Page 6 of Primal God

“Uh, I was actually coming in here to see if you needed any help.”

He doesn’t answer and pulls out some veggies, setting them on the counter. Since I’ve helped Mrs. Santos before, I know where the cutting board is, so I grab it from the lower cabinet. I bend and the waist, forgetting that I have a dress on for a moment.

Heat licks my skin as I stand. I hope Dr. Santos didn’t see anything! I glance over my shoulder to find him staring at me with a dark look in his eyes.

Oh crap.

I think he was watching…

Clearing my throat, I set the cutting board on the counter and grab a knife.

“Do you have a preference on how I cut these?”

He doesn’t answer but returns to what he was doing before I basically flashed him.

I wait a beat and then wash off the tomatoes. Guess I’ll dice them and if it’s wrong, hopefully he’ll stop me before I get too far in. After a moment, I realize he’s makingarroz de tomate, one of João’s favorite dishes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had yours before,” I say, moving the tomatoes to the bowl. “Is it good?”

He makes a choked sound that has me looking at him.

“You’ll have to be the judge,” he finally says. “Do you like fish?”

“As long as it’s not shellfish.”

“It’s not.”

I smile. “Then, yes.”

He hums under his breath but says nothing else. While his food is cooking, he loads the dishwasher. It’s not awkward at first, but the longer we go without speaking, the more tense I feel. Let’s be real. It’s because of what happened last night. What hesawlast night. But the question is, do I address it or do I ignore it? João said it wasn’t that big of a deal and maybe he’s right. But is that a risk I want to take? I mean, if I don’t address it, then what is going to happen the next time we’re all at the pool at the same time?

I clear my throat. “I’m sorry for what happened last night.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I peer at him, trying to determine if he’s being honest or not. Maybe he truly didn’t see what I think he saw, and I’ve just put my foot in my mouth.

But then he says, “But one might say a lady should be more careful when she does a lewd strip tease in someone else’s backyard.”

I sputter, “What? That’s not what happened at all!”

“Wasn’t it?” He closes the dishwasher, turning to me. “Because that’s what it looked like from here.”

He tilts his head toward the window that’s over the sink. I glance over, feeling sick. Because from right here, he had a perfect view of me undressing.

Arousal shoots through me like lightning, making it hard to think. It certainly doesn’t help that he was the star of my fantasy while João and I were out there.

I have to inhale a few times to steady my breathing before I can speak.

I say, “First, it wasn’t a lewd strip tease. Your son asked me if I wanted to go skinny dipping, and I said yes. Not sure if you saw the part where he tossed out his clothes first, but maybe you didn’t because you were clearly obsessing over me. Second, even if it was lewd, you could have turned away!” I pause, meeting his stare dead on. “Unless you liked what you saw.”

His jaw tics and the air around us shifts into something hot and achy. Well, for me, at least. I’m not really sure what he’s feeling since he looks mad all the time.

“You stripped down to nothing and then pranced around, letting your big tits bounce all over the place, little girl. If that’s not lewd, then I don’t know what is.”

The nerve of this man!

Somehow, we’ve both moved closer to each other. So close that I have to look up at him.

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