His eyes meet mine, dark and unreadable, and for a second, the air between us feels charged. A slow smile tugs at the corners of his mouth as he pushes the wet hair off his forehead.
“You’re not exactly as stealthy as you think,” he says, his voice low and teasing, carrying easily over the quiet lap of the water.
I huff a nervous laugh. “Well, stealth isn’t exactly my best feature.”
He smirks and swims closer, head above water, stopping right in front of me. “That’s true. I suppose you have… other talents.”
God, it’s sobloodyhot in here.
My heart stutters in my chest. I attempt to keep my composure, but the way he’s looking at me is making it hard to think straight.
“I suppose I do,” I say, a little breathlessly.
I try to hide the slight tremor in my hands by shifting my weight to one hip, but he’s still watching me, all that quiet power radiating from him. And then he does something that makes me feel like I’m melting into the concrete. His eyes slowly drag from my eyes down to my chest, and even farther down until he gets to my feet. And then, even slower this time, his eyes find mine again.
Fuck, he’s good.
“So? How’d the meeting go?”
I blink, his question pulling me back from the tension stretching between us. “I think it went well. The place is… a disaster. It needs more work than I thought, but I can’t seem to walk away from it.”
His head tilts slightly, and the faintest smirk tugs at his lips. “You’ve always liked a challenge.”
I laugh, the sound nervous but real. “Or I just don’t know when to quit.”
Kai swims closer, stopping just beneath me, his hands resting on the ledge. His eyes flick to mine, unreadable but warm.
“Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”
I swallow, heart skipping at the proximity. “Stubbornness isn’t always a virtue.”
“Sometimes it is,” he counters softly, tilting his head to the side like he’s studying me. “It’s the same part of you that refuses to let anyone decide who you should be.”
His words hit harder than I expect, the quiet truth settling over me. I shift my weight, letting out a shaky breath as I drop my gaze to the water rippling beneath him.
“You noticed that?” I murmur, the vulnerability creeping in uninvited.
“I notice a lot of things.” His voice is low, intimate in a way that makes it hard to hold his gaze. But I do.
A flicker of something tightens in my chest—acknowledgment, maybe. Or relief. Because I know he means it. In his own quiet way, Kai sees me. All the parts I keep hidden behind carefully curated smiles and small talk.
All the parts I only allow Julian access to.
Before I can respond, his hand drifts from the ledge to the top of my ankle, thumb brushing against the skin just above the collar of my boot. The simple touch sets every nerve on edge, but his eyes stay on mine, patient and expectant.
“You look warm,” he says, his voice low and tinted with faux concern. “Maybe you need to cool off?”
I blink, suddenly aware of how I’m starting to sweat from the heat. My breath hitches as his hands come to my ankles. The touch is light, almost teasing, but I know better than to mistake it for anything less than control.
“Maybe I do,” I tease, my thoughts scattering.
I’ve always known where this path leads, especially after last weekend.
Where time spent withhimleads.
But there’s something about this moment—about the way he’s looking at me, about how much I’ve allowed myself to want him—that makes it feel different.
More intense.
