By the time I worked up the courage to step outside, he had vanished. For a split second, I wondered if he’d already left, but there were still supplies left out by the pool. A vial of water sat on the table beneath the umbrella. One chamber was stained yellow and another blue, signaling he’d tested the water to maintain the right balance. He’d probably gone back into the pool house to get some chemicals.
I snatched up my phone that I’d abandoned on the lounger before marching across the stone pavers toward the pool house.
Since it wasn’t a finished space, there wasn’t air conditioning, and Troy had left the door open in a feeble attempt to keep the air circulating. It was sweltering inside anyway.
A single bulb hanging from one of the rafters in the ceiling lit the room, which had a small collection of pool floats on one side and a shelf on the other, where all the chemicals and supplies were typically stored. At the back, there was the door to the bathroom and a bare set of stairs leading up to the second story. That was where the folded pool cover was stored, along with boxes of Christmas decorations.
I’d expected Troy to be at the shelves, picking out what he needed, but he wasn’t. He was across the room, lingering beside the stairs. His sunglasses were propped up on his head and he stared at the hooks on the wall with a displeased expression smeared on his face, as if they’d somehow pissed him off.
I blinked with confusion, and the longer I stood there, the more it became clear he hadn’t seen me come in and wasn’t aware of my presence.
A hand reached inside my body and tightened its fist as realization swept through me.
“Goddamnit,” he muttered under his breath, and ran a palm down the front of his body.
Because the fly of his shorts was tented.
Like he’d done when he’d caught me topless, I froze in place. It was physically impossible to do anything other than drag hot, humid air into my lungs and watch as he repeated the action.
If his intent was to make his erection go away, the brush of his hand had the opposite effect. Tortured pleasure twisted on his face as he glared at the wall. I wondered if he was mentally trying to make the blood flow in any direction other than his dick, but then surrendered.
His large hand closed over the front of his shorts . . .
And squeezed.
When he shuddered with satisfaction, his pleasure reverberated through my body. It tingled across my skin like electricity and sent my heart racing.
I’d never witnessed a more erotic sight than watching this boy tease himself. I was fascinated and mesmerized at the slow rub of his palm over the bulge.
Was there a chance he was thinking about me right now?
I couldn’t catch my breath, but then it became irrelevant. The wind outside gusted and sucked the door closed with a loud, abrupt slam, making his attention swing sharply in my direction.
He didn’t say it out loud, but the phrase ‘oh shit’ streamed across his expression. His eyes went wide with surprise, followed by panic, before finally landing on embarrassment.
His hand dropped from his crotch as he turned to face me, and his shoulders straightened awkwardly. When he’d caught me, I’d run away, but there was nowhere to escape for him. Instead, he lifted his chin, puffed out his chest, and set his hands on his waist.
He filled his voice with suspicion. “How long have you been standing there?”
There was no way I could answer. I had to lick my parched lips to keep from dying.
And it was unstoppable the way my gaze drifted slowly across his body, taking in the bead of sweat that coasted down his neck and disappeared beneath his shirt. My focus slipped all the way down until it traced the thick line of his cock trying to jut away from his body, trapped beneath fabric.
I swallowed hard as my gaze worked back up to meet his and found him guarded. He was trying so hard to appear unaffected. To contain whatever it was he was thinking.
He said it like it wasn’t his fault. “You were topless.”
I blinked, and as his meaning hit me, I jolted so hard it was a miracle I didn’t crack the screen of the phone in my hand. I whispered it with disbelief. “You’re saying,” I glanced at his erection, “I caused that?”
His guilty gaze darted away to stare at the hooks once more, and his lips mashed together.
I hated that I’d accidentally caused him shame, especially when the truth was his words had set me on fucking fire. I hadn’t been able to arouse a man in years, so to do that now, and one as young and hot as this guy? It stole my breath.
My voice was uneven. “You liked what you saw?”
His focus shifted back, and he stared at me like I’d just announced I loved the musical stylings of Smashmouth.
“Yeah.” Troy blinked, considering his words. He shrugged, giving into what he really wanted to say. “I always thought you were hot, but you’re a smoke show now, Ms. Graham.”
My heart stumbled over itself as my brain tried to process the words.
He drew in a breath and lifted a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “I’m sorry about walking in on you and what you just saw. Can we, like, forget that happened?”
There was desperation in his eyes, but I wasn’t in control anymore. Someone else took charge and spoke in my voice. “Show me,” I pleaded. “I want to see it.”
He went utterly still. “What?”
Blood rushed loudly in my ears, drowning out the panic at what I was suggesting. “You saw me,” I offered. “I . . . want to see you.”
As soon as the words were spoken, the sauna-like room became a furnace.
Oh, my God. What had I just asked for? Anxiety was a drug weaving through my system, making me vibrate, and it worsened as Troy stared at me with doubt clouding his eyes. The air around us was so still, yet tension crackled in it like invisible lightning. We were closed off in this small, oppressive room, which smelled faintly of sawdust and chlorine, and I was so far outside of myself we could have been on a distant planet.
His voice was rich, but unsure. Like I’d made an offer too good to be believed. “You want to see me?”
I bit down on my lip and nodded slowly.
The corner of his mouth lifted in a hesitant smile, and he delivered a look that said we shouldn’t but also let’s do it anyway. It was playful and reckless. A deadly combination.
He pulled the sunglasses off his head and set them on the unfinished stairs before grasping the hem of his t-shirt and stretching it up over his head.
Because it was a million degrees in here.
And maybe because he wanted to show off.
“Holy fuck,” I whispered.
His impish smile spread to a full grin as he dropped the t-shirt to the floor. The shorts were slung low on his hips, flaunting the sexy V shape flanking his abs, and above there was his flat, beautifully toned chest. He had a body like Zac Efron’s during the height of his man-candy roles, and his golden tanned skin made my knees go weak.
I wasn’t thinking about how he was Jenna’s son, or that when I’d met him for the first time, it was during his high school graduation party. All those thoughts were wiped clean by the muscles rippling across his torso, and the way his hands went to the ties knotted at the top of his shorts.
My heart threatened to beat out of my chest with nervous excitement, and I suspected it was the same for him. Troy seemed to struggle to catch his breath as his fingers worked the strings loose.