Page 20 of Shamrock Kisses

“It would have been prison time. Fortunately, our legal team was able to convince them that we were all better off helping them than sitting in a cell.”

It’s silent between us until I can’t hold back. “So, you’re very familiar with back doors?” I smirk, truly feeling unhinged at how him being a nerdy bad boy is making me feel.

“One more than the other.”

“Now I’m blushing.” I swat his arm. “Why is everything about hacking so sexual?”

“Why areyoumaking it sexual?” He pulls me in for a kiss. “I like you,” he breathes between kisses.

“I like you too.”

We stare at each other, both smiling. “Why am I turned on by you almost being a felon?” I whisper in his ear.

“You know why.”

“Mmm,” I tease, letting the moment linger between us.

“I’m never going to call you a good girl.” He squeezes my thighs, his grip firm but teasing. “I think you’re a kitten … and I love cats.”

I laugh, rolling my eyes. “Are you seriously making a pussy joke right now?”

“I’m making a ‘you like to be taken care of’ assumption.”

I giggle, more nervously this time, because damn, if that isn’t the fucking truth.

“I don’t like you being the one in control.”

“You sure?” he breathes, kissing my neck. “So … what’s next?”

More of this.

“You, in your boxers, running into the lake.”

We hold a flirty stare, the challenge hanging between us. My heart races, and I’m caught between wanting to see him running into the freezing water and the pull of what’s happening right here on this couch.

“Only if you join me.”

I bite my lip, trying to decide whether I’m ready for that kind of plunge in more ways than one.

15

"Do you know where the beach towels are?" I ask, trying to ease the tension that’s lingered after Rachel avoided saying whether she’d join me in the lake.

She tilts her head. “So, you’re actually going to do it?” she asks, her voice giddy with excitement.

Of course I am.If running into a freezing cold lake in just my boxers is what she wants, I’ll do it. I’m more obsessed with her than I ever thought possible.

“I’ll do whatever you ask.”

She raises an eyebrow. “I like a good boy.”

I smirk. “You’re such a flirt. Show me the towels.”

Rachel points. “There’s a mudroom over there.”

Biting my lip, my mind filled with things to say, I go for it. “You’re either going in with your clothes or in your underwear.”

“I’m not going in.”