“Nothing’s wrong,” I said, admiring the stretch of his ribs and glimpse of hipbones above his waistband. “Not a damn thing.”
He stood at the edge of the pool, watching me with that smug expression that drove me crazy, the one that said he knew he was torturing me and intended to keep it up until I broke. Orion’s skin was mostly tawny smoothness, but he had a sprinkle of dark chest hair I found incredibly sexy. His long waist was cut with solid muscle, another soft trail of dark hair running from his chest to his navel. No tattoos, but he had a couple scars, one on his ribs, another on his shoulder. The scars didn’t appear to have been caused by any significant damage, perhaps the remnants of minor childhood injuries. But even those faint scars marring his perfect tanned skin enticed me, like every detail of him.
I tried to memorize the sight. I’d been so ravenous to get my mouth all over him while we were in bed, I’d not taken enough time to just look at him. I could see the outline of his quads through the tight jeans. Dancer’s muscles. He was so gorgeous, but that little edge of roughness about him added a wild element that made me want to do bad things to him. “You see something you like, tough guy?”
“Goddamn right,” I said with a hard breath, all pretense gone. I stood from my lounger, needing to be closer to him. “The way you look right now.”
His eyes flashed with heat and suddenly he was in my arms, all that warm, aromatic flesh pressed up against me. A lose, soft lock fallen free from his hair tie tickled my cheek as his lips brushed my earlobe. “Tell me,” he said, voice soft and husky. “How do I look right now?”
A shiver ran through me, and my hands smoothed up his back, over his shoulder blades, finally tangling in his hair, releasing the ponytail he’d only just created. He’d probably tied it back because he was hot, but I liked his hair free and wild, and my inner caveman was taking over as my heart pounded. I pressed my face to his neck and just breathed him in.
“Can’t talk?” he whispered.
“Can’t think.”
Holding onto my hips, he let his thumbs slide under my shirt, making little circles on the bare skin at my sides. “You must be thinking something.”
I released his hair and gripped his jaw, drawing his face to mine. “I’m thinking you’re out to ruin me. And I’m gonna let you.”
“I’m not,” he said. His eyes were drowsy with desire, but he looked strangely serious. “I’m never gonna do nothing bad to you.”
I kissed him, because his lips were right there, and I couldn’t help myself, gently drawing his bottom lip into my mouth. When I eased back, his eyes were closed, but that worried scowl remained between his brows. He always seemed overly concerned with what I thought about him, and whether I trusted his intentions. But even though my father’s warnings remained in the back of my mind, I felt strongly that Orion’s attraction to me was legit, at the very least. How far his sincerity went beyond that, I didn’t know, and at the moment, didn’t care.
If it was all part of some performance, a role he was playing, then he was a master at deception. But it didn’t matter. I was in, either way. I wanted to play my role, for as long as he’d let me. I didn’t feel like I had a choice. I should have felt pathetic, because what I was thinking was that if Orion was faking it, I was just lucky he was faking it with me. But I was too turned on to feel pathetic. “Kiss me back,” I said.
He complied, taking my mouth roughly. That beast inside me, the one I’d met while in bed with him, tried to rise again, and soon I was crushing Orion to my body, devouring his mouth as my heartbeat swished loudly in my ears.
The beads around his neck dug into my chest, but I didn’t care, just pulled him in tighter. I wanted to throw him down on the lounger and climb on top of him, hear the plastic creaking as I humped against his body. I wanted both of us naked and sweating. I wanted to taste every bit of him, even down there. The thought surprised me, because there was no hesitation in it. Only excitement, so much that a deep groan left me.
He broke the kiss with a gasp and I started on his neck, that salty warmth of his skin melting against my tongue. His breath shivered. “Fuck,” he said. “You don’t know what you do to me.”
“I know what I wanna do to you.”
He laughed. “You don’t know what you’re saying.” The laugh turned into a moan as I bit his neck, then suckled the same spot soothingly.
“I know what I’m saying.” I nibbled along his jaw. “And I know what I’m thinking.”
“What? What do you wanna do to me?” He looked at me with fire in his eyes, and I was about to say it—actually say the words, I wanna suck your cock. But suddenly his mouth was on mine again, and he set me off balance with a searing kiss. Holding my face in both hands, he withdrew, breathing heavily. “Wait,” he said. “Don’t tell me.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “If you’re gonna say anything close to what my imagination’s coming up with, I’m gonna lose control. And I can’t with Kora just inside.”
“Okay, let’s stop then.” I let out a disappointed whine, trailing a finger over his chest, then gripping a handful of beads. “But you started it, you tease.”
“Sorry.” He grinned. “Didn’t know you’d be so good at teasing me back. Is the pool cold?”
“Yes. You wanna get in?”
“I think I have to get in if I wanna get rid of this raging hard-on.”
Chuckling, I released him. “Go ahead then. Have a swim.”
Giving me his back, he slid his jeans off to reveal tight black briefs. “Sure you don’t mind?” He tossed his jeans on the chair with his other clothes.
I sat back on the lounger, enjoying the show. “Not at all,” I said. “Jump in and cool off.”
He dove into the pool, plunging under the blue water then letting out a hoot when he resurfaced. “Oh fuck that’s cold!”
I laughed. “Did that do the trick for your…problem?”
He swiped wet hair out of his eyes. “My balls just crawled into my throat. Does that answer your question?”
He began swimming laps so I went to retrieve some towels. Conscious of Kora still in the house, I went in through the bulkhead into the basement. I knew I had clean towels in the dryer down there, I just hadn’t folded or put them away yet. I looked around when I stepped into the basement, not wanting to startle Kora if she happened to be down there. But then I heard her through the floor above. It sounded like her voice, but she was yipping like a puppy. Whatever, man. I shook my head and grabbed two towels out of the dryer. If Kora’s menagerie of voices helped her rid my house of ghosts, so be it, she could bark all she wanted.
I was about to leave the basement when I spotted a phone on top of the glass tank where I stored my little trees. I frowned. It couldn’t be my phone. I hadn’t been down here since I’d gotten home. And I definitely had it at my dad’s earlier, and at the graveyard. I’d responded to Orion’s text on the way back. Maybe it was Kora’s phone, and she’d already been down here, cleansing. That had to be it. I walked over to the tank and picked it up.
It was my phone.