Page 381 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

“Christ, I was joking,” I say, bolting to my feet.

“I wasn’t.” Her pink lips pull into an impish grin. She tosses her shirt at me, hesitates, and goes to unlatch her bra. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me. Any red-blooded man would have let her strip, but just thethoughtof seeing her naked is already giving me a semi.

It feels wrong, but in such a fucking good way that my hand curls into a fist. I slam it into the mahogany counter, and Harper jerks her hands away from her underwear. Her eyes are wide, her lips parted.

“Leave your underwear on,” I manage in a thick voice.

“What are you, Amish?” She laughs, but there’s a tightness in her voice I know I’m not imagining. “Your loss.”

I’m already regretting it when she pushes her jeans down, baring her long, slender legs. Goosebumps break out on her skin, but she kicks off her pants, turns, and races out to the pool.

My hand tightens around my glass, then I toss the cognac down my throat. It burns like liquid fire, but I swallow down a cough and move around the bar, peeking out at the pool just as Harper dives in. Which is a pity, because I was really enjoying the view of her ass in those lacy black panties.

Her head emerges in the middle of the pool, her dark hair flying as she tosses her head to look back at me. “Come on, loser. It’s notthatcold”

She’s right about us having the house to ourselves—Rosie’s watching her favorite movie in the home cinema, and I know she won’t venture outside until she’s ready to go swimming. I shouldgo fetch Rosie. It only makes sense that my little sister gets her swimming in while we’re all in the pool. It could be the perfect time for Rosie and Harper to bond.

But I’m a selfish fuck, because I don’t want anyone in a ten-mile radius of Harper’s curvy little body right now. Not even Rosie. I want her all to myself, and I don’t understand what drives that possessive urge…only that I’d be kidding myself if I tried to resist it.

So I do what any guy my age would do. I strip down to my boxers and jump in the fucking pool.

Chapter 6

Harper

Jude watches me from the pool house with an unreadable expression on the hard planes of his face. Why does he always look so…growly? There’s no way his life sucks, living in a place like this. He’s got it easy. I could tell him shit that would turn his black hair white as snow. But he probably already thinks I’m nothing more than trailer-park trash, so I wouldn’t dare.

For the first time since we’ve met, we’re actually having a semi-good time. He looks somber as always, but I don’t get the feeling he wants to throttle me with his bare hands anymore. That’s got to count for something, right?

I almost think he won’t join me. That he’ll chicken out and go upstairs to his room. It’s probably what heshoulddo. Although I’m wearing the same amount of fabric as I would in a bikini, this feels…improper. Which is fucked up, because we’d be complete strangers but for our parents’ marriage certificate.

But Jude doesn’t go inside. He pulls off his shirt and pants and stalks onto the patio like a tiger.

I’ve never seen his bare chest before and I can’t help but stare at his abs and his thick, muscular thighs. He plays football, butthat’s as much as I know. I couldn’t care less about sports but it seems like you have to spend hours a day in the gym if you want to compete, even at high school level.

I’ve never seen a guy with a pelvic V. Jude’s disappears behind his boxers and makes me wonder how the rest of him looks.

The sight of him makes me feel all squirmy inside, and the dreams I’ve been having of him flood my mind. I spin around in the water, forcing myself to break eye contact, desperate to regain control of my thoughts.

There’s barely a splash when he hits the water. Thank God they heat the water a little, so at least it’s not freezing as I’d expected, but I still shiver as I paddle toward the side, intent on getting out now that I’ve made my point.

Strong arms wrap around my middle and haul me under the water. I manage a scream, the sound cutting off when water fills my mouth. I kick and claw, but there’s too much resistance in the water for me to hit Jude. The arms that were hauling me down are pushing me up, and I explode from the water, fountaining water.

My scream becomes a squeal as I realize he wasn’t trying to drown me, and then I splash back into the water. “What the fuck!” I yell as I surface, pushing wet hair out of my face.

Jude moves to the shallower end of the pool and stands, everything below his belly button under the water. With the pool’s dark blue paint and the overcast sky, everything below his waist is obscured. If I squint, it looks like he’s naked.

“Got something in your eye?” Jude asks.

I hurriedly stop squinting and kick my legs up, floating on the water as I study him.He drags both hands through his hair, squeezing out water while making all the muscles on his arms and torso cord.God, he’s such a show-off. I bet he jerks off in front of a mirror every morning?—

Oh, hell no! I shouldnotbe thinking like that. Bad Harper!

I smirk. “I never thought I’d see you having fun.”

He cocks a dark eyebrow at me and wades into the deep end. The way his hips move through the water does terrible things to my insides.

“You’re not setting the bar very high.”He ducks into the water, swimming around me in a smooth circle. God, watching him move makes me want to start exercising just so I can do things as effortlessly as him.

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