Page 36 of Charmed

Her respirations increased even as her eyes sparked in warning. "Are you bribing me with sex?"

"Nope." He smiled against her mouth. "I'm fantasizing. It's a common occurrence where you're concerned. Well, the real you, not this mopey version."

She hissed.

He grinned wider. His blood boiled in his veins with the level of desire that one little sound invoked. "Now we're getting somewhere. Here's what's going to happen, Fi. In ten seconds, I'll straighten and move to the other side of the room while you head upstairs. You are to pack a bag with a change of clothes and a swimming suit. Panties optional. Then, I'm going to take you home where you will do whatever I say."

"I don't take orders. What makes you delusional enough to believe I'll agree to this?"

He groaned. "Because I have you backed into a corner and you haven't gone feral." He'd thank Ceara for the tip later. "Eight, nine..." He dipped his head to speak against the soft skin on her neck before he had to make good on his word. "Ten."

Chapter Ten

"Geez." Fiona set her hands on her hips and glanced around the room in the Meath mansion. "When you guys do something, you go balls-out, don't you?"

Heated Italian tile framed a very large rectangular pool. A wall of glass faced the ocean, supplying a beautiful view of the inky water and reflecting moonlight. Tropical plants hugged a far wall along the narrow end of the pool and a painted mural of a sunset spanned the ceiling. Mood lighting, too. No wonder Riley spent all his free time in here.

"I wouldn't utter the word balls in my presence while you're wearing a bikini. Just sayin'."

She threw her head back and laughed. "It was your idea to go swimming. And if you wanted me on my best behavior, you should've drugged me first."

"Do you have a best behavior?" He raised his hand. "Don't answer that. What do you want to drink?" He moved to a fridge in the corner. "Water, soda, beer?"

"I'm fine."

"No kidding," he said under his breath and kicked the door closed.

As he strode to the deep end, she got hung up on the sinewy shift of his muscles and the athletic shape of his body. Dang, but he was nice. During training, he almost always wore a tee. In nothing but a pair of dark green board shorts, it was hard not to notice the ridges of abs, defined pecs, and lean hips he'd been hiding behind clothing.

Without any preamble, he executed a sleek dive and dolphin swam to the middle of the pool before surfacing. He whipped the water from his dark hair with a shake of his head and eyed her. "Are you coming in?"

"I wouldn't utter the word coming while you're bare-chested and dripping wet." There. Tit for tat.

He flashed a grin that single-handedly made her think he was trying to get her drenched without the need for a pool. "Are you afraid of water?"

"Are you afraid of amputation sans anesthesia for suggesting such a thing?"

His grin widened. "I forgot. You're not scared of anything."

Oh, how wrong he was. This thing growing between them? The flirting? Him upping his game the past few times they'd been together? Totally frightening. The giddiness in her belly? The electrical current zapping through her when he was around? The way he was figuring out how to play her? Downright terrifying.

"Can you swim, wicked witch?"

He was on display like a Trojan god and she was the wicked one? "Yes, I can swim. Perhaps I'm being considerate and not teasing you with all this—" she gestured at herself "—by getting...wet."

A groan, and he moved to the side of the pool. Slammed his hands on the tile. Hoisted himself out with limber grace. Stalked toward her as droplets cascaded down all that man candy.

Hunger burned in his eyes when he reached her and wrapped his arms around her. He hauled her halfway up his slick, scorching body. "I can handle it, babe."

As she was still reeling from that animalistic demonstration, he turned abruptly while still holding her and headed toward the pool again.

Oh no. He wouldn't. "If you're thinking of throwing me in, you better—"

A launch, and they hit the water sideways. Warmth encased her and sent her floating down a vacuum tunnel. Fully submerged, he released her and kicked to the surface. She did the same, every intention of killing him dead, but when she caught his rough laugh, she couldn't muster more than a glare.

They treaded water, her staring, him laughing.

He was the comic relief among their fated six, but the way he was right now, this very second, was a kind of free she hadn't witnessed yet. Genuine affection and amusement gleamed in his gray-green eyes, shifting them to a whole new color on the spectrum somewhere between she-couldn't-look-away and her-heart-just-melted. Her lungs worked double-time and her pulse hammered in her throat.

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