“I am, too,” he said, catching his breath.
I dwelled on his glistening face. God, he was beautiful, his lush lips moist and his eyes, two glimmering blue pools with crowns of thick lashes. My heart thudded, an unstoppable reaction to the sight of the god-like man beside me and the challenge that faced me. Ha! He was no match for me. One more race and it would be over for sure. This time he said “on your mark,” and we took off. I reached the other end way before he did and turned around quickly. I could taste victory. About a third of the way back, I noticed that he was picking up speed. My limbs and lungs burning, I surged ahead. Three breaths later, he passed me; I gaped when I glimpsed his cocky smile. He was beating me to the finish line by several yards. An amused glint flickered in his eyes when I finally reached our starting point. I was panting. He wasn’t even breathless. What the fuck? Had he possibly let me win the first race? Faked all that heavy breathing? I was fuming.
“Are you still thinking about a very expensive restaurant?” he asked with playful sarcasm.
I scowled. “Yes!”
He tugged at my thick wet braid. “You’re cute when do that little frown thing between your brows.”
I was seething. Simply seething. “Cute” was the last thing I was.
The third and final race. The race that would determine who was taking whom to dinner. I mentally psyched myself up for it. Come on, Gloria, show him!
“Good luck, Gloria. May the best man win.”
“Or woman,” I scoffed.
He winked at me as we zoomed off.
I was off to a strong start. Just focus on the race. I forced myself not to take any breaths—a means of keeping him out of my field of vision and not letting him distract me. Kicking and stroking at torpedo speed, I flipped around at the other end and finally came up for a much-needed gulp of air. To my horror, there he was…several lengths ahead of me. Calling upon every muscle in my body, I caught up to him only for him to swim ahead of me one more time. He shot me a cocky smile on a breath as he passed me by. Damn him! I couldn’t let him win! Furiously, I propelled myself forward, stroking and kicking harder than I’d ever had. We were neck to neck. Breath to breath. Splash to splash. Every muscle in my body stung as I took my last stroke. My head shot out of the water. Clinging to the edge of the pool, I was panting like a dog. I couldn’t catch my breath. My waterlogged eyes fluttered. He was in my face. At the finish before me.
“Get over here, you,” he rasped. Breathing heavy, he took me in his powerful arms and drew me against him. I was too exhausted to resist. My heart pounded against his; I hadn’t been this close to someone else’s heartbeat in years. Before I could say a word, he tilted back my head by the tail of my braid and crushed his mouth upon mine. The warmth of his breath heated mine. His kiss was passionate and fierce. I was panting into his mouth. Once again, I was losing control to this outrageous man. I don’t know why but I just let him do it. Even deepen the kiss as his tongue parted my lips. Inside my mouth, it did a synchronized swim with mine. Swirling and twirling. It was as if we had practiced these moves for years. He broke away, leaving me breathless for more.
“Wrap your legs and arms around me and just relax.”
Without questioning myself, I complied, folding my limbs around his broad shoulders and bum of steel. The buoyancy of the water helped hold me up.
His glistening wet skin brushed against mine. I longed for his mouth. He read my mind. “Ms. Long, you obviously need to be kissed. And kissed often by a man who knows how.”
In a heartbeat, he consumed my mouth again, sending carnal waves of desire to my core. I could feel his erection digging into me as I squeezed my legs around him. My hand fisted his slick wet hair. He moaned and I moaned back.
I don’t know how long we stayed in this position, when a crotchety voice brought us abruptly to our senses.
“I wish I could do that.”
We had company. A slight, elderly, balding man, who was wearing swim trunks two sizes too big for him, was hunched over above us. My face flushed with embarrassment.
“Don’t let age stop you,” chuckled my companion, not the least bit embarrassed.
“Can you find me one as pretty as her?” cackled the octogenarian and then plowed into the pool with a loud splash-worthy belly flop. He swam away, in quite good form for a man his age.
“Guess I won’t be able to fuck you here.”
The F-word resounded in my head. Now what was I getting myself into? And why wasn’t I running away?
Jaime hauled himself out of the pool and then helped me out. He wrapped me up in my fluffy white robe and then slipped on his. He held me against him, and again I was unable to resist. It felt so good to lay my head on his strong chest against the soft terry cloth.
“Come on, let’s take a hot shower together,” he said softly in my ear.