38. Wentworth
THIRTY-EIGHT
Wentworth
To be honest, even though she promised she wouldn’t. I expected Kaitlyn to leave. Expected to catch sight of her, tearing out of here on her horse the second I was too far away to stop her. If she did that, I was prepared to change course. Chase her down the side of the mountain. All the way to her house and drag her back up here if that’s what it took.
Because I’ve suddenly become aware that time is running out. In less than two weeks, I’ll be gone and she’ll belong to someone else.
She already belongs to someone else—has since the day you met her.
I’ve crossed a lot of lines to get what I want but never that. I’ve never pursued someone or even showed interest in a woman who was involved with someone else—because what I wrote in that letter to Kaitlyn is true. Despite my parents’ best efforts, I know that love is real and I believe that once a promise is made, it shouldn’t be broken.
But she’s not the one who made the promise.
She’s being forced into a marriage she doesn’t want, to someone who’s already broken his promise to her a hundred times over.
She deserves better than him.
Someone who will keep his promises.
Someone who will consider what she wants and give her what she needs.
And you really think that someone is you?
I don’t like the answer to that so, I ignore it, just like I’m ignoring the rest of it and focus on now.
Right now.
Because then is going to come soon enough. Later will rear its ugly head and if I can’t stop it, I’ll just have to settle for pretending it isn’t coming.
Finished with my third lap, I mentally tick morning run off my mental checklist while I walk myself to the end of the dock. She’s watching me. even though I can’t see her, I know she’s there. Standing at the window, probably wondering what the hell I’m doing. I know she’s watching because I can feel the weight of her gaze on my back, the sensation of it making me half hard and all the way reckless.
Pulling off my ballcap, I drop it on the dock while I kick off my shoes. Next, I pull my shirt over my head and toss it aside before I turn to look at her, over my shoulder and crook my finger at her.
Get your ass out here, Sunshine. We’re wasting time.
A shadow flickers across the glass but I don’t wait for her to make an appearance. Instead, I follow my morning routine to the letter and finish getting naked before I dive off the end of the dock and into the water.
Swimming out to the middle of the lake, I flip around to swim my way back to find her sitting on the edge of the dock, next to my pile of discarded clothes, bare feet dangling over the water.
Making my way back to her, I stop a few yards away and tread water.
“What are you doing?” She asks with a nervous sort of frown that tells me she instantly regrets it.
“Same thing I do every morning,” I say, aiming a smirk in her direction.
“You take off all your clothes and jump into the lake every morning?” She sounds skeptical and I can’t blame her.
“Yup… something I read not too long ago gave me the idea.” Swimming closer to the dock, I reach up to wrap a hand around her ankle and give it a tug. “Come on, Sunshine—lets work on that list.”
“It’s seven-thirty in the morning.” Reaching down, she slaps my hand away and I let go of her with a laugh .
“So?’ Pushing myself away from the dock, I swim a few strokes before I turn back around. “Who’s gonna see? I’ve been stuck on this mountain for the last two weeks and the only living thing I’ve seen up here besides you and my brother is a stray dog.” That’s not true. I saw her fiancé up here but since I’m actively pretending he doesn’t exist, I don’t mention him.
“Stray dog?” She sits up a little straighter and looks out across the lake. “You think you saw a stray dog up here?”
Lifting a hand, I push my wet hair off my forehead. “I know I saw a stray dog up here because I’ve been feeding it.”
“You’ve been feeding a stray dog…” A look moves across her face—have concern, half amusement. “What does it look like?”
“I dunno.” Still treading water, I wonder just how much she can actually see of me below the waterline. “Like a big grayish dog. Maybe a husky or a—”
“That’s not a dog, Went.” Leaning into the empty space between us she shakes her head. “That’s an American Gray wolf. You’ve been feeding a wild animal, that all things considered, would probably rather eat you than leftovers.”
