Chapter 19
Chapter nineteen
Tease me all you want with this floating circus
Lulu
The sound of water slapping against tile drifts up the side of the pool. I push my sunglasses higher on my nose, stretch out on the flamingo’s ridiculous pink back, and let the sun drench me.
Flamingo Lagoon 2.0 is officially thriving. Unicorn float and pizza slice to accompany Flashy Flamingo and Serious Swan, a flamingo drink holder balanced with my umbrella-clad soda, and the full marching band of rubber ducks lined up with their Sharpie-scribbled jersey numbers.
And me, dead center. Queen of the circus.
The back doors swing open, and I hear heavy footsteps, followed by a muttered curse.
I tilt my head lazily, smirk already tugging.
Logan fills the patio, duffel dropped at his feet, hair still damp from a shower. Hoodie, athletic shorts, that broad frame taking up all the space in the world. He stops dead, taking in the unicorn, the ducks, me.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
I wave from my throne. “Welcome home, Pookie. Flamingo Lagoon’s thriving.”
His gaze drags over my bare skin, my yellow bikini, the one leg trailing in the water. I watch as his jaw flexes, eyes going darker.
“Tease me all you want with this floating circus, Lu,” he says, voice low enough to curl heat down my spine. “Just know I’m gonna wipe that smirk off your face before you leave this pool.”
My toes curl against the flamingo plastic, but I push my shades up my nose, feigning boredom. “Big talk for a guy standing all the way over there.”
His mouth twitches. “Come here, then.”
I hum and tilt my head. “Why?”
“Because I told you to.”
I laugh, bright and sharp. “That’s cute. But Flashy Flamingo and I have an understanding. I stay here; it keeps me afloat. Very symbiotic.”
“Lulu.” His voice dips into a warning.
“Logan.” I mimic his tone, grinning.
A muscle ticks in his jaw. “You really want me to come get you?”
I kick one leg, splashing a little arch of water onto the concrete toward him.
“Do your worst.”
For a second, he just stares, then the hoodie comes off, dropped onto the pool chair with a thud. He steps out of his slides, peels his socks, and kicks them aside.
I sit up straighter. “You wouldn’t.”
He pulls his phone from his pocket and tosses it onto the table. “You think I won’t?”
My grin wobbles. “You’re in a T-shirt still.”
“And shorts.” He snaps the hem once, eyes locked on me. “They’ll dry.”
I swallow, heat thrumming under my ribs, but I can’t resist one more push. “Pretty sure chlorine’s bad for cotton.”
He shakes his head. “Pretty sure you’re about to find out how long I can hold you underwater.”
“Promises, promises.”
That’s the last straw. He stalks closer to the edge, eyes locked on me, every line of his body promising I’m about to pay for every single duck, unicorn, and inflatable pizza slice currently bobbing around me.
“Last chance, Parnell.”
I lean back and drape one arm dramatically behind my head. “If you want me, you’re gonna have to earn it.”
His exhale is sharp, a man at the very edge of patience. He lets his eyes roam over me one last time from the edge, a filthy smile hooking at his lips, and then Logan Miller dives clean off the edge.
The splash is thunder, a wall of water crashing into me.
“Logan!” I shriek, the sound breaking into a laugh as the flamingo jerks sideways. I scramble, squealing as his big hand shoots out of the water and closes around its ridiculous pink neck.
“Don’t you—” is all I get out before the world tilts.
Water engulfs me. Chlorine burns my nose, sunlight fractures above, and then I’m sputtering back to the surface in a chaotic tangle of limbs.
He’s right there, hair plastered to his forehead, T-shirt dragging heavy off his shoulders, grinning like he’s been waiting his whole damn life to sink me.
“You—” I push at his chest, laughing, and he just stares at me. “You’re insane!”
“Maybe,” he says, voice heavy with laughter as his hand slides to the back of my neck. “But I don’t fucking care, Parnell.” Then his mouth is on mine.
Not careful or restrained, just water sliding over our skin. His hand fists in my hair, dragging me up against him, and I melt into it, tasting chlorine and him all at once.
It’s wet and messy and perfect—my gasp swallowed by the heat of his mouth, my hands clutching at his shoulders to keep afloat.
I break away only long enough to gasp against his lips. “You—you kissed me!”
His forehead drops to mine, breath ragged. “Couldn’t stop myself if I tried.”
Something inside me detonates. That voice, those words. I crash back into him, my mouth finding his again.
When he kisses me back, it’s nothing like the playful chaos of the pool anymore. It’s reverent. Desperate. The kind of kiss that makes you forget the world used to spin without it.
