her. He was nearly concealed in the water, but she could see the way his chest heaved with deeply inhaled breaths as he watched her. His eyes glittering in the moonlight, he looked her over, from head to toe, his stare deliberate and appreciative.
She still held the towel in the tips of her fingers but it did nothing to cover her body, clothed, only in the most basic sense of the word, by the skimpy, royal blue bikini.
He looked his fill, then finally murmured, “Hello, Venus.”
“Hi.”
“We both had the same idea, I see.”
She nodded. “I didn’t know you were out here.” Then, swallowing, she said, “Do you want me…to leave?”
“I want you…to do whatever it is you’d like to do,” he responded, his pause every bit as provocative as hers had been.
She dropped the towel and stepped down one rung on the ladder, sighing at the feel of the water on her feet. “Warm.”
“Very. I love swimming at night,” he admitted, looking at the flecks of moonlight shimmering on the surface of the pool. “I do this a lot at the beach at home.”
Still holding the rails for balance, and still facing him, she stepped down again, until the water reached her knees. “Night swimming in the ocean. Sounds a little too much like a blatant invitation to an all-you-can-eat buffet for any great white creatures swimming around down there.”
He laughed softly. “Actually, I think I’m more afraid of jellyfish.” Then a look of pure devilment widened his smile. “Especially because I like to swim naked.”
In the process of stepping to the third rung, she froze and stared at him. Her eyes shifted and she glanced at the water, trying to see beneath the dark surface. “You’re, uh…”
“What?
“You like to swim naked?”
“Nothing feels better,” he assured her. His voice was low and sultry, as smooth and silky as the fabric of her bikini.
She raised a brow. “Nothing?”
“Well, one or two things,” he admitted with a soft chuckle. “But there aren’t a whole lot of physical sensations that can compare to the feel of liquid warmth against your bare skin.”
Parting her lips, she drew in a shaky breath, fully grasping his underlying meaning. She knew exactly what liquid warmth a man wanted against certain bare skin. Considering she got wet just looking at the man, she didn’t think that would be a problem.
“Don’t tell me bad, bad Venus has never skinny-dipped?”
She hadn’t, not that she’d admit it. “You think I won’t?”
He only answered with a tiny shrug as he put his head back and looked up at the star-filled sky. When he straightened, he swiped a lazy hand through his wet hair. Long streams of water glittered against his tanned skin, highlighting the corded muscles of his arm and shoulder as he moved. Another rush of pure desire spread through Venus’s veins, warming her, making her even more achy and aware with every breath she took.
It really shouldn’t be legal for a man to look so good.
“Coming?” He swam away from the wall in an easy backstroke.
As usual, when challenged, Venus reacted with bravado and instinct. Once she was sure she had Troy’s full attention, she sat down on the top rung of the ladder, nearly cooing at the pleasure of the water against her thighs and bottom. Not saying another word, she reached around her back, feeling for the tie of her bathing suit top. She undid it slowly, so intent and focused, she could almost hear the wisp of the material as the strings gave way. Then she dropped her hand, feeling the warm night air brush against the bottom curves of her partially uncovered breasts.
Troy watched from a few feet away, never taking his eyes off her. He didn’t urge her on, or try to stop her. He simply waited, more patient—more confident—than any man she’d ever known.
Giving him a sultry smile, she reached for the string at the back of her neck. Neither of them blinked. Venus hardly even breathed as she carefully untied the fastening. Then she let the top fall off her body, into her lap.
Though his only reaction was a slight widening of his eyes and a parting of his lips, Venus knew he liked what he saw. He couldn’t take his gaze off her.
Feeling very wanton, and very sure of her own power as a woman, Venus dipped her cupped hand into the water. She slowly raised it to her throat, pouring a trail of liquid down the front of her body. Sighing at the cool relief against her heated skin, she closed her eyes to savor the sensation.
A moment later, she reached in and drew up another handful. Again, she gently poured it on her body, focusing on the pleasure of it as the gentle droplets slid down her throat, across her collarbone, then over the curve of her breast.
A drop of water reached her puckered nipple and hung there, practically inviting him to come taste it. She wanted more than anything for him to lick the drop off her, to warm her cool skin with the heat of his mouth, to take her nipple between his lips and suck deeply on her flesh.
He swam closer, silently, cutting expertly through the water. His piercing stare never left her body. And almost before she’d fully realized what she’d started, he was there, holding on to the rails on either side of her. He stayed below her, one rung down, his chest between her parted thighs.
“You’re wet,” he murmured. Then, as if he simply couldn’t help himself, he leaned close and licked away a bit of moisture in the hollow of her throat.
She moaned. “Troy.”
He ignored her protest. Or maybe it was a plea. She couldn’t think straight enough to decide.
“I didn’t get it all yet.” He followed the trail of the water, his tongue and warm breaths sending a path of pure fire across her skin. She didn’t move, could only clutch the metal handrails, her fingers close to his, so close, but not touching. Just his mouth. His tongue. On her chest. Until, finally, his lips were at the curve of her breast. She whimpered as he moved lower. Then, finally, he licked the single drop of water from her nipple with one slow, deliberate flick of his tongue.
