Page 10 of High-Rise Heat

“Sit!” I say, patting the tile next to me and Isaac does as he’s told. He takes off his shoes and socks and rolls up his pants.

“Jeez! They don’t heat this?” Isaac exclaims as he dips his feet in the pool.

“Nope.” I hand him the bottle. “That’s part of the magic. I’m not kidding. Take a drink then look at that horizon. Look at all those neon lights blinking to life and how the sun dips behind the buildings and turns everything into stars.” I point to the glittering teal and pink skyline, where the sun can no longer be seen, as my eyes start to adjust to the dark that’s incoming.

“Thatisamazing,” Isaac agrees and I’m happy to have someone to share this moment with, to be on top of the world where anything is possible and dangling my feet beneath that stretch of infinite sky. Maybe that’s the whiskey talking, but I don’t care.

I kick my feet in the water, delighting in the swirl of ripples against my toes, then I look over at Isaac. He’s beautiful in the dying light, his strong jaw still peppered with five-o-clock shadow, his broad shoulders visible through the thin t-shirt.

“You know,” he starts. “Dom said you weren’t philosophical with people you find attractive.” He turns his head to look at me and smiles mischievously, seeing if I’ll take the bait.

“Dominick doesn’t know anything,” I say smoothly, delighting in the warmth of the whiskey that’s started to buzz in my lower belly. I know nothing about Isaac. I don’t know what business he’s in, why he stopped being a lawyer, where he grew up, or how the heck he and Dom ended up friends. In a hundred ways, I don’t care. I’m just thankful to have someone sitting next to me atop this lonely high-rise in a foreign country.

Maybe that’s the piece of this puzzle that I didn’t expect—me.How lonely I really am. How the flirtation of one good-looking stranger can throw me off my game so much and disrupt everything I thought I wanted—which is passed out in the other room.

Isaac’s arm brushes against mine and a zing of excitement shoots through me. The tickle of his arm-hair makes my body twinge with the tease of how simple this attraction really is. It’s charged and effortless, in contrast to everything with Dom which has been tension and calculation … and maybe, all in my head.

The color of the pool has changed. The innocent pink is lost from the sky, replaced by something deeper, an intoxicating shade of purple. And I know slipping under that sheet of water would feel like diving into starlight, my skin covered in a splash of stars I could never catch. My calves bob in the water, creating tiny ripples that tickle me with how little it would take to send a shock wave through my entire life.

“Okay,” Isaac says, pulling me out of my reverie and abruptly yanking his feet out of the water. “Fuck it.” He stands up and I barely have time to register that he’s pulled off his shirt, before I’m staring at the muscles of his stomach. I try not to react, or stare, or holy-hell let my mouth drop open as I take in his tanned and broad landscape. My hands grip the edge of the pool, wishing they could trace the carved lines of muscles, when—

He unsnaps his belt buckle.

An erotic whoosh shoots through me with the promise of that tiny clank of metal, and suddenly his jeans lay pooled by his ankles.

“What are y—” Only my words don’t have enough breath, because he stands in only his grey boxers with the orange glow of the suite back-lighting him, making my skin tighten. He’s positively lick-worthy and everything my body is aching for.

“What can I say?” he says, tossing me a cheeky smile. “I got the view this morning, so …” He shrugs his shoulders making all those perfect muscles bunch and gleam. “Your turn to enjoy.”

Isaac dives in the pool then, showering me in a spray of water that I swear sizzles into steam when it hits my skin. Isaac comes up for air right in front of me, his dark hair wet and his bare shoulders painted in the teal colors of the skyline.

“You coming in?” he asks, one of his hands finding my foot under the water. Our eyes lock and I don’t move as his fingers dance slowly over my ankle. The water isn’t cold anymore, and though his fingers barely touch me, the feather of heat that aches up my legs is the most erotic thing I’ve felt in weeks. Hell, months maybe.

He watches me as the pad of his hand slides around my ankle and up the under-side of my calf. It’s so delicate, his fingers teasing the sensitive space behind my knees, forcing me to resist reacting, even though my pussy is throbbing.

“What do you want?” I whisper, caught by his look that promises pleasure—and not the sweet kind. My bikini bottoms dampen with the thought of being flipped over in the shallow end, bent against the pool edge and taken from behind. How delicious would it be to feel the hard dig of tile scraping against my hip bones as Isaac lifts my ass out of the water till he sees my aching pussy glistening against the water’s surface? The position would be uncomfortable and amazing, with my torso bent forward and my palms flat against the poolside, my tits swinging across the tile, my thighs spread as he positions his—

I’m yanked forward!

Into the pool.

I hit the water with a shriek as cold water douses every hot ember of my skin. Fucking hell! Who doesn’t heat a pool! My whole body riots against the punch of ice, the skin so tight it hurts, my nipples fisting into knots that have me practically screaming.

“Jesus fucking Christ, that’s cold!” I cry out as I surface. The gauzy beach wrap clings to my body in a swath of strangling weeds, tangled in a hundred directions all over me. I quickly untie the damn thing and toss it out of the pool. It smacks against the tile in a wet slap next to Isaac’s discarded jeans.

I tread water, quickly, feeling naked even though I’m still in my bikini, each of my limbs wracked with goosebumps.

“What the hell was that?” I snap, whipping around to find him smiling at me broadly like an amused child.

“You’re the one who wanted to ‘feel the contrast,’” he tosses back, swimming to the side of the pool and reaching for the whiskey bottle. He takes a generous gulp before offering it to me. I know it’s a bad idea, but I swim over to him anyway, needing the heat. I take the bottle and lift it to my mouth, knowing that if I get any drunker I’ll start acting on my naughty imaginings. Do I really want that, especially with Dom in the other room?

Suddenly, I’m angry. What the fuck is Dom doing? Why did he desert me out here with his sex-pot of a friend? No man in their right mind would leave a woman they’re into with Isaac. Look at him! He’s a Greek god, with a wicked smile that promises Mount-Olympus-sized orgasms. If Domactuallyliked me, he’d never leave me out here with his friend! Which means there’s only one logical conclusion …

I toss back a hot swig of whiskey, letting it coat my throat with a reckless boldness, before replacing the bottle on the tile and turning to Isaac. His eyes darken for a second, reacting to whatever he sees in my gaze, and I cup the water next to me and launch a giant splash at him. He laughs and I use the time to dip under the surface and swim away. Only, he’s on my heels before I make it to the other end of the pool, his thick fingers catching my waist and twisting me toward him. We swirl underwater, his hands branding my stomach. I gasp when we surface, laughing as I try to break away from him, pushing against his shoulders and splashing. But his arms are strong and wrapping me, and the squirming knot we bind ourselves together in has me hot with the friction of our slipping bodies.

Suddenly my back hits the wall of the pool, my shoulder blades scraping against the cold tile—then my thighs, my ass, my spine—they all press against the slick coldness, my body shivering as my heart races. Isaac lets go of my waist only to lift his muscled arms out of the water and cage me in against the pool.

“I’m not like Dom,” he says, his cocky smile curling his lip. “When I want something I go after it.”

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