He groans low in his throat, hands finding my waist. My legs wrap around his hips on instinct, water buoying me as he pins me up against the pool wall. Cold tile at my back, heat everywhere else.
Chlorine stings my eyes, my laugh tangles with a moan, and all I can do is clutch at his soaked T-shirt, dragging him closer.
We break apart only when my lungs riot.
“But—” I pant, lips swollen. “You said the first time you wanted to… not to be half-crazed.”
“Yeah, well.” He kisses down my jaw. “Turns out I can’t think of a single fucking time with you that won’t make me half-crazed.”
Then he kisses me again, pushing my spine against the cool ledge of the pool. His hips press into mine, and I gasp against his mouth.
“Logan—”
“Tell me you want this,” he rasps, one hand braced on the concrete behind me, the other hauling my thigh tighter around him
“Yes.” It rips out of me, desperately fast. “I want this—want you.”
His eyes burn into mine. “Just say the word, Lu. Say stop and I’ll stop.”
My laugh cracks, breathless. “If you think I’m saying stop, you’re delusional.”
His mouth crashes back onto mine in reply, and then his hand is at my hip, tugging at the knot of my bikini bottoms. The strings slip loose under his fingers, fabric sliding away. A sharp gasp tears out of me as the water rushes over bared skin, cool where I’m already aching for him.
“Christ, you’re killing me,” he mutters, fumbling with the strap at my back until that knot falls too. The yellow fabric floats away, and his head drops instantly, mouth closing around my nipple.
“Logan!” My cry ricochets off the tile, back arching. His teeth graze, just enough to make my thighs tremble around him.
“So fucking perfect.” He sucks harder, hands gripping my ass. “Been dreaming about this. About tasting every inch of you.”
My fingers fist in his drenched hair, his mouth at my throat, teeth scraping as his hips grind me tighter against the pool wall.
"Please," I moan. "I want you, so bad."
His warm chuckle skitters across my wet skin, and his lifts his head to mine. "You begging for it, baby?"
I nod, frantic now. “Yes. Please. I want your cock—I want to feel you inside me. I can’t—Logan, please."
"Christ, Lu." His mouth crashes back to mine, hands kneading at my breasts, thumbs flicking over my nipples. "You want my cock that badly?"
My voice is nothing but desperation. “I want your cock. Want you to fuck me hard in this pool."
He groans like the words hit him dead center, forehead falling to mine.
“You’re gonna get exactly what you’re begging for.” He nods toward the house. "Gonna get a condom."
I cup his jaw and pulling him back, shaking my head. “On the pill.”
His eyes slam shut. For half a second, he just breathes, like he’s praying.
“Thank. Fucking. God.”
Then he shoves his shorts down, cock thick and hard in his fist, water sheeting off his body, and my mouth goes dry.
He’s big. Long and veined, thick enough to make my thighs clench.
“Fuck, Lu.” He strokes himself once, then presses the head against me, right where I’m aching. “You’re so wet already, you feel that?”
My hips surge, needy and desperate. “Yes—God, please—”
“Look at me.”
I do. Wide-eyed, biting my lip.
My body seizes as he pushes in, stretching wide around him, the slow drag of every thick inch pulling a sound out of me. My nails dig into his shoulders, my back arching as his hips finally seat him all the way to the hilt.
“Fuck. You feel—god, you’re so fucking tight, baby.”
I can’t answer, can’t do anything except cling and gasp as he draws back and thrusts in again, the messy slap of water surrounding us.
He bares his teeth in a grin, pounding into me harder, free hand in my hair, pulling my head back so I can’t look away. “You like me losing it for you? Coming home soaked in sweat, half-crazed, because I can’t stop thinking about this?”
“Yes—” My cry splinters, head falling back as his hips drive harder. “Fuck, Logan, yes!”
“Take it for me,” he groans, praise spilling as filthy as the thrusts. “Eyes on me while you take it. That’s it, baby, squeeze me—Christ.”
The sound he makes is half-snarl, half-prayer as I let out a loud, long moan.
“I’m already gonna—you feel so good, I’m gonna—” My body bows tight, waves crashing into me. My nails dig crescent moons into his shoulders, hips rolling faster, desperate for release.
“Fuck, look at you.” His thumb finds my clit, rubbing tight circles. “Tits bouncing, water everywhere, coming on my cock. You’re fucking stunning.”
I shatter with the water sloshing, my scream echoing through the rhythmic splashes. My whole body clenches, locked around him as pleasure explodes and he follows, cock pulsing deep as he moans into my mouth.