She almost came right there on the step.
“Thank you,” he said. Then, with a sultry smile, he extended his arms behind him and leisurely swam away.
Venus watched, slack-jawed, ready to order him to get back over here and finish what he’d started. He paused a yard or so from the side of the pool, treading water again. Watching her, he waited for her next move, as if he’d lobbed the ball back on her side of the court and wanted to see if she had the guts to hurl it back toward him.
Not about to let him think he’d nearly shattered her with his much-too-brief caress, Venus moved her hand down her body, following the path his lips had taken. She paused for a fleeting moment as her fingers reached her nipple, moving it as lightly and deftly as he had moved his tongue. She knew he understood she was mimicking what he’d done.
She felt sure she heard a tiny groan, but supposed it could have been the breeze blowing through the branches of a tree.
Then she lowered her hand under the water. Standing on the last rung, she bent and pushed the bathing suit bottoms off. Naked, she tossed both pieces of wet material to the pool deck.
“You’re right,” she whispered as she felt the liquid sluicing between her thighs, cooling her where she was most hot. “This feels amazing.”
Submerging completely beneath the surface, she kicked off the wall and swam for several yards, toward the shallow end of the pool. The feeling of being naked, enveloped by warm, gentle water, was incredibly sensual. She’d never felt more free while swimming and loved the way her body slid so intimately through the surrounding wetness.
When she finally came up for breath, she found herself sta
nding in thigh-deep water. She made no effort to go deeper, or to cover herself. She wanted him to look at her. Wanted him to want her every bit as much as she wanted him.
Troy surfaced a few feet away, concealed from the waist down. “Venus rising from the waves,” he said. She saw his breaths deepen as he studied her, his gaze lingering on the curve of her throat, then her breasts. He looked lower, to her waist and hips, then at the shadowed curls between her thighs brushing lightly, with delicious sensitivity, against the surface of the pool.
“You do look beautiful.” His voice was thick, revealing his reaction to her. “As wanton and desirable as any goddess of love should look.”
He approached her. She held her breath and made no effort to move away. Then, as his body emerged, she noticed a band of black fabric around his hips. She couldn’t prevent a tiny laugh, knowing she’d been tricked. “You’re wearing trunks.”
He shrugged, completely unrepentant. “I never said I wasn’t.”
“So why did you dare me to take off my suit?”
“I didn’t dare you, Venus,” he replied with a knowing smile. He moved closer, until they stood only inches apart. “You are perfectly capable of doing whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it.”
True…except when it came to him. Because what she really wanted to do was reach out and tug that suit off him, to see if he was as aroused and ready as he’d been in the bathroom. As she was right now. Then she wanted to wrap her legs around him and let their bodies move together in the gentle flow of the water.
He continued. “Do you blame me for understanding you well enough to know you’d take off your clothes and swim gloriously naked in the moonlight if given the slightest provocation?”
She shook her head, tsking. “You didn’t even try to stop me, when you knew what I thought.”
Lowering his gaze to her bare breasts, he whispered, “What kind of fool would do that?”
Making a split-second decision, she reached for the waistband of his trunks. “Maybe the same kind of fool who would have handed you the towel in the bathroom?”
He laughed softly.
“Or the kind of fool who wouldn’t insist turnabout is fair play,” she murmured, determined to even the stakes.
Troy had only intended to tease her a little, to taunt Venus into doing exactly what she’d done. He had no compunction about tricking her into removing her clothes. After all, he’d been remembering her naked ever since the moment she’d dropped the towel in the bathroom. He’d wanted to look at her stunning body again almost as much as he wanted to lose himself in it.
He hadn’t, however, counted on being completely unable to control his reaction. He’d managed to back away after one quick self-indulgent taste of her supple skin.
He’d tried to keep his desire for her in check, not wanting her to see the intense storm of need almost making him shake. But when she reached for him, when she brushed the tips of her fingers against his stomach in a long, slow caress, he couldn’t prevent a deep groan.
“Oh,” she whispered, obviously hearing his need and seeing the coiled tightness of his body. “You’re not quite as unaffected as you wanted me to think, are you?”
He shook his head, unable to lie about something so damned obvious. “No.” He slipped his hand into her hair, tangling his fingers in the wet strands. “Venus, I’ve wanted you since the minute I laid eyes on you.”
She moved her cool fingers lower and grasped the waistband of his suit. He leaned closer, making it easier for her to remove the trunks.
“That’s your answer?” she asked, apparently recognizing the move for the confirmation it was.
“Yes.”
She didn’t hesitate, not that he’d expected her to. Troy waited, watching her nibble the corner of her lips as she pushed the suit down his hips until he could kick them off under the water. He hissed when she cupped his ass, squeezing him tightly, pulling him closer. His wet erection slid against her bare stomach, making them both quiver.
“So we do this, we do what we’ve wanted to do since the minute we met, we, uh, get it out of our systems, and that’s the end of it?” she asked as she slipped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer for a kiss.
