Page 73 of Sizzling

I shrugged. “You’re not the first man to take me riding.”

His body tensed at my words as if I had said something insulting. Did he think I was suggesting this was a date? Or that he was trying to woo me like the other men? I hadn’t meant it that way.

“Shouldn’t be surprised.” His tone had an edge to it.

Sighing because he was ruining a perfectly good time for me, I rolled my eyes. “I am not comparing this to what I did with them. You’re just getting me out of the house. I don’t think of this as a … a … date or anything. You don’t have to get all uptight.”

I would not be insulted. I knew he wasn’t a fan of mine, and he’d offered for Dovie’s sake. I wasn’t an idiot.

“You think I’m uptight?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Call it like I see it, Kingston.”

The tight line of his mouth softened.

He began to dismount, and my attention got stuck on his ass momentarily. I blinked and tore my eyes off his assets.

“Are we stopping?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied as he moved over to me. “Need a hand getting down?”

I shook my head and began to swing my leg over Noor’s backside when I realized my legs felt a little like Jell-O. I’d forgotten how this felt when you didn’t ride regularly. Both of Storm’s hands grabbed my waist as if he’d anticipated this and lifted me, then set me on the ground with ease.

Glancing up at him, I scrunched my nose, feeling slightly embarrassed. “Thanks. Guess I did need a little help.”

He didn’t release me immediately, and either my mind was playing tricks on me or his hold on me tightened before he finally let me go.

“Do you swim as well as you ride?” he asked me.

My gaze swung over to the water, then back at him. “Uh, yes, but …”

He grinned at me as he finished taking off his boots, then reached up and began unbuttoning his shirt. My eyes dropped to lock in on his fingers as they worked their way down, as if he were doing a striptease meant just for me.

Forcing myself to blink and get ahold of myself, I cleared my throat. “Are you suggesting we swim in that?”

“Not suggesting.”

“Not suggesting?” I asked, confused.

He shook his head and tossed his shirt to the grass beneath our feet. “Doing.”

I let out a breathy laugh that I wished hadn’t sounded so affected. “Doing,” I repeated as his hands went to the zipper of his jeans. “Oh.” Was he going in naked?

He cocked an eyebrow. “You gonna take those clothes off, or are you waiting for my help?”

Help. His help. Gulp. Naked with Storm would mean we’d do things we had no business doing, and then he’d get mad that he did it and leave me. I’d feel like a fool again, and it would hurt like a bitch.

No thank you. Not again.

I shook my head. “I think I’ll keep my clothes on. When I get naked with you, it never ends well.”

Storm stilled with his hands on the waist of his jeans he was shoving down over his hips. The black boxer briefs he’d left on did little to hide the size of his impressive cock. I didn’t need to be looking in that direction.

“You screaming my name as you orgasmed several times wasn’t a good enough ending for you?” he asked, sounding insulted.

I tilted my head back and closed my eyes as I kept my face pointed toward the sky. “Not what I meant, and you know it.”

“Why don’t you explain it anyway?” he replied, sounding closer than he had been when I closed my eyes.

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