Page 25 of She Devil
There’s another weighted pause.
‘Come for a swim,’ he says, suddenly getting up from his chair and looking at me expectantly.
‘I don’t have a swimsuit,’ I point out.
‘Yes, you do. There’s a bikini in your wardrobe.’ He steps away from the table. ‘I’ll see you in the pool in half an hour,’ he says in a no-nonsense tone, striding away before I have time to respond.
I stare after him, feeling a mixture of irritation at being told what to do and disgruntled respect for his absolute conviction that I’ll do exactly what he tells me.
That kind of confidence is a strength I’ve not seen in many men.
And I like it. It impresses me.
It always has.
And I guess I need to play by his rules of engagement for the time being, even if the idea of slipping and accidentally showing something real of myself terrifies me.
But I won’t let that happen.
I can’t. It’d be a disaster.
So I guess I’m going swimming.
Jamie
I’ve already done fifty laps of the pool before April shows up, a towelling robe wrapped around her and her long swathe of hair pinned up on top of her head.
I take a break at the edge of the pool and watch her unwrap herself and lay the robe neatly onto one of the sun loungers at the side of the pool.
I surmise from an almost imperceptible stiffness in her movements that she’s keenly aware of me watching her, but when she turns to face me there’s no hint of discomfort in her expression.
She’s a pro actress. I’ll give her that.
Her body is lithe and toned, as I knew it would be, and my heart judders in my chest as I watch her walk to the edge of the pool and execute a perfect dive into the deep end. She remerges about fifteen feet away from me after swimming most of the length underwater. Standing up, she swipes her hands over her face to clear the water from her vision.
Water droplets cascade down her shoulders, arms and between her breasts and I find I can’t tear my gaze away from her. She really is a breathtakingly attractive woman. Not just physically, but in the indomitable way she conducts herself. She’s totally in command of every move she makes.
I itch to break that strict control and free her from the constraints under which she puts herself.
‘Come here,’ I suggest with a grin when she raises a cool, laconic eyebrow at my examination of her.
But she doesn’t, damn her. Instead she gives me a shrewd sort of smile that tells me she’s not just meekly going to follow my instructions. She’s going to make me work for it.
My cock hardens at the defiance I see in her eyes.
‘Come here,’ I repeat, with more command in my voice this time.
‘I thought we were just having a swim together.’
‘Not any more.’
I can practically see her mind warring with itself as a whole range of emotions flits across her face. Half of her wants to hold her ground and keep an iron control over what happens here, but the other half knows that would be counterproductive. It’s clearly been way too long since she let go and allowed things to happentoher.
But I know she knows if I’m even going to contemplate selling my father’s business to her she’s going to have to give me what I asked for in exchange. We had an agreement, and April Darlington-Hume is not the kind of woman to welch on a deal. She has a reputation to maintain, after all.
So she moves towards me, her agile body cutting through the water as though it’s air, until she’s standing right in front of me.
Her face is bare of make-up now and she looks younger and more approachable for it. She looks like the woman I used to know before she took on this awful corporate persona. Before she smoothed herself out so much none of her former personality remained.
