Page 61 of Caught Stealing

“You wantKason,” I remind him, which in itself is a ridiculous notion. Nevertheless, if I need to remind him who he’s here with—who asked him to come on this vacation turned hellhole—then I will.

My chest rises and falls quickly as his attention dances between my eyes and lips before fixating on the latter. Like he wants nothing more than to snag one between his teeth. “You need to walk away. Right now. Before you do something you regret.”

“I never regret anything.” His eyes flick back to mine. “Not last night. Not whatever happened back in May.Fucking nothing.”

I glance away and shake my head. “I told you, Holden. I’m not doing this with you.”

“Or what?” His eyes dart down to my lips before colliding with my gaze again. “Because I don’t believe you’ll hit me for a second. Not in front of an audience. And especially when I know he’s asked you to play nice while we’re all here.”

Damn him.

Damn him for reading me so well, for calling my bluff, for digging under my skin.

For making me want him, despite knowing I shouldn’t.

My jaw ticks as we remain locked in this stare-down, our battle of wills.

The only thing to do now is fight fire with fire and be careful not to get burned.

“You’re right,” I find myself murmuring before my hands slide up his chest. His skin sears me where I touch him, the heat blazing as I look into his eyes. From his expression, he thinks he’s won. That I’ve finally conceded.

How very fucking wrong he is.

His tongue darts out over his bottom lip before he smiles. “Glad you’re finally starting to—”

He doesn’t get to finish his thought, because I shove him backward, sending him straight into the pool. The loud crash of his body breaking through the surface isn’t nearly as satisfying as I’d hoped, and I realize it’s because it’s too little, too late.

I’d have been better off doing this exact thing last night when I had the chance. If I had, maybe all of this could’ve been avoided.

Yet, if I’ve learned anything from the mistakes I’ve made with Holden Sykes, it’s that I can’t change the past. So rather than dwelling on it, I storm into the house without making sure he comes up for air.

Nineteen

Holden

The entire day passes after Phoenix pushes me into the pool, and I haven’t seen him since. Granted, he has to be here somewhere. The condo might be huge, but there are only so many places to hide for long.

I haven’t gone looking for him, in any case. The last thing I want is to piss him off even more than I already have, so I’m giving him some time to cool down. But there’s no way the conversation from this morning is over.

No fucking way.

After last night, there’s no going back. Not to ignoring each other, and certainly not to enemies. No matter how hard he wants to try, this is one bell that can’t be unrung.

“You ready to head out for dinner?” Kason asks, peeking around the corner into the bedroom we’ve been sharing. A circumstance that’s grown quite stale since arriving here, but especially after waking up beside Phoenix this morning.

I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t interested in doing it again, yet another chapter in this series of unforeseen events.

“Ah, yeah,” I say, grabbing my wallet from the dresser and slipping it into my pocket. “You got everything?”

Kason’s footfalls on the wood flooring alert me of his approach before I feel the heat of his body behind me, let alone see his arms as they cage me against the furniture.

“I never had the chance to ask, but where were you last night?” he murmurs, his chin resting on my shoulder. “I was surprised you weren’t in here when I woke up.”

Something like guilt churns within me, and it doesn’t sit well.

Even for me, what happened last night with Phoenix is a gray area.

While this thing with Kason has been fun these past couple months, it’s never been anything serious. We’ve talked about it and have always been on the same page about that, exactly like I told Phoenix this morning. So there’s no reason I should be feeling bent out of shape about this, considering this is just a situationship where we’ve barely so much as kiss—

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