Page 74 of Play to Win

“I know so.”

Her confidence and pleasure in her prediction for her new friend is a total turn-on.Don’t ask me why.I want to crowd her against the counter and kiss her until neither of us can breathe and she’s begging me to fuck her.

Jesus.

I dry my hands on a towel and hang it inside the cupboard.

“Let’s go in the hot tub,” Lacey suggests.

I gaze at her for a moment, remembering our drive from Vegas to L.A.and her telling me she’d rather have sex in a hot tub than on the beach.

I swallow a groan.This is probably an epically bad idea.If I’m having a hard time keeping my hands off her, it’s not going to be any easier sitting in a hot tub half naked.

“We haven’t tried it out yet,” she adds.

I try to run through pros and cons and identify alternatives.If I say no, her feelings could be hurt.Or not.Maybe she’d rather be alone.If I say yes, I’ll be ...aw, fuck it.“Okay.”

“I’ll go get my swimsuit on!”She darts away into her bedroom.

Once again she’s got me doing things I know I shouldn’t do.And the weird thing is ...I don’t even care.

I don’t want to analyze this too much, which is also weird, because I live for analysis.Maybe sometimes it’s better to just not dig too deep.

Or maybe I’m a coward.

Whatever.I jog upstairs and change into a pair of board shorts.The hot tub is outside my bedroom so I head out and lift off the cover.Steam rises into the air along with the scent of bromine.I turn on the jets and the lights, and let the water churn for a few minutes while I wait for Lacey.

She appears in my bedroom door, and all the air leaves my lungs.I can’t fucking breathe.Her red bikini doesn’t cover much, and she’s absolutely goddamn gorgeous.Her hair is piled on top of her head in a bunch of loops and she drops a towel onto a chair and smiles.

The sun is setting and the solar lamps on the deck are illuminated, the sky above us a deep blue with a few stars winking here and there.Lacey walks toward me and I can’t speak, can’t think, still can’t breathe.

16

THÉO

“This is goingto be so nice.”Lacey dips a hand into the water.“Hot.”

“That’s the idea.”I clear my scratchy throat.

The hot tub is built in, with two steps up to it.Lacey climbs them, giving me a stellar view of her ass, barely covered by the scrap of red Lycra, then lowers herself into the water and wades into a corner.She lets out a long sigh as she sinks into a seat.“Lovely.”

I leap in and submerge myself to hide the wood I’m suddenly sporting.The hot water closes around me.I’m in the opposite corner to Lacey, nowhere near enough to touch her.Except our feet.My toes brush hers when I stretch my legs out.

She leans her head back and closes her eyes.“Oh my God, this is wonderful.”

“It’s pretty nice.”

“I can just feel the tension melting out of me.”

“Yeah.Wait.What tension?We had fun today.”

“Oh, you know.Just normal stuff.”

“Like what?”

She sighs.“I’m still worried about Chris.”

“Have you heard any more from him?”

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