5. Chapter Five
5
Ryker
It’s late when I finally decide I’ve had enough tossing and turning. I climb out of bed, shimmy into a pair of swim trunks, and head downstairs. All the lights are off, save for the dim light coming from a night light plugged into the kitchen wall, and nothing but crickets can be heard throughout the house.
At least Wren isn’t awake.
When I get outside, I flip the pool lights on and disappear through the pool house for a beach towel. I eye the hot tub tucked in the corner of the pool, then dart my gaze to the light ripples of the pool water, debating on whether I want to relax against the jets or swim myself into exhaustion.
I toss my towel onto a nearby lounge chair, then ease into the warm water. As much as I love my home in Arizona, I hate how warm the water gets. Before I get too hot, I do butterfly strokes across the pool and turn to do the same thing back to the other end. When I take a minute to rest, fling my wet hair back, the sound of my back door opening catches my attention.
Wren walks across the concrete, humming and shimmying her hips just like she was this morning at breakfast, without a single clue that I’m watching her from a short distance. She’s got a piece of thin fabric covering her that she pulls off, tossing it gingerly onto the chair next to her, and my breath hitches.
The bright yellow bikini she’s got on leaves nothing to the imagination. It’s got thin strings that circle around her hips and tie at her hips – it would take nothing but a simple pull to expose her to me. Her top covers her breasts but leaves enough room to have a good idea of how much of the thick flesh would fit into the palm of my hand.
A groan slips from my throat, echoing in the night, and Wren yelps before spinning around with wide eyes. “Ryker, I didn’t know you would still be up.” She’s quiet for a few moments, fidgeting beautifully under my stare, and shakes her head with a nervous chuckle. “Sorry, I’ll leave you alone.”
“Nonsense,” I call out, stopping her from disappearing back through the back door. “The pool is big enough for both of us or are you afraid of a little competition in the water?”
She straightens her spine and faces me. Her gaze narrowed with a smirk tipping at the corner of her lips. “You wish, Rockstar.”
I raise a brow as she places her things back onto the chair and makes her way over to the water. When she gets deep into the water, her eyes find mine from a few feet away, and I watch as her nipples pebble beneath the fabric of her top.
I clear my throat and beckon her over to me with a lopsided smirk. “Let’s make the reward interesting.”
She crosses her arms with an arched brow, a clear sign of her challenging me, and gives me a curt nod to continue.
“If I win, you leave tomorrow morning and tell my manager that everything is great.”
I can tell she wants to say something, but I continue on without waiting for her response. “If you win, I’ll take you seriously and even prepare breakfast for you in the morning.”
She’s silent as she looks up at the sky, then flashes me a bright smile before holding a hand out to me. “You’ve got a deal.”
“I’ll make it easy on you,” I say softly as I clasp my fingers around her slender hand. “You get a ten second head start.”
Wren sighs in relief and releases my hand with a thankful grin. “Awe, aren’t you sweet?”
“We’re going from this end of the pool to the other, then back. You ready, Teach?”
She rolls her eyes. “Is that nickname necessary?”
“Ready, or do I need to take back the head start?”
Her eyes flash with amusement, and then she readies herself at the edge of the pool with a wicked grin. “Not at all, Rockstar.”
“Ready,” I start, my eyes trailing down the length of her chest before focusing back in front of us. “Set.”
She pushes her chest out further as I say, “Go,” and disappears like a flash in front of me.
I can’t get the image of her breasts popping up out of the water from my head, and before I know it, she’s already at the other end of the pool. She winks at me as she comes up for a few deep breaths and I glare at her, then look at my watch to note the time. It’s barely been over ten seconds, and she’s already making her way back to me.
How in the hell did she get over there so fast?
There’s no way I’m winning this thing.
When she rises from the water right in front of me and swipes her eyes, she flashes me a Cheshire-like smile. “Well, looks like I won, Rockstar.”
I blink in surprise, but the wink she sends me has me narrowing my eyes. “You lied to me.”
She scoffs as she leans against the edge of the pool, her shoulder brushing up against mine for a brief moment that sends heat straight through to my cock.
