Chapter 5
5
JADE
“Noooo—” My voice dies in the air as we hit the warmer than expected water. Bubbles gargle in my ears, fizzing between the layers of our clothing on impact.
To gather my bearings, I ping open my eyes and I’m welcomed by Owen’s white smile, glowing in the underwater lights. He looks effortlessly gorgeous submerged in the water. He’s a beautiful sight. One I want to photograph mentally and save to my favorites for later.
He tilts his head up, instructing me to move upward, then he lets go of me, allowing us to reach the surface separately.
I gasp for breath like a dying fish, pushing my dripping wet hair off my face.
As soon as his head pops up, I flick water his way, splashing his face. “You’re an idiot,” I splutter, wiping my eyes.
His face falls. “So everyone keeps telling me.”
We move to the shallower end of the pool. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. A little warning would have been good, that’s all. And I’m wearing a new dress.” I push my uncooperative dress between my legs to stop it from floating to the surface .
“I’m sorry. I’ll buy you a new one, and you could always take it off.” His voice is playful before he lowers himself into the water slightly, his mouth disappearing. My stomach ties in knots as the heat of his gaze burns my water-cooled skin.
“Is this what you call reckless?” I tease.
“Nope. This is.” He stands tall, smirks, and begins unbuttoning his shirt. “But a better way to describe it would be ‘throwing caution to the wind’.”
My mouth is instantly drier than the Sahara realizing that he wants us to skinny dip. “I’m not getting naked.”
He shrugs. “Suit yourself.”
I avert my gaze when he removes his shorts, and I hear him chuckle when I swim away from him.
A large splash from behind me prompts me to glance back over my shoulder, but all I can see is a puddle of clothes by the poolside alongside his sopping wet, expensive-looking designer white sneakers.
I stop swimming and search the area, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
Where the hell did he go?
I don’t have to wait long to find out, as a hand grabs my ankle from under the water and I yelp in shock.
Fully naked, he swims past me, his white ass glowing like a full moon against the contrast of the rest of his sun-kissed body.
A giggle bubbles in my chest at the absurdity of the situation.
I’m in a pool with a naked stranger. I’m thirty-nine and acting like a teenager.
I can’t deny it’s the best fun I’ve had in months.
I squeeze my eyes closed when he swims up beside me and resurfaces, not trusting myself not to look at his cock .
“Scared you won’t be able to resist?” He laughs, obviously noticing my reaction.
“Oh, shut up,” I reply, flustered, already fed up wrestling with my dress.
Just take it off, Jade.
“I thought fast jet pilots took more risks than us average Joes.”
“Calculated risks. There’s a difference, and I have self-control. Something you clearly lack.” My words sound more prim and proper than usual.
“I’m fun. Something you clearly lack.” His Scottish accent is thick with humor.
My eyes still closed, I gasp dramatically. “Oh, that hurts.”
“Take your clothes off, then.”
“No.”
“See. I’m right, you’re a prude. No fun.”
I let out a stupidly girly squeak and pop my eyes open when he pinches my waist, discovering that he’s standing right in front of me.
This guy’s got my head spinning like a Ferris wheel. “It’s not that I don’t want to take my clothes off.” I keep my gaze high, forcing myself not to ogle his million-pack abs or dip lower.
He pulls his lips into his mouth. After what feels like forever, he says, “So you want to take your clothes off?”
Goddammit, he got me.
“I can’t take them off.” But I want to.
He rakes his wet locks off his forehead with his fingers. “Why not?”
“Because we are in a communal pool, and it’s not very professional of me if the guys come back to find their boss naked in the pool now, is it? And…” I trail off.
“And?” he mimics .
I look away, embarrassed, and mumble under my breath.
“I didn’t catch that. Say it again,” he pushes.
I say it again, slightly louder.
“I missed that too.” He moves closer, his mouth now in line with my ear.
Through clenched teeth, I say, “My body doesn’t look the same since I had Poppy.”
“And?” He twists his head in my direction, our mouths aligning.
“And I have stretch marks, wibbly bits, and a C-section scar. It’s not attractive. And you’re like…” I motion to his body. “Carved from marble. How is that possible?” I can’t resist reaching out and touching his sinewy abs, making his pecs twitch under my touch, inwardly mad at myself for not spending more hours in the gym. It’s taken me eleven months to shed my pregnancy weight, and I still have more to lose.
