Page 75 of The Grand Ruin: Lance & Scarlet-Part One

“You can try. I don’t know how easy it will be with my cock in your mouth.”

I roll my eyes, fighting my smile. “Overconfident, audacious man.”

“I’m not overconfident. I’m certain of it. I’d have you on your knees by lunchtime, begging to take my cock down your throat.” He kicks off his shoes, and I grin, unbuttoning my jeans.

“Ironic, really, considering it was you on your knees just hours ago.”

He waits with a face that could have been carved with stone as I pull my jeans down my legs and throw them at him. He catches them as my feet hit the water’s edge. I step backward into the water, our eyes locked. He makes me feel so sexy and seen. He makes me feel… alive.

“Are you coming in, or do I have tobegyou?”

When the water reaches my waist, he lowers the zipper on his suit pants and removes his shirt. Muttering something under his breath.

I chuckle and dip under the water, surfacing moments later. As I clear the water from my face, I find Lance stalking toward me, his body everything my greedy little eyes crave.

“It’s fucking freezing.”

“You’ll warm up,” I tell him, swimming further back.

He shakes his head as if he’s annoyed when I know he isn’t, and then he dips under the water, disappearing. I smile and start to swim away.

When he surfaces, he glares at me. “Come here, Scarlet.”

“Come and get me,” I taunt.

He does, lunging through the water and grabbing my ankle before I can pull away. He drags me to him, and I go willing, wrapping myself around him when he’s close enough.

“See. Not so bad, is it?”

His arms band around my back, making me feel tiny in his hold. “Tell me you don’t swim out here alone.”

He has an intense look in his eyes. A protective fierceness I’ve not seen before. “I don’t swim out here alone.”

His eyes narrow. “You’re being smart.”

“I’m doing as I’m told.”

His face turns harder. “So, you do? You swim out here alone?”

I shrug. “What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to call me the next time you think it’s a good idea.”

I can’t hide my amusement. “You’re being irrational right now.”

“Does Mason know?”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “Mason doesn’t know what colour my car is.” I run my hand through the hair at the nape of his neck. “Can you stop caring so much? You’re making it impossible for me not to fancy the pants off you.”

I agreed I’d date the man, and now he’s looking at me as if he’ll have me pregnant before we get to first base.

“What if I already care too much?” He swallows, sobering my features as he looks between my eyes as if he’s worried his honesty might scare me away. “When the phone rang today, and it was you… I didn’t know up from down or left from right. Not until I pulled up to the pharmacy and saw you sitting on that chair. I was fucking wild. Out of my mind with worry. I’ve never felt that way over anyone, and especially not…”

My heart thumps so hard, so steadily, it sparks a memory. I smile as warmth spreads through my chest.

“I have my mother’s diaries,” I tell him, not making him finish. “Dad had them reprinted after they were damaged and gave them to me when I was twelve.” Lance moves so that I ease back slightly, our faces only inches apart as he holds us in the water. “There’s this one entry, it’s from the week after she met him, and it’s always been so confusing to me because she barely even knew him, and yet it’s my dad in every way that matters. It says…That man has a wild heart. One he’d give too easily and never ask to be returned. One he’d take from his chest and place into my own if asked. He’s a good man. Mother would hate him.” I smile, knowing I’ve likely terrified Lance. I grasp his hand and pull it to rest on my chest, above my wild heartbeat. “You did that. It happened in the dress shop that first day. At the gala when you came back to dance with me. On my birthday when I found your gift. Today… when I woke up and found you asleep at my bedside.” I think about how hard my heart had raced when he threw me to the bed and licked me. How whenever he looks at me, my stomach flutters like a million butterflies taking flight. “You showed up for me today, Lance. Thank you for that.”

We get lost in a trance, his hand still lying on my chest. “Would she hate me?” he mutters.

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