Page 41 of Impulsive Saint
“Turn around, Ashtyn. I’m serious.”
She could tell from his tone that he was and she slowly spun herself in a circle until she faced the far end of the pool. She didn’t know what line he’d drawn in the sand between them now but it wasn’t going to last. He’d seen her naked. He was undressing and getting in the pool to skinny-dip with her just because she’d asked him to. The lines were blurring and once he was in the pool, she was going to do everything in her power to erase them completely.
If she’d had any doubts about what she wanted from him earlier, his admission that he thought she was hot and that he’d realized she wasn’t fragile had pushed her over the edge. She wanted him. His kiss. His touch. All of him.
It wasn’t going to be a love match and it wasn’t going to be forever, but it would be fun and adventurous and completely unlike her to seduce a man she’d only known for a few days. She didn’t have much practice with the concept. She’d only ever been with Aaron and they’d been together since she was a teenager. But she figured getting naked with Tyler was a good first step.
The sound of water splashing had her twisting back around and she grinned at what she saw. Tyler was just coming up after jumping in the water. He was on the shallower end of the pool compared to her and when he stood up the water hit him almost right at his waist. Water dripped from his hair and snaked down his chest and her eyes couldn’t help but follow their path down the hard planes of his chest until they met the ripple of water that covered his bottom half from her.
“Eyes up here, Ash.”
She smirked at the teasing tone, “Just enjoying the view.”
He chuckled, “I don’t know why I let you talk me into this.”
“To be fair, it didn’t take much talking.”
“Yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, “That’s what worries me.”
She grinned again at the admission. Maybe this was going to be easier than she thought it would be. He was being freer with his words tonight, all but admitting that he’d wanted this. Now the only question was how she got him to admit that he wanted more than just to go swimming with her and then, maybe they could both get what they wanted.
He had no idea what he’d gotten himself into.
12
She was crazy. He’d thought so from the moment he met her and now he knew it was true. Clearly, she was crazy and she was driving him straight off the cliff into madness. It was the only excuse he had for being naked in a swimming pool with her when he knew full well that it was a horrible idea.
There was just something about her though, something that make him act irrationally. She issued a challenge and he couldn’t back down. She was fire and he was a moth lured to the flame. He’d begun to see the best of her over the last few days. He’d noticed her quirky sense of humor and her kindness, the genuine woman who had scars and damage but was fighting hard for what she wanted. He’d found that he respected her, liked her, and damn if his attraction to her hadn’t doubled with those realizations.
He’d seen the best of her and it sparked something inside of him that wanted to meet her on her level, to be his best too, to show her he was worth her time and attention and even her… no. No. He couldn’t go there. He wouldn’t let himself start thinking of all the ways he wanted to deserve a woman like Ashtyn when there was no way in hell that he could ever have her.
She made him crazy but not so much that he didn’t know this skinny-dipping episode was as close as the two of them should ever get to being naked together.
Naked. Good lord. She was naked and he’d seen her. He’d seen all of her, from top to bottom, in nothing but the glow of the neon light of the motel sign and it was a sight that would be burned into his retinas for the rest of his life. She’d been naked and even more gorgeous than he’d imagined, and he’d spent a lot of time imagining in the last few days.
She was naked and she was barely five feet away, treading water as she grinned at him like some sort of water nymph or sea siren. Beautiful and dangerous. That’s what she was.
He kept himself firmly on the opposite end of the pool from her, letting the water cover him up to his chest and hopefully blocking any view she might be able to get of his achingly erect cock beneath the surface.
He’d gone hard the moment he saw her. Hell, if he was honest with himself, he had been half hard for days. If he’d thought at all before jumping into the pool then he might have considered that the cold water would do something to calm his raging hard-on but not even the shock to his system seemed to outweigh the knowledge that Ashtyn was naked and in far too close proximity. At least he’d forced her to turn around so that she didn’t have definitive proof of his desire for her and he intended to keep it that way.
“This is probably the dumbest thing on your entire bucket list.”
She looked mildly offended, “That’s rude.”
He shrugged, “Just my opinion.”
“If you think it’s so stupid, then why are you bothering to humor me and going along with this?”
“You said if I didn’t join you that you’d invite someone else to swim naked with you.”
She rolled her eyes, “You know I wasn’t really going to do that.”
“I’m not sure I know anything about you anymore, Ashtyn.” he admitted and watched her tilt her head at him curiously.
“What?” She was treading water but she was moving towards him so he took a step to the side, keeping the distance between them even though he couldn’t go backwards because if he did the water would be dangerously low.
“You’re nothing like what I thought you’d be.”