“Oh…” Disappointed, I sigh. “That’s sucks. I always wanted a dog.” Putting it out of my mind, I give her a heavy sigh. “I can’t keep treading water al l day. Are we going to cross skinny-dipping off your list, or not?”
“I—” Frowning down at me, she shakes her head. “Can we start with something else?” she asks before nervously licking her lips. “Something that doesn’t require full nudity, straight out the gate?”
I laugh. Can’t help it. “Whatever you want, Sunshine.” Swimming to the side of the dock, I reach up to grab the wooden ladder. “Better close your eyes if you don’t want to see me all the way naked,” I say, a split second before I start to haul myself out of the water. Climbing the ladder, I crest the edge of the dock to find her looking right at me.
Fuck.
Stopping, still hidden by the dock from the waist down, I clear my throat. “Fair warning—I’m hard enough to hammer nails right now.” Letting my gaze drop to her mouth for a moment, I shake my head when she opens her mouth. “And before you ask, it is definitely not morning wood.”
For a second all we do is stare at each other.
“Went…” She whispers my name before running the tip of her tongue along the swell of her lower lip like she’s chasing the taste of it. “I—”
“Anything,” I remind her, hands gripped round the top rung of the ladder in an effort to keep from launching myself at her. “Anything you want—all you have to do is say it out loud and it’s yours. ”
Her mouth opens again, lips parted to say whatever she’s thinking out loud but she suddenly loses her nerve. Instead of telling me what she wants, she shakes her head, a frown crumpling her forehead. “What do you want?”
“Don’t ask me that, Sunshine.” I shake my head on a laugh. “Not right now.”
“Well, that’s what I want.” She gives me a dismissingly bratty shrug that makes my cock ache. “You said anything and that’s what I’m asking for. I want to know what—”
“You,” I tell her bluntly. “I want you. I want to get you naked, lay you out on this dock, and eat your pussy until my face is covered in your cum and you can’t remember your own fucking name.” Even though I know I’ve already said too much, taken it too far and probably fucked up any chance I have of ever seeing her again—much less touching her—I keep talking. “After you’ve come in my mouth about a dozen times, I want to lay flat on my back and watch you ride my cock. I want to look up and watch that pretty pink pussy of yours take every hard inch I give you. See the sunlight in your hair while you come all over me, screaming my name so fucking loud, everyone in this goddamn valley will know who’s fucking you… and then when you leave, I want to draw every second of it so I’ll never forget what you looked like the first ti me you came for me.”
Eyes wide, face pale, chest heaving slightly like she can’t catch her breath, Kaitlyn shakes her head on a nervous laugh. “You have no idea if my pussy is pretty.” When she says the word pussy , she blushes and it takes everything I have not to lunge at her, right here and now. “Or pink.”
“I’d bet my life that your pussy is the most beautiful pussy I’ve ever seen,” I tell her in a solemn tone. “Even if it’s green.”
This time when she laughs, the sound of it is genuine. Relieved that I’ve decided to make a joke out of it. Looking away from me she sighs. “It’s getting late.” Starting to push herself on to her feet, Kaitlyn aims a frown at the lake. “I should probably—”
Okay—we’re going to pretend I didn’t just tell her in excruciatingly filthy detail, exactly how I want to fuck her.
I can do that.
“No.” Pulling myself up the side of the ladder while she’s still looking away, I plant my feet on the dock. Even though she’s not looking directly at me, she must see something because her cheeks pink up and that tongue of hers slips out to skim along the inside of her lower lip again, the sight of it unlocking a whole other level of fantasies that involve Kaitlyn Barrett and what I want to do to her on this dock .
“No?” She says it to the water, throwing in a scowl for good measure. “What do you mean no ?”
“I mean no —you’re not leaving until we cross something off your list.” Turning away from her, I snap my sweats up off the sun-warmed wood and pull them on. Tying the drawstring, I look down at her. “Wait here,” I tell her. “I’ll be right back.”