Page 59 of Too Late

Her voice is sad. I want to kick off my shoes and dive in the water and stay therewithher forever. Just not in this pool or at this house.

“What’s her name?” she asks, still quiet and staring at the night sky.

I squeeze the back of my neck, wondering how much I should actually reveal. “Tillie.”

She laughs, but not because she finds it entertaining. “Is she your girlfriend?”

I sigh. “She’s just a friend, Sloan. Sometimes she does favors for me.”

Sloan’s whole body sinks under the water. She sinks all the way to the bottom. When she emerges, she’s shooting daggers at me. It isn’t until I see the look on her face that I realize what I just implied.

“Notthosekinds of favors, Sloan.”

She pushes her wet hair off her forehead, and I try not to look at any part of her other than her face, but it’s really difficult when she’s soaking wet.

“What favor was she doing for you Friday night that required you to have your hands all over her?”

I hate how calm she is because I know she’s raging on the inside. Which means she’s likely to explode any minute now. I feel like I’m standing next to the edge of a volcano.

“Answer me. What favor was she doing for you Friday night?” she repeats. Her eyes are pleading for honesty, so I give her honesty.

“She was helping me convince Asa that I’m not interested in fucking you.”

I don’t have to be staring at her chest to notice her gasp. She tries to hide it, though. She stares at me for a moment and then dips under the water again. She swims to the shallow end and then stands up and walks out of the pool. Both her bra and underwear are nude, completely see-through, and making me paranoid as fuck. I’m afraid Asa will be able to hear my pulse from his room.

Sloan continues walking around the pool until she’s standing right in front of me. She’s too close, but even then, she steps even closer. So close, I can feel the wetness from her bra pressing against my chest.

“Areyou?” she whispers. “Are you interested in fucking me,Carter?”

She isn’t acting like herself right now. I don’t know why she emphasized my name, but it forms a nervous knot in my throat. I can’t tell what’s come over her, but this feels like more than just jealousy over Tillie.What is she doing?I want to cover her up with a blanket and hide her just as much as I want to cover her mouth with mine and kiss her. She’s confusing me.

She repeats herself. “Are you interested infuckingme?”

I can’t tell if she’s mad at me or if she wants me. I fight my own hands as they slide to her hips. “Not really,” I say, my voice rough. “I’m much more interested in making love to you.”

I see the roll of her throat as she swallows. I want to kiss her so bad, but it would definitely be the kiss of death, because I would never stop.

That, or she’d kill me if I tried. I still can’t tell if she’s angry with me or not. She acts like she wants me to touch her—to kiss her. But she’s looking at me like she wants to throw me in the pool and hold my head underwater.

She wraps her fingers around one of my hands that is still gripping her hip, and then she drags my hand up across her stomach and to her breast.

I swallow hard and glance up at her bedroom window to make sure we aren’t being watched. “What are you doing, Sloan?”

She leans in and stands on her toes until her breasts are pressed against me and her mouth is against my ear. My entire chest heats up from the proximity of her. I close my eyes and slip one of my hands around to her lower back, my fingertips dipping into the back of her underwear as I tug her closer against me.

“Do you get a promotion if you make it to third base with your subject’s fiancée?” she whispers.

My eyes suddenly pop open. I’m frozen at that question.Does she know? Howdoes she know?

I carefully thread my fingers through her hair, tugging her head back so I can look down at her. I look at her like I didn’t understand her question.

She smiles, but the betrayal in her eyes is much more evident now that her question pulled me out of my trance. “I know what you are,” she says. “I know what you’re doing here. And now it all makes sense why you’re so interested in me.”

She pulls away from me, stepping back until my hands are no longer on her. She’s shooting daggers at me with her eyes. There’s no mistaking her anger now. “Don’t you dare speak to me ever again or I’ll tell every last one of them you’re undercover.Luke.”

Fuck!

She tries to walk past me, but I immediately step in front of her. When she starts to speak again, I cover her mouth with my hand and look toward the back door. No one has seen us yet, but I need to get her somewhere more private before she does something to get us both killed.

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