I watch him just as carefully as he’s observing me. I can’t understand this strange feeling I get when I’m near him. Feeling like he’s practically hypnotized me, I can’t find it in me to look away when he pulls the side of his bottom lip into his mouth for a few seconds, briefly sucking on it before setting it free again.Fuck.Can’t get enough of that. I’m so overwhelmed by him that I openly stare for another few seconds before jerking out of his hold. I grit out, “What do you think you’re doing?”
He wets his lips, ignoring my question completely. “You ready?”
My brows snap together, finally getting a grip on reality. “That’s debatable, but we don’t have time for a discussion, nor would you be the one I’d talk to.” I take off down the hall, not waiting for him, which I only realize is a mistake when I discover he’s perfectly content to follow behind me.
“Damn. Baby sis is lookin’ good from this angle. I don’t know why Duke is so bent out of shape. Or you for that matter, getting to stay in a place like this. Duke told us where you came from. You know, before your mama married into all that money. I wonder what she had to do to convince Tristan fucking Valentine that she was worth his while.”
I flip him off and keep going. I don’t have time to deal with what’s clearly a bid at flustering me when I’ve got somewhere to be. I reach the stairs and flee down them with no real idea where I’m going, though I do know I’m headed in the general direction of the pool at the back of the house.
Mason’s not far behind me, but it still makes my heart thud when he speaks up. “They’re waiting outside.”
Lights flicker through the windows up ahead, and I pick up my pace. At the door, Mason catches up to me, and before I can pull it open, he slaps a hand on it above my head, coming in close. I feel him behind me, his heat seeping into my body. It should make me panic to have him get so close, but for some reason, I allow it. My hands grip the door handle as I question him and hope my voice doesn’t betray any anxiousness. “What are you doing?”
Then I feel his hand on the back of my upper arm. My heart rate ratchets higher, and I try to jerk away from him.
He gives a rough chuckle at my attempt. He’s got me fully trapped between the door and his body. He whispers, his voice silky smooth, “I thought maybe you wouldn’t want them to see my fingerprints on you.”
I blink. “What?”
He leans in close, his body curved indecently around mine as he slides the pads of his fingers over my skin. “Or maybe you left them there on purpose?”
I can feel the beginnings of an erection pressed up against my ass, and I forcefully wrench air from my lungs, struggling to exhale the breath I’ve been holding. Then inhale. Exhale.Breathe, Lennon.“I didn’t know there was more on me.” I hesitate, unsure what the right move is. “A nice guy would help a girl out.”
“No oneeversaid I was nice,” he grits out. “In fact, I’m probably your worst nightmare.” He slides his hand over my arm a few times, making my entire body shiver, then rumbles low near my ear, “There. It’s gone. For now. But don’t let this one act of kindness fool you. I’m no hero.”
I hear his words, but I’m caught up in the way our bodies are curled together. It makes my mouth go completely dry. I know I should push him the fuck away. Run. But for whatever reason, I’m frozen in place.
Mason doesn’t seem to catch onto the confusion in my head. “Step aside, baby sis. I’ve got shit to do.” He maneuvers around me, opens the door, and walks out onto the patio without a backward glance.
Following behind, I grimace at the nickname he seems to have given me. I’m no one’s baby sister, that’s for damn sure. Mason, though, he’s an enigma, one that I probably can’t afford to figure out. I note with interest how easily he flips from moody darkness to asshole frat boy. It’s a bizarre thing to watch. I wonder if his friends notice… or if he really has any. Duke and Mason seem at odds, that’s for damn sure.
I take a deep breath, joining the small crowd gathered around the pool. The night air is warm, and most everyone has grabbed drinks and is lounging around either on patio furniture or at the edge of the pool with feet dangling in the water. I do notice that Quincy and Arik sit apart from the rest at a table where some sort of citronella candle burns. Bugs. Georgia’s got ’em.
I give the heads of the house a glance, but they aren’t currently paying attention to the grunts. Mason leans down and whispers something that I’m too far away to hear, but I know they’re talking about me because all at once all three pairs of eyes settle on me—piercing blue, glittering gold, and sinful chocolate.
“Any clue what they’ve got on tap for us tonight?”
I turn my head toward the guy with the curly brown hair. Arik. I shake my head at his inquisitive expression. “I don’t have any idea.”
He gives the other guy a look that is unmistakable. He doesn’t believe me.
“Think what you want. I’m probably more clueless about how this place runs than any of you. At least you were prepared to be here.”
Quincy slowly shakes his head, and Arik gives me a lazy shrug. “Whatever you say.”
Great. What the hell did I do to get on the bad side of the other pledges? Fuck them if they want to act like that.
While I’d been focused on these two, somehow I missed the rest of the brotherhood circling around us. Duke claps his hands together, getting our attention. “Line up at the side of the pool.”
As I stand, Bear grasps me by the back of the neck and pulls me close to whisper, “Come on. Over here.” He guides me directly where he wants me, but stays at my side for several more seconds, his warm hand gently massaging my skin like he’s seeking to calm me. Duke’s gaze sweeps the group before he continues. “We want to make sure you’re capable of running all sorts of errands for us. But tonight? We just want you torun.Each pledge runs ten laps around the house before you’re allowed to stop.”
I side-eye Arik and Quincy, who are too busy groaning to realize what else is about to happen.
Bear rather reluctantly leaves my side as he and Mason each select a pledge. Duke smirks, meeting my eyes as he steps up to me. “But to make things more interesting, in you go.”
I draw in a deep breath just as Duke’s hands connect with my shoulder blades, and he shoves me into the pool.
Shit.
