I rolled my eyes, setting my computer aside before it caught the pool water that dripped from Kane’s body. A body that put his younger self to shame.
His shoulders bulged in a way they hadn’t when he was younger. Any puppy fat his teenage self might have held gone in the wake of tight skin stretched over tighter muscles. His hipbones were a prominent start to the slope of his Adonis belt, dipping out of view behind low-slung swim shorts. The bulge behind the shorts I remembered all too well, and with a breath that let me know that all the air had mysteriously disappeared from the room, I forced my eyes back up over the slick, wet flesh to meet dark eyes. A long moment passed before Kane dropped into the seat beside me.
“You’re early. I thought we were meeting at midday to do the cake and ass party… without the cake.”
“Thefunctionis at twelve, yes. I was just here to get started on the article. You know… soak up the atmosphere for inspiration.”
I sneezed, rubbing my nose in a completely unattractive way to dispel the chlorine smell. “So really, this has very little to do with you. Go on, and I’ll see you later.” I flapped my hand in his general direction and reached for my laptop again.
“There’s a cafe behind the conference room, away from the chlorine. Let me grab a quick shower, and we’ll get a coffee.”
“I don’t need—”
“Clearly, you’re having issues with the chlorine. I know you well enough to know you’re too stubborn to move now that I’ve mentioned it. The story is about me, so my being there would be helpful for all the words you’re currently writing. And the one thing we actually agree on is that it’s always time for coffee. I’ll be back in a minute.” Kane strode away without a backward glance. I wasn’t even mad I’d lost that one for two reasons. He was right about the coffee. And he looked almost as good from the back as he did from the front with no chance of me getting caught ogling him.
Kane
I hadevery intention of rushing through my shower, well aware that the longer Darcy had to think, the better the chances she would have come up with a new argument to keep me at arm’s length. I didn’t want to be at arm’s length.
Especially after the dream the other night.
I was making good time as I shampooed my hair and washed my face. Efficiency was key, and I was keeping focus. Right up until I began to soap down my body.
It was the look of irritation on Darcy’s face that did it. In that instant, I hadn’t been an adult male looking at the one that got away; I had been the teenage boy who finally found an opening to talk to his long-time crush. The conversation had gone much the same way, too. The memory opened the floodgates and other moments came barreling through. Our first kiss. The first time we slept together, at the back of the property Evie’s parents owned. My hands, slick with soap became Darcy’s smaller ones in my mind as they wandered over my skin. The hurried movements slowing into something more sensual, more intimate. There were so many things I wished Darcy and I’d had the time to explore in our too short high school fling. So many firsts that I had experienced with faceless women, wishing they had blonde hair and hazel eyes, and an attitude far bigger than their small body.
Letting the water flow over my back and shoulders, I braced a forearm against the tiled wall as my other hand swept under my balls, giving them a hard tug before I let my touch go where I needed it. The slickness of the soap, the warmth of the water, all of it lent itself to a fantasy where Darcy wasn’t waiting outside for me. She was striding through the locker room, uncaring if there were others present. The determination wasn’t something I needed to try too hard to imagine, it was a part of her personality. I pictured her throwing back the shower curtain. The way she would let her eyes roam over me. In this fantasy, she didn’t walk away. Because it was all in my mind, I saw her deciding I was worthy. Picking me. Phantom Darcy stepped into the shower, the water causing her white blouse to stick to her in a way that made my cock jerk hard in my fist. I leaned in toward her for a kiss, only to have her sink to her knees before me. The image of her at my feet was so vivid, I could see water droplets caught in her thick eyelashes, feel her warm breath so close to where I wanted her. As the hypothetical scenario continued, she took me into her mouth, and I wished like hell I could tangle my fingers through her hair and guide her movements. Instead, I fisted myself in a punishing grip and focused harder on the details. Hazel eyes looking up through the water that soaked her to the skin. Berry-colored lips stretched wide to take all of me into her. Biting my bicep hard to keep from shouting, I came in a rush, so hard my knees almost gave way.
“Fuck,” I hissed, breathing like I’d just finished a two-hundred-meter sprint. Glancing around the empty stall, the satisfaction drained faster than the shower water that was feeling colder than it had a second before. Darcy was waiting for me, and I was here fucking my fist.
What the hell was wrong with me?
In record time, I dried and dressed, pausing for a moment to glance in the mirror over the basins and run a hand over my jaw. Clean-shaven would probably make a better impression with the team, but I’d seen the way Darcy looked at me with my beard. She liked the rugged look.
Under the same assumption, I left my hair as it lay and high-tailed it out to the swimming area. Shockingly, Darcy was waiting for me by the ramp. Arms crossed over her chest, and tapping her foot, I could imagine her checking her watch, if she’d had one. A glance at her shirt caused a flashback to what I’d done in the shower, and to avoid blushing like the school boy I had been, I smirked.
At least I could file coffee away as an effective bribery tool for the future.
I needed all the help I could get.
With a wave of the hand that I hoped came off as gallant instead of sarcastic, which seemed to be Darcy’s default interpretation, we headed for the indoor/outdoor cafe attached to the center.
The weather was mild enough that I suggested we sit outside, away from the noise and the chlorine that seemed to be affecting her so badly. She sneezed twice on the walk, and I heard her again while I ordered our drinks.
Sliding into the seat opposite her, I delivered her caffeine and clasped my hands on the table in front of me. “Where should we start? My favorite color?”
She looked up at me sharply, as though I might have forgotten our first interview. The start of everything. And the end, I guessed, seeing as she disappeared as soon as it was done. I shook the thought away, refusing to get maudlin about things that had happened so long ago that they were ancient history. Really.
The shower incident didn’t count.
Darcy raised an eyebrow at me, and I realized I had completely checked out on her.
“Sorry, what?”
She huffed in a characteristic, but endearing, show of attitude.
“What’s your favorite color, then?”
Looked like I was alone on the trip down memory lane.