“I never lied. You assumed that because I’m a woman, I couldn’t possibly beat you. That’s not my fault.”
“Swimming your thing?”
“I guess I could’ve mentioned that I was on the swim team in high school, placed first on more than one occasion.”
She pushes away from the edge, heads toward the stairs, and then glances over her shoulder with amusement. “I expect pancakes in the morning, with scrambled eggs and crunchy bacon. And we’ll get started with a good yoga session after we eat.”
Before she can get too far, I swim through the water and wrap my fingers around her wrist. “Hold up, teach.”
I pull her back down until she’s right in front of me, drops of water dripping from her thick lashes and onto her cheek.
She stares into my eyes, her gaze darting from them to my lips and back up again. “You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that. Nobody else would’ve challenged me like that.”
She arches her brow and chuckles. “I can be more professional than that. It’s all in good fun.” Somehow, her body pushes closer to mine, and between the heat from her body, paired with the warm water, I’m drowning with need.
I reach around her, my hand falling onto the small of her back, and she sucks in a sharp breath. “Uh, I should probably head back inside.”
Wren tries to push away from me, but I hold her close and look into her eyes. As much as she wants to shove this tension away, I can see the want swirling in her bright eyes, and that’s the only reason I don’t remove my hand from her back. “The night is young, teach, what’s the rush?”
“It’s getting late, and we have an early morning,” she whispers, her gaze zeroing in on my lips as I slowly drag my tongue between them.
I lean forward slightly, and she darts her attention back to me. “What are you doing?”
“Hell, if I know,” I rasp, continuing to lean closer while fidgeting with the tiny strings tied at her hips.
Her chest rises with a deep breath, breasts brushing gently against my chest, and she doesn’t let it go until my lips brush against hers.
She shakes her head, then pulls away. “No,” she mutters. “We can’t do this. I can’t do this.”
“No one has to know.”
Wren narrows her eyes at me. “But I’ll know, and it goes against everything I stand for.” She pushes back, heading for the stairs that lead out of the water, and sighs heavily. “I just can’t do this.”
My phone blares from my lounge chair as Wren climbs out of the pool and I run a hand frustratingly through my hair.
Once she’s hidden inside the house, I climb out myself and scrub the towel over my head before grabbing my phone from the chair. Brent’s name is shining on the screen, but I toss the phone down and shake my head.
It’s best that she stopped the moment before it happened again.
What the hell is going on with me that I can’t stop trying to kiss her? That would’ve been a bad look for not only her but me as well. I can only imagine what Mack would say if he found out I’d been locking lips with, essentially, the therapist he sent here, and how quickly he’d end her career.
When I step through the back door and glance around, hopeful that she disappeared into her room, I frown at her form standing in the middle of the kitchen with the fridge pushed wide open. “Looking for something?”
She mutters something under her breath, then shuts the doors loudly before heading toward the opposite hallway from where her room is located. “Nothing, just seeing what else you can make me in the morning. Heading to bed now, though. Goodnight.”
I clear my throat as she steps into the hallway and say, “Uh, Wren?”
“Yeah?”
She barely looks into my eyes as she turns around, and my lips twitch in amusement. “Your room’s that way,” I say while pointing to my left.
Wren chuckles and waves a hand at me. “I totally knew that. I just wanted to check the rest of the place out.”
I glance at the clock and nod. “At two o'clock in the morning?”
She shrugs. “No time like the present, you know?”
Before she can say anything else, Wren quickly rushes past me without another glance in my direction and disappears down the right hallway while I stand alone in the kitchen with evidence of the effect she has on me.
Nothing good can come of us getting close.
That’s all I have to keep reminding myself while she’s here.
Except my cock has another idea. He’s desperate to feel her sweet heat surrounding him, even if it’s the worst decision he could make – and now all I want is to feel her pussy gripping me just as much.
My phone pings with a text from Brent, reminding me not to make any stupid decisions, and it takes everything inside of me not to text back. It’s best that he doesn't know that the ship has already sailed.
Everything will be okay, though. All I’ve got to do is keep distance between us.
It will be as easy as pie. One could hope, at least, but I’ve got a feeling I won’t get that lucky.