We stay there, water lapping around us as our breaths stagger and crash. My chest heaves, every muscle limp, but his hands won’t let go—still holding me incase I might move away.
His hands shift, one sliding up my spine, the other still palming my ass as though he needs the weight of me anchored to him. He nuzzles my temple. “You good?”
My responding laugh is shaky. “Define good.”
“Not drowning. Not crying. Not regretting every second.”
I tip my head back just enough to see him, my lips curving despite the exhaustion dragging through me. “Then yeah, I’m really good.”
“Good,” he echoes. His thumb drags across my jaw, eyes dark but steady, reverent in a way that makes my heart flip all over again.
Eventually, the shiver creeps in. “Pool water and lack of a bikini… not exactly cozy.”
His chuckle rumbles low in his chest. “Yeah, you’re freezing.” He kisses my temple. “C’mon. Out.”
“Carry me and I’ll consider forgiving you for capsizing my kingdom.”
He grins, shaking his head, but the next second, his hands are under me, hauling me up bridal-style against his chest. Water streams off us both, his soaked shirt clinging, shorts heavy. I yelp, laughing as he trudges with me out of the pool.
On the deck, we watch the floats bump together in lazy chaos—unicorn tangled with pizza slice, ducks bobbing like a chorus line. Logan nods at them. “They’re first to go.”
I flick a wet strand of hair at him. “Touch my ducks and die.”
He drops me gently onto a lounge chair and leans down low to be level with me. “You’re lucky you’re cute, Parnell.”
“Lucky?” I grin. “Please. You just got laid against a pool wall, I’m practically doing charity work.”
His breath huffs, and there’s a hint of something raw in his eyes before he closes the distance and crushes his mouth to mine again, softer this time.
When he finally pulls back, he doesn’t step away. Just crouches there, dripping and beautiful, watching me as if I’m the only thing he’s ever wanted to keep. Even if I come with Flashy Flamingo, Serious Swan, a unicorn, a pizza slice, and several rubber ducks.
I clear my throat, nerves creeping in where heat used to be. “I should probably go eat. Maybe shower… At my place.”
His brows pull together. “Your house isn’t even ready yet.”
“They said maybe tonight,” I hedge, brushing wet hair off my face. “And it’s—”
“Not happening.” He grabs a towel from the chair and drapes it firmly around my shoulders before I can argue. “You’re soaked, you’re starving, and you’re not going anywhere.”
“Logan—”
“Lulu.” His voice dips, no room for negotiation. “Stay. We’ll order something in, you can shower, steal my clothes, whatever. Just… stay.”
I toy with the edge of the towel, trying to laugh it off. “Okay then, one more night in the guest room.”
He stares at me. “What?”
“You know.” I shrug a shoulder. “So I’m not in your way. So you have space.”
Something in his expression shifts, sharp edges softening. He leans closer, a drop of water sliding down his temple. “Parnell, if you think for one second I’m letting you freeze your ass off in the spare room when you could be in my bed—warm, fed, in my arms—you’ve lost your damn mind.”
Heat licks through me, but the protest still stumbles out. “I just don’t want to overstep, don’t wanna be… too much.”
“Too much?” He frowns, shaking his head. “Who the fuck has told you this shit, Lu?”
I shrug, looking down. “I dunno, people.”
“Asshole people. You’re exactly enough for the people who know how to love you.”
My eyes find his, and I raise an eyebrow. “Wow, that’s deep, Pookie.”
He tugs me forward until my damp hair sticks to his soaked chest, mouth brushing my temple, refusing to let me deflect. “You’re not overstepping. You’re not too much. You’re exactly where I want you.”
My throat tightens. I want to believe him. God, I do. But the words that have been sitting heavy as a stone in my stomach spill out before I can stop them.
“And what about Eli?”
His whole body goes rigid. I feel it in the set of his chest under my palms, the way his jaw ticks once.
“Lulu…”
“I mean it,” I whisper, pulling back to look at him. “It’s one thing for me to crash in your bed when no one knows. But if he ever finds out…” My laugh cracks, brittle. “He’ll be so pissed, he’ll never forgive us.”
For a long beat, he just looks at me. Then his hand cups the back of my neck, solid and warm. “I’ll deal with Eli when that happens.”
“You can’t just—”
“I can,” he cuts in, blunt but certain.
The words thud through me, heavy and dangerous, but also dizzying.
“You’ll change your mind,” I murmur, though it sounds weak even to my own ears.
His thumb strokes my jaw, voice unwavering.
“No, I won’t.”
The last of my resistance dissolves, and I’m left feeling nothing but warm and weightless in his arms.