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.After several minutes ofpursuing him, she cornered him near thewaterfall that spilled in from a spa offthe far side of the pool.They were bothbreathless and laughing like idiots. I think grabbing my swimsuit todrag me back was playing dirty, he saidas he caught his breath. Sure it was.Serves you right. Remind me not to dunk you againunless I want to skinny dip.She laughed again.His back wasturned to her, the position in which she dfinally caught him.Only then did sheregister that her arms were still aroundhis waist.The feel of his body pressed againsthers& his taut skin beneath herfingertips& it was Tell you what, he said, turningaround to face her.She didn t want tomove her hands, and since he didn t tryto escape her touch, she didn t. Thatwas too easy.I ll find you with my eyesclosed. Oh, yeah? Marco Polo style? Something like that.And when I do,I want a reward.She could only echo him as she heldhis intent gaze. A reward? Yes, Ms.Wallace.I want a realkiss.Chapter 22Her heartbeat thudded in her throatas she considered Cole s proposal.Theprospect of kissing him both thrilled andterrified her.Live, Everly. Okay, she said at last.Smiling tocover her uncertainty, she let him go. Turn around and count to ten.When he did, she went beneath thewater and headed for the deep end.Shesurfaced as quietly as she could andmoved slowly along the edge until hereached the count of ten. Everly, he called out.She quickly caught on. Cole, shereplied.He turned in her direction.Her heartraced as he started swimming towardher. Everly.She continued to move quietly alongthe edge of the pool, making as littlenoise as possible. Cole.Once again, he turned toward thesound of her voice.She found it harderto catch her breath.Her heart continuedits frantic pace. Everly. Cole.They continued around the edge,Cole remaining less than ten feet fromher.Sensing that he had figured out herstrategy, she eased into the middle of thepool. Everly. Cole.When he turned toward her this time,she realized she had miscalculated.Thewater reached her chest, making itharder for her to move through it withoutmaking any noise.Just as she decided togo under, Cole pushed off the edge andquickly covered the distance betweenthem.She gave it a last-ditch effort,trying to leap for an edge, but he grabbedher ankle and pulled her back. Was that a squeal, Ms.Wallace?he asked, reeling her in until they wereonce again next to each other.He turnedher so the water remained only as highas her chest. I don t squeal, she huffed.Shewanted to laugh, but was afraid it wouldreflect her nervousness. I might haveissued a feminine sound of protest. I see. He reached up and placed ahand on the side of her face. And areyou going to argue if I want to claim myreward?His voice was soft, beckoning.Shewanted to lean into his hand as his thumbbrushed the side of her face, passingbriefly over the corner of her mouth.Shecould have gazed into his eyes for therest of the night.But there was one little hitch.Okay, not so little.It was huge.Enough to have tears of embarrassmentburning the backs of her eyes as shestood in Cole Parker s arms.She was nearly twenty-three yearsold.Young women her age didn t havethis kind of problem.Many of them weremarried with kids.Yet the truth of it was, she d nevershared any level of intimacy with a man.She had very little idea what to do.She looked at his chest. Cole& Ihaven t ever&  Will you let me kiss you, Everly?Her eyes lifted to his.She saw nojudgment there.Just hope and& want.Swallowing hard, she shoved herreservations to the side. Yes, she said. I will.* * *Cole had never had to exercise thismuch restraint around a female.In truth,the women he d dated in the past hadusually been more experienced than hewas.It was rare that he had to make thefirst move.It just figured that the one woman hewanted more than any he d ever beenwith was as inexperienced as they came.He d seen Everly s nervousness whenhe initially approached her in the pool.Ithad gone a long way toward curbing hislibido, which had slipped its leash whileshe undressed.She hadn t been trying to turn him on,he knew.Her movements hadn t beenslow and teasing as she disrobed.They d been purposeful and a little shy.Why that sent him into sensual orbit,he had no idea.But that feeling resurfaced when shesaid she d let him kiss her.The momentshe granted her permission, there wasn tanything he d ever wanted more.He brought his other hand up so thatboth framed her heart-shaped face.Sheput her arms around his waist.For amoment, he just held her gaze.This washer first real kiss.He wanted it to beperfect for her.Slow and steady, he toldhis raging hormones.The water kept him from having tobend down to meet her mouth.He simplypulled her closer and touched his lips tohers.At first, she stiffened.Her lipspressed together when he brushed hisagainst hers.Knowing she needed to getused to the idea of the kiss, he took histime, lightly pressing his lips againsthers once, twice, three times.Thenagain.Eventually, she began to relax.Hermouth softened beneath his.He allowedhis lips to stay connected to hers longerand longer between each contact.Thenhe gently ran his tongue along her lowerlip.She issued a low moan that had hiscontrol teetering.He caressed the side of her face withhis thumb as he kissed her, applying theslightest pressure to her jaw.Afterbriefly tensing again, she parted her lips.Feeling like he d just been awardeda championship ring, he finally tastedher.She was every bit as divine as he danticipated.Sweet.Sultry.Addicting.He heard himself issuing sounds ofapproval as he kissed her.He couldn thelp it.It was the most gloriousexperience of his life.He was in realdanger of losing his control.He neededto put some distance between them.Then she kissed him back.Hertongue rubbed against his, timidly atfirst, then with gathering enthusiasm.Dear Lord.He was lost.Pulling her long legs up to wraparound his waist and bringing her armsup and around his neck, he kissed heragain, long and deep.She returned thekiss with equal passion, gifting him withsexy moans that let him know she wasenjoying her first kiss as much as hewas.Only when his hands wanted to roamalong her body did he force himself tobreak away from her.A first kiss wasone thing.What he wanted to do wasquite another.As they caught their breath, they heldeach other s gazes.Then she smiled. Wow, she said breathlessly. Wasthat your reward, or mine? It s all a little hazy at the moment. I ll say. Her eyes moved to hismouth. Wow.Issuing a small laugh, he touched hisforehead to hers. If you keep looking atme that way, I m going to kiss youagain. But I don t want you to kiss me.Disappointment and surprise struckhim at the same time.Then she leanedforward and captured his mouth.Ah.She wanted to kiss him.He recognized the depth of herpassion even if she didn t.She startedslowly like he d done with her, but itwasn t long before they were once againexchanging drugging, open-mouthedkisses that made him want to carry her tothe closest lounge chair and strip her ofher meager clothes.When her lowerbody inadvertently pressed against him,he thought he might go insane.Once again, he broke away from her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]