Page 25 of 2 Books in One Bundle
‘I told you.’
She squirmed some more but if he let her go now, she’d be in the water.
‘I don’t believe you will,’ she huffed, looking up at him. His eyelashes so long. Gaze heated. Eyes sparkling with mischief and something far darker.
‘Play with fire, get burned.’
‘We’re in water, that saying doesn’t work.’
‘You know what I mean. I told you I’d get you wet. I keep my promises.’
Something about this moment was loaded. His strong hold, her squirming against him. How she was so hot it was as if she’d go up in flames. How the thought of being dropped into ice-cold water right about now seemed almost welcoming.
He cocked his eyebrow. ‘What’ll it be? Are you going to behave?’
She’d always behaved, always done everything she’d been asked. If she did, she’d been told, she’d get better. All lies. Right now, she wanted to change her script. To do something unexpected for the first time in her life.
‘Why do I want to misbehave, to be bad so...badly?’
It was freeing, this sensation. She threw her head back and laughed.
‘We can be a little bad,’ he murmured as he lowered his head, his lips skimming her throat. Her laughter stopped on a gasp, the sensation of it like an electric shock. His lips gentle, drifting over her skin. There was no laughter now, the only sound from her was half sigh, half moan. Her nipples prickling in her bra. Heat arrowing between her thighs. The need for him all-encompassing.
She wanted. As she’d never wanted anything or anyone before. It overwhelmed her, her whole body a mess of sensation.
Did he want her as much as she craved him?
His lips traced back towards her face, her jaw. Light brushes till she turned her head and their lips touched. Breaths intermingled. Slow, luxurious. Hypnotic. She became a captive of the sensation. Opening for him. His tongue slipped into her mouth, the barest of touches with her own.
Then the kiss slowed, stopped.
Matteo pulled back, looked deep into her eyes. Pupils blown wide, his own irises almost black.
‘Before I drop you in the deep end, I need to teach you how to swim first. Slow, gentle steps.’
Could he see it on her face, theneed? If self-combustion were a thing, she’d have gone up in his arms. Burned them both away to ash till they mingled and drifted out across the lake. He could be talking about swimming, she supposed, but she was sure this was something more.
What had just happened between them? How could she have let it?
Matteo walked out of the water, released her, letting her go slowly, and she slid down the full length of his body. So hard and uncompromising. She was almost disappointed that he hadn’t carried out his threat, or promise, or whatever that all just was. The thoughts and sensations tangled through her in a mess of desire.
‘I’d like that.’ Her voice was breathless, as though she’d run a mile. Though his was probably a false promise. People had made those to her all the time, especially her mother.
‘Take this medicine, it’ll make you feel better.’
‘This doctor will cure you.’
Any medicine only made her sicker, and no doctor could cure her because there’d never been anything wrong in the first place.
Those thoughts were like being plunged unceremoniously into the deep, dark waters of the lake. All the heat, all the want, simply...gone.
Matteo nodded and whatever had just happened between them passed.
‘I—I should get back to work,’ she said, her limbs limp like overcooked pasta. She wasn’t sure her legs would carry her back to the house.
‘I’ll see you at dinner, then. It’ll be around eight. I’ll come and find you.’
‘Thank you. Until then.’
