Page 42 of The Daredevil

“Did you come here with your mom and aunt?” Michelle asked, making her way to an area where lava rocks created a ledge for her to lean against.

Though we’d been friends, she didn’t know about my family. Only my boys and Audri knew I lived with my aunt. My past never came up, and I was fine with that. I didn’t talk about my private life to many people, mostly because I didn’t want to relive it. But I didn’t mind sharing it with Michelle.

“No, just my aunt. My mom passed when I was eight years old.”

Her eyes warmed. “I’m sorry to hear that. What about your dad?”

“He abandoned my mom and me before she passed.”

Michelle pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded. “I never knew my dad either. He never stuck around when he found out my mom was pregnant. What’s with these men with no responsibility?” She slapped at the water playfully and flicked a gaze at me. “Don’t be like them.”

“I don’t plan on it.” That was the truth. Keeping relationships simple prevented broken hearts—broken families.

A burst of laughter erupted and drew our attention to a group of women wading on the opposite end of the pool. Leaning against a boulder were Fiona and her two friends. In her red bikini, which revealed too much, she stared at me.

Don’t come over.

Michelle dragged me to the mud bar, where the hostess scooped some white paste into Michelle’s hands.

“This algae-infused mud will shrink the pores on your face and body. Wanna try?”

I had let Aunt Klara put some on my face once, but this mud paste had a different consistency. These beauty remedies were mostly for women, in my opinion. I’d never looked at the pores on my face and hardly ever used facial lotion except for SPF. Even that wasn’t consistent. I was only in this pool—in this spa—to be withher.

“It’ll make your skinsupersoft . . . like butter.” She lifted the mud paste close to my face.

“You like soft skin?” I asked.

“Oh, I looove it.”She leaned in, her breast touching my arm, and whispered, “Your admirer is watching. We should pretend we’re a couple so she’ll look away.”

I placed my hand on her lower back, pulling her closer to me, where her breasts kissed my chest. My cock twitched under the water, threatening to pollute the entire pool.

Soft skin.

Oh, I looove it.

Those were the only words floating around my ears.

“Okay. Lather me.”

I’m so fucked.Since when had I cared about having soft skin? Since Michelle purred and made it sound like she wanted to kiss it.

Veering back, she created distance between us.

If my friends ever heard about me being lathered in mud paste for soft skin, I’d never hear the end of it. Each of them would create some dumb character in our video game to remind me of how pathetic I was being.

Fortunately, no one was here to witness this once-in-a-lifetime incident except Michelle. She could put whatever she wanted on me as long as her hands touched my body.

CHAPTERNINETEEN

MICHELLE

The healingthermal seawater was exactly what my body needed. Unlike the Blue Lagoon, an established resort of seawater, NewYou Beauty Resort offered both a seawater pool and a freshwater pool.

I scooped up some mud and lathered it on Royce’s pectoral muscle, which flexed upon my touch. My internal organs reacted by doing something strange inside of me.

Trying to think of anything but his hot body, I asked, “Did you know that this mineral-rich water was harvested in a research and development center near the lagoon?”

“Oh yeah?” he answered in a husky voice.

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