He chuckled, truly amused. “Hell, no, Venus.” He gently tugged her head back, still cupping it, still stroking her hair, touching her soft earlobe, scraping his fingertip along her nape. Her green eyes were wide and excited, full of anticipation as she met his stare.
“We do this,” he told her, pressing his body suggestively against hers in an instinctive male question that she answered silently with a feminine thrust of her hips. “And then we do it again.” He kissed her temple. “And again.” Moving lower, he lightly nipped her earlobe. “And again.” After sampling her neck, he moved his way to her mouth.
Just before their lips touched, she gave a helpless groan and whispered, “Works for me.”
Then he was kissing her deeply, tasting her, feeling her warmth and acceptance. Their tongues danced and mated as she melted against him, her naked body warm and vibrant. The scrape of her pointed nipples against his chest nearly made him lose his mind as her hands stroked his back and then her nails dug into his shoulders.
“Do you know how crazy it’s been making me, wanting to touch you like this?” he whispered when they parted for breath, hearing the hoarse need in his voice that he couldn’t possibly disguise.
“Like this?” she asked, drawing his hand up to her breast, offering that perfect, puckered flesh to him.
He knew what she wanted as she pressed against his hand. Instead, he drew out the tension, moving his hand away to delicately rub her collarbone and the hollow of her throat. He built the fire, even though he knew it was already hot enough to burn them both up.
He should have known Venus wouldn’t respond with similar restraint. She pushed him back until he lost his footing and almost fell under the water. When he rose again, she kissed the surprised laughter off his lips. “No more teasing, Troy. I just can’t take it,” she said, making no effort to play coy.
She wanted what she wanted. And she wanted it now.
God, he loved a woman who didn’t play games when it came to something as elemental as sex.
“Fine,” he promised her. “No more teasing. But I reserve the right to some serious foreplay at a future date.”
“Deal.”
“By the way, I really like foreplay, Venus.”
Venus heard a note of something in Troy’s voice and saw his amusement segue to pure male drive. Before she realized what he intended, he’d picked her up by the hips and tugged her legs around his waist. The warmth of his erection slid between the wet folds of her body, coming close, so close to where she wanted him. Beginning to pant and quiver, she arched closer, trying to take what he wasn’t yet giving her.
“Not yet,” he muttered just before he lowered his mouth to her breast, as if he had to taste her, now, or die.
She jerked when he captured one sensitive nipple and sucked it deeply into his mouth—hard. Yes. This was what she wanted, what she’d demanded moments ago.
He completely supported her weight, easily holding her with one arm as she arched back invitingly. He thoroughly tasted both her breasts, nibbling and suckling one while he playfully stroked and cajoled the other with his fingers. She wriggled and writhed against him, not wanting him to stop, but wanting more than just his hands and mouth.
“Are you protected?” he asked raggedly, his tone telling her she’d damn well better be.
“Yes. The pill.”
“Good.”
Then, with one agonizingly perfect thrust, he plunged deep into her, filling her up until she cried out at the pleasure of it. He caught her cries with a wet kiss as they both absorbed the sensations. Hot bodies. Cool water. Deep…deep penetration.
She’d never felt anything more pleasurable in her life.
“This is just the first time, right?” she somehow managed to say, almost crying at how goo
d he felt, so thick and solid inside her. “There’s an again?”
“Absolutely.” He cupped her head, pulling her close for more of those slow, hot kisses that completely melted her and made her want to devour him at the same time. “Several agains.”
“Oh, thank heaven,” she managed to whimper, needing him to move, faster, deeper, harder. “Then could you please, please go slow next time. Right now I want…I need…”
She didn’t have to finish. He seemed suddenly as out of control as Venus, catching her around the waist and pounding into her with deep, soul-shattering thrusts. The water gushed against her in never-ending, undulating liquid caresses. His mouth licked hungrily at her own. He filled her so deeply she imagined she’d feel him inside her forever.
And finally, when he dropped his head back and shouted out his completion, he gave her another of those screaming orgasms.
8
LESS THAN TWO WEEKS on the job and he was going to be late for work. Troy glanced at his watch, seeing it was after nine, and hit the gas. He didn’t imagine his new boss would care for his excuse. Sorry, Max, I overslept because I was up until four having the most amazing sex of my life with your granddaughter. Man, we did things I didn’t even know were possible.
No, he didn’t want to have to explain. Especially because he couldn’t think about last night without getting hard again.
Venus. She’d been incredible. He’d never known a woman as completely in tune with her own body, and her lover’s. They’d read each other’s moods, known what each other wanted. When to slow down, or when to pound forward. Every touch had been savored, every stroke answered in return.
After that first frantic encounter in the pool, Trent had carried her out and gently dried her off. They’d curled up on a padded lounge chair, exchanging kisses and caresses for an hour as the night shadows deepened. More lovemaking, this time sweet and languorous, had followed.
They didn’t come inside until almost three. After he’d placed her in bed, Venus had sleepily whispered, “When you mentioned those agains, did you mean all of them tonight?”