With a soft voice, he quashes my worries. “I couldn’t care less about any of that shit, but keep your clothes on if it makes you feel better.” Reaching out, he runs his thumb under my eye, then the other. “Your mascara is running.”
“Do I look like a panda?” I must look disheveled. Soaked, matted hair, smudged makeup, and my green lace dress stuck to my body. Fantastic.
“You look like a beautiful panda,” he says honestly. “Tell me, Jade, when was the last time you felt carefree, did something without having to think about Poppy, and had a little fun?”
I can’t think straight as he pushes my wet hair off my face with his large but tender fingertips.
Trying desperately to answer the question he’s just asked, it suddenly dawns on me as the memory comes into view. “I went skydiving.”
“How long ago?” He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear .
“Three years,” I say quietly. I can’t believe it’s been that long.
His eyes crinkle at the sides with humor. Knowing he’s made me realize it’s been years since I had even the slightest bit of fun outside of work.
“Three years,” he repeats in shock.
“I need to get out more,” I confess, my voice strained. Suddenly, I forget my sadness, distracted by everything about the gorgeous man before me who is pulling me toward him. Curling his fingers around the back of my neck, causing all the tiny hairs across my body to stand on end. How does he do that?
“You’re out now,” he whispers, leaning down, millimeters from his lips brushing over mine.
“I am,” I whisper back, silently wishing he would kiss me already.
“I want you to have fun, and I want to be the one you have it with, Jade, and for some fucked up, crazy reason, I want to kiss you so damn much.” He buries his fingers into my wet hair at the nape of my neck. “I feel so drawn to you. It’s some sort of weird shit I can’t explain.”
Holy freaking hell.
“I want to kiss you, too,” I confess, the strange feeling that part of me knows him already filling my chest again.
It’s just sexual chemistry, Jade. Stop making it something it isn’t.
I close the distance, grab his waist and pull him toward me, then press his lips to mine.
Billions of sparks burst through my body, illuminating every dark spot I didn’t know existed. The sensation of his mouth slanting over mine makes me moan. He tastes like wine and cologne as our tongues collide together and for a moment, I can’t ever imagine wanting to kiss anyone else ever again.
The soft blond whiskers of his beard tickle my chin, a feeling I’m not familiar with. The three men I’ve ever been with have been in the Air Force and were clean-shaven with short back and sides haircuts. But Owen, well, he’s all floppy hair and bristly scruff, and I relish in his uniqueness; it’s new and exciting.
Controlled, he takes his time, exploring my mouth, his kiss softer than I imagined.
My free hand moves up his arm, to his shoulder, then back down around his firm waist, pulling him closer to me.
He takes this as an invitation to do the same.
Our kiss deepening, I sigh, feeling blissed out. No longer caring about my dress floating to the surface. Our slow kiss goes on forever and bleeds into my soul, flooding my senses, making me tremble.
His bare, hard cock presses against my stomach, and I gasp.
“Take my dress off,” I sigh between our heated kisses.
Panting, Owen pulls back to look at me, as if he is reading my face for any trace of doubt.
I glance down into the water, frustrated that I can’t see his cock because the fabric of my floating dress blocks my view.
I want to see him. All of him. “Please,” I beg.
“You sure?”
My tone is soft but sure. “Now, Owen.” His lips find mine once more, making me whimper when he nips the bottom one.
He touches his forehead briefly in mock salute. “Yes, ma’am.”
Chuckling, I smile against his mouth.
His voice drops an octave. “I fucking love that you’re the boss and how you outrank all those men we were out with tonight. I can’t wait to see you in your flight suit.”
Well, that’s new. Michael hated me in my flight suit. Although, I guess his jealousy of my career progression may have clouded his perspective; he hated the fact I made the final cut at selection for the aerobatic squad and he didn’t.
“You’ll see me in it tomorrow.”
He winks so sexily that I can’t wait another second for him to touch every part of me.
“Just get me out of this dress and show me what this fun is you speak of.”
“So bossy.” He kisses the side of my mouth, moving to the shell of my ear, before peppering kisses down my neck.
“Do it now, Owen,” I groan.
“Yes, ma’am.”