Tempting Him by Isabel Lucero

18

Almost an hour later,and I’m pacing through the hotel suite, anxious in a way I’ve never been. I begin to worry he won’t show. Maybe he got caught up with his friends...with this guy. I want to smack myself for being so out of control.

I’m starting to wonder if only being with him on the weekend is enough. Five days without him already has me on edge. It had been a long time since I was with anybody, and that was fine. I wasn’t struggling with the lack of sex. I was used to it. It was nothing I couldn’t solve with a little solo stroke action, but now that I’ve had a taste, I find myself constantly starving.

I do my best to control myself around him, not wanting to lead him to believe this can be anything serious, but I’m struggling to hold onto the reins.

When a knock sounds on the door, I have to force myself from jogging toward it. Yanking it open, Jayden stands there with a cocky grin. I want to attack his mouth and plunder it with my tongue.

I inhale deeply, trying to keep my cool. “You finally made it.”

He walks in, his hand gently touching my stomach. “I had to go shower and prepare myself for tonight.”

Closing the door, I spin around and follow him inside. “Oh? Not too busy with certain guys?” I clench my jaw, hating that I sound like a jealous teenager. I forge on, hoping to move past that. “That’s good. I’m glad you’re ready for me.”

He turns and watches me, sitting on the arm of the couch. “I told you I wouldn’t see anyone else while we do this. I meant it.”

“It’s just about—”

“Safety,” he finishes for me, not sounding at all like he believes it. “Right.”

I shove my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching out to him. “So.”

“Do you know how to swim?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Good. Come on,” he says, standing up and walking back toward me.

“What?”

He grabs a hold of my wrist as he passes me, spinning me around and tugging me along for a couple seconds before letting go. “Just come with me. Live a little.”

“I don’t even have shoes on,” I complain. “And I’m not really dressed—”

“You don’t need to wear a suit to go to a pool. What you’re wearing is fine.”

I’m wearing a dark T-shirt and a pair of lounge pants, with only socks on my feet. “Jay.”

“Alek,” he says, mimicking my tone before laughing.

I manage to swipe the extra key from the counter before we leave the room. I follow him as we make our way down to the first floor, traveling down a couple hallways, passing people leaving or going to their rooms.

“These people are probably wondering why I don’t have any shoes on.”

“Are you kidding? A hotel is the only place you can get away with not wearing shoes without having to worry about what people are going to say. People walk the halls in bathing suits and swim trunks. Nobody cares.”

I grunt, but we keep going until we reach the room that holds the pool.

“It closes soon, so people likely won’t be coming in,” he says as he walks inside, the door propped open with a wooden wedge underneath.

Once we’re both inside, he closes the door, then immediately rips his shirt over his head.

“If you’re expecting me to skinny dip…”

“I wasn’t, but that sounds like fun,” he says with a flirtatious smile. He steps out of his tennis shoes, removes the socks, then pushes his jeans down. He’s left standing in a pair of gray boxer-briefs. “Your turn.”

I glance around, wondering if there’s a way for people to look in here.

“No windows,” he says. “The only other door is that one over there and they can’t come in from outside. And we’re not doing anything wrong, anyway.”

When he walks down the steps that lead to the water, I remove everything but my underwear, tossing them to a plastic chaise lounge chair.

Jayden spins around, water up to his stomach as he walks backward toward the deep end. His eyes never leave me as I descend the steps.

“I’ve been wanting to see you naked and wet all day. None of my friends do it for me.”

My lips pull up on one end. “I’m glad to hear it, but I’m not naked.”

“Not yet.”

I make my way to the side, dipping below the water before coming to a stop and standing near the five foot marker. I shake the water from my hair, and find Jayden swimming over.

He stands less than a foot away, his eyes hooded as he inspects me. With an arm outstretched, his fingers brush a few locks out of my face.

“I love your eyes,” he confesses, looking slightly embarrassed before giving me a lopsided smile and shrug. “I can’t quite figure out the color.”

“I can’t blame you. They’re a mix of blue and green. Not just one color.”

“Like mine. So dark you can’t really tell the difference between my pupils and irises.”

“Yours are rich, soulful, and deep.”

The words come out unplanned, just what came to mind as I stared into them. His teeth sink into his lip briefly before grinning.

His hands find my torso under the water and they roam the ridges of my abdomen before dipping into the waistband and traveling to my ass. His legs brush against mine as he leans in and licks water from my neck.

“I want you so bad,” he whispers. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

“Then why are we here?” I question, my fingers dipping into the waistband of his boxer-briefs and tugging him forward.

“Because you need to learn to play and have fun.”

“I know how to have fun,” I grumble.

“Sure you do.”

He pulls back, splashes water at me and swims away, leaving me to chase after him. For the next several minutes, we enjoy having the pool to ourselves like children left unattended. I dive under the water, swimming toward him as he attempts to get away. He swims through my legs as my eyes scan the moving water, trying to find him. He kicks water at me when he emerges, and I slip under and wrap my arms around his waist and tug him below the surface. We play and laugh, and I can’t remember the last time I allowed myself time to have fun like this.

When he’s in the corner of the pool, I approach, leaving him with little space to flee. “I think I win this game,” I say with a smile.

He braces his elbows on the sides and then his legs wrap around my waist, yanking me into him. “I think I do.”

Our faces are inches apart and my lips ache to feel the softness of his. Deep, dark eyes assess me, and my hands reach out to hold onto the edge, trapping him between my arms. Our chests heave with deep breaths, and I can tell he’s waiting for me to make a move. He won’t kiss me because he knows it’s one of my rules, but I can break that rule right now. All it’ll take is me leaning in.

The loud sound of the door opening has us breaking apart. A hotel employee stands at the door. “Pool’s about to close, fellas. Gotta lock it up.”

“Oh, all right,” Jayden says, glancing at me longingly before swimming toward the stairs.

The man walks off, allowing us to get out of the pool without an audience. Jay tosses me a towel when I emerge, and we both dry off as well as we can before donning our clothes again.

“Fucking wet underwear and jeans is not comfortable,” Jay complains, tugging at the material.

“This was your idea.”

He smiles. “And I don’t regret it.”

“It was fun,” I say with a grin.

“Did you say you had fun?” he teases, holding onto my arm. “My God, I never thought I’d hear it.”

I shake my head, smiling. “Hungry?”

He looks me up and down, pure lust in his eyes. “Starving.”