Jill Shalvis - Animal Magnetism

Given how hard she worked at getting her degree at night, and how equally hard she’d hid it from everyone, she still did. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Lilah.”

“Are you kidding? I fell for the oldest trick in the book-the TA seduction. And the arrest and all that-I was so stupid.”

“Not stupid,” he said quietly, with rage seething through him for what had happened to her.

“Naïve then,” she said. “I wasn’t ready for the hurt. It surprised me and turned me off on the whole relationship thing.”

“What about Nick and Cruz and Ian?”

She shrugged. “Nick’s a good guy, but he’s got weird feet.”

Brady arched a brow. “Weird feet?”

“And he’s allergic to dogs and cats.”

He nodded. “And Cruz?”

“Hates junk food.”

“And Ian?”

“I never got to see his feet.”

Brady fought the urge to remove his boots and ask her if he had weird feet. “So you’ve been using excuses on why not to have a relationship. Got it. But why me?”

“Well, for starters, you’re not allergic to animals.” She smiled and kissed him. “That’s a point for you.”

“And I like junk food.” Another point.

“Yeah, that was a biggie.” Her smile faded as she got serious. “But mostly it’s because you were a complete stranger, someone new, someone who didn’t know me, someone who maybe in the end wouldn’t hurt me because I’d keep it light.” She smiled again but minus her usual wattage. “I was wrong about that, by the way.”

She was so strong and fierce and loyal and sweet and even though she’d made it perfectly clear all along that she didn’t want to keep him, that he was held in her heart but not owned, he’d let her inside him. So who was the stupid one here? Him.

Because even if she changed her mind about wanting a future, there was no future to be had. He was leaving. In a few days, as a matter of fact. Trying not to let the pain of that show, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and traced his finger down her soft cheek. “Lilah-”

“I don’t know if you know the rules of Uno,” she said, extricating herself from his lap and standing up. “But if you lose twice, there’s a penalty.” She looked down at him, eyes shiny but smiling.

She was trying to lighten the mood, and he was game. “What kind of penalty?”

She tugged on the halter tie of her dress and it slipped over her breasts, then her hips, and dropped to the ground, pooling at her feet, leaving her in nothing but those very tiny black panties.

“God bless the penalty,” he whispered reverently.

She hooked her thumbs in the strings at her hips and let those fall as well.

Brady tried to say something but found he couldn’t speak because his tongue had stuck to the roof of his mouth. He couldn’t breathe either. “You are so beautiful, Lilah.”

She smiled, and he felt a helpless one curve his mouth as well. “Come here,” he said.

Shaking her head, she turned away, giving him a heart-stopping view from the back as she took a few running steps and then a very neat dive into the water, vanishing beneath the surface.

W hen Lilah surfaced and shoved her sopping wet hair out of her face, she found Brady right where she’d left him, sitting on the edge of the water.

Watching her.

If she had to guess, she’d say that his expression was an intriguing mix of dark desires and warm affection. If her nipples hadn’t already been hard from the shock of the cold water, they’d have tightened simply from looking at him.

When he remained still, nothing but that unfathomable stare that was alternately turning her on and making her want to stick out her tongue at him, she dunked.

When she surfaced again, farther out this time, barely able to touch her feet down, he’d gotten to his feet.

Eyes narrowed.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

He hadn’t raised his voice. He knew the water carried sound with ease, as if he were standing right in front of her instead of thirty feet away. “Skinny-dipping.”

“By yourself?”

“Well,” she said, “I’d hoped to have company.”

“Your arm-”

“Doesn’t hurt.” Much.

“You’re under the influence,” he said.

She smiled. “Are you worried you’d be taking advantage of me?”

“Hell, no. I’m worried you’ll take advantage of me.”

She laughed and he smiled, and the knot that had been tight in her chest since she’d opened up to him far more than she’d ever intended to finally loosened.

He bent and untied his boots, then kicked them off, and her pulse kicked into gear. She’d wanted this, had hoped to goad him into it, but now that the moment was here, her belly quivered and heat bounced through all her good parts like a Ping-Pong ball.

When he straightened, he pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside. “How cold is it?”

“Like bathwater.”

“Liar.”

She smiled. “Didn’t want to scare you.”

“I don’t scare easily.”

“Uh-huh, and now who’s the liar?”

His eyes never left hers as he unbuttoned, unzipped, and shoved down his cargoes.

Her tongue was still hanging out of her mouth when he dove in. Choking back her laugh, she whirled and started swimming, hampered by her bad arm. She’d been raised out here and had swum almost as soon as she could walk, but her arm slowed her more than she’d planned on.

And sure enough, in less than five seconds Brady came up alongside of her, tempering his pace to match hers.

She flipped to her back and used her legs. And still he remained with her. She kept it up for a few more minutes, swimming as hard as she could, enjoying the exertion. After a quarter of a mile or so, she turned and headed back.

Brady beat her by a length.

Treading water about fifteen feet from where their clothes lay, she shoved her hair out of her face and breathed heavily, watching him.

He shook his head, sending water flying. His eyes were dark and hot. God, so hot. His breathing was labored, too, but not nearly as much as hers. “Cocky,” she complained.

“No, I’ve swum in waters much colder than this, and for much farther.”

“Hmm. So you’re a better swimmer than me.”

His smile was slow and sure as he dragged her in close against him, taking away her need to tread water as he did it for the both of them. “Maybe we could find an area where your talents exceed mine,” he said, all low and sexy.

“Hmm.”

“Lilah.”

His voice never failed to give her a secret little rush. She found that there were things that she desperately longed to hear from him, things she’d told herself she didn’t need, but she’d lied to herself.

She needed.

So damn much.

So she pushed even closer, craving the contact, craving the connection, because when they were together like this, his body said things to her that his voice never would. She ran her hands up his chest and let her legs drift around his waist. The contrast of the cold water lapping at her with the warmth of his hard body made her shiver.

“Are you cold?” he murmured.

“No.” She slid her hands into his hair and stroked his scalp with her fingernails. A sound of sheer male pleasure, nearly a purr really, escaped him, and his hands went to her ass, a cheek in each palm. He was hard against her belly. Moving them toward the shallower water, he dropped to his knees with her so that she was straddling his lap, the water at their chests. Her legs were spread by his thighs, his hands tightening on her as he stared into her face. “Every time I look at your mouth,” he said huskily, “I want it on me.”