Page 59 of Crimson Born

He swam like it was a competition, stroking vigorously toward one side of the pool then turning and going toward the other end, barely coming up for air.

He still hadn’t so much as glanced my way.

What was it going to take? Did I have to climb on his back and dunk him under as I used to do to Josiah and Aaron at the swimming hole as children?

Hastily I unfastened the tie of my cover-up, let it drop to the stone pool deck, and followed Kelly into the pool.

As I descended the steps into the water, I was incredibly self-conscious. I’d never been on a stage of any kind, but this must have been what it felt like. It seemed like a thousand eyes probed the skin my skimpy suit left uncovered.

Were Reece’s eyes among them? The thought raised goosebumps all over my body while at the same time warming me up.

The minute my feet reached the pool floor, they were off it again. Someone had picked me up from behind. And then I was being carried like a baby, crushed against a hard chest, immobilized by two steely arms.

“Hey—what do you think you’re—”

“Just shut up,” a hard voice pleaded. “Please. Trust me, it’s for your own good.”

It was Reece, and he was carrying me up the steps out of the water and away from the pool. When we’d gotten away from the crowd, he set me down and gestured to my dripping and now-chilled body.

His eyes were full of fire. “Whatare you doing?”

“Swimming,” I said innocently.

He gave me a sour glance. “I know that. What are youwearing?”

“A bathing suit,” I said with an isn’t-it-obvious eyeroll.

He gestured to his black swim trunks. “Thisis a bathing suit. That—is a powder keg.”

I didn’t smile, but I wanted to. If I was a powder keg, Reece was a lit fuse, sparking and sizzling with repressed desire.

I shrugged, keeping my tone blasé. “Kelly and Heather are wearing pretty much the same thing. So are all the other girls.”

“You’renotother girls.”

He sliced a glance at his fellow warriors and grimaced before snatching a towel hanging from a nearby rock wall and wrapping it around me.

Reece lowered his head so our gazes were even and lowered his voice as well until it was barely above a whisper.

“Do you haveanyclue how tightly wound these guys are?”

“Tightly wound?” I repeated.

He lifted a suggestive brow. “Horny.”

“Oh.” I’d never heard the term before—it wasn’t used in my Amish community, but Reece’s tone and expression gave me some clue.

I tilted my chin higher in defiance. “So? What if they are? You’re not interested. And it’s not your job to protect me.”

He sulked but didn’t argue. Instead he said, “Maybe it’sthemI’m protecting.”

“Them?” I cast a sardonic glance over the group of huge, shirtless men bulging with muscle. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?” He lowered his voice further. “Do you know what Imogen would do to a Bloodbound who breaks his vows?”

A quick flash of the public execution scene crossed my mind’s eye.

“We serve the queen—andonlythe queen,” he said.

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