“I’m not being stubborn!” I put my hands on my hips and scowled down at him, wondering if maybe I was being stubborn. He raised an eyebrow when I said, “And you have no room to talk. You’re a mule.”
Blake laughed and pointed at Kai. “She just called you an ass, man.”
“I am an ass-man,” Kai stated.
Blake laughed harder and I rolled my eyes.
“Aw, c’mon, just stay,” Blake said.
“I don’t think so.” Okay, I was definitely being stubborn now, but Kai hadn’t exactly been Mr. Nice Guy today. Yes, I’d made a mistake, but so had he, and I wasn’t dealing with any more of his meanness. “Just get up and say ’bye to me, Kai. Please.” He stood and towered over me, getting close in that intimidating way I remembered so well. I sucked in a breath and held it.
“Bossy, aren’t you?” His voice was low. As I raised my gaze to those perfect blue eyes, I found I couldn’t respond and my cheeks got hot. “Right. You’d best cool off before you go.”
Before I could process those words, he bent down, grabbed me up in his arms, and jumped into the freaking deep end of the pool with me!
We went all the way to the bottom, where I kicked off and swam back up, surfacing with a gasp. Blake’s laughter rang through the air. I swiped water from my eyes. Kaidan was right in front of me and I shoved his chest. My movements in the water were sluggish, laughably ineffective. He grabbed my wrists and he was grinning! I struggled to pull away, still feeling unreasonably emotional. Attempting to wrestle with a big, sexy boy while treading water was not easy.
“Let me go,” I said. Disappointment and frustration about the day rose, coupled with embarrassment, making me angry all over again.
“Not until you agree to stay.” Water stuck to his dark eyelashes.
Why? I wanted to ask. I flailed a moment longer, my thighs rubbing against his as our feet kicked.
“Stay,” he whispered.
And that soft plea did something to me. Like pinching a lit candle’s wick, what was left of my anger turned into a smoky, sizzling residue.
“Fine,” I said, and he let me go.
I swam to the ladder and climbed out, sensing him close behind me. My heart still banged against my ribs.
“Sweet!” Blake hollered across the pool. “I’ll order Chinese food for lunch.”
He jogged to the house and I trudged over to where I’d left my bag by the rail. I dug through it for a dry set of clothes, and when I stood up and stepped backward, I bumped right into Kaidan and spun around.
He was dripping wet, and his eyes had gone stormy. Oh, heavens. He stood so close—in kissing distance. His pungent citrusy scent lay in a cloud all around us. My knees nearly buckled under me.
“For the record,” he ground out in a guttural whisper, “I was more myself with you during those three days than I’ve ever been with anyone in my life. It’d be easier if I could be fake with you, but you bring out everything in me, little Ann. All of it.”
His sudden fierceness frightened and excited me. He was not in his right mind. I blinked several times before taking a step back and running into the rail. I could do nothing but stare as he went on.
“And however it is that you think you still feel about me, I can assure you it’s nothing more than a classic case of someone who wants the one thing she can’t have. If you had me and got it out of your system, you’d realize the good boy’s the one you really want.”
Frustration tore through me. I shut my eyes and counted to five before responding. “Those are your insecurities, Kaidan, not facts, and I wish you would stop taking them out on me.”
Slowly he shook his head back and forth, not moving away. Any second now I was going to let loose a psychotic scream. I had to get away from him for a minute. I looked toward the bungalow. I tried to step to the side, but he moved to block my way.
“Excuse me,” I said as patiently as I could. “I need to change my clothes.”
I was about to attempt stepping around him again when I caught his stormy eyes roaming over me, savoring the sight of the damp outfit clinging to my skin. What happened next is what I’ve dubbed the I-don’t-know-what-came-over-me moment.
Still facing him, I grasped the bottom of my shirt and slowly peeled it over my head to reveal the bikini top. I let the shirt drop to the deck with a soaking smack. I’d never seen him so surprised. He seemed to become even more shaken when he caught the punishing look in my eyes. That’s right, Kai. I wasn’t the only one suffering from wanting the one thing I couldn’t have. I unbuttoned my shorts and shimmied them down my bottom and thighs, taking my time until they fell. I stepped out and kicked them aside, still watching him.