Second Chance Summer Read online

  “Just the way I like you.”

  With steam rising all around them, vanishing like tendrils of fog into the night above, she stared into his eyes and then at his mouth. “You’re having fun at my expense?”

  “It was my turn.”

  Her dress had suctioned itself to her skin. And being the palest of blues, it had also gone sheer. The effect was more erotic than if she’d been naked, and he couldn’t tear his eyes off of her. “Christ, Lily, you’re the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.” He nudged a wet spaghetti strap off her shoulder.

  “You dunked me,” she repeated, apparently still stuck on that thought.

  “Yeah. Felt good. You feel good.” He encouraged her other strap to fall as well.

  “What are you doing?”

  “We obviously need to do this more often so you aren’t confused,” he said, still bent to his task of getting her naked.

  She swiped water from her face. “What if my dress is dry clean only?”

  “I’ll apologize and buy you a new one.” With her still in his arms he turned and pinned her against the tile. He knew he had her when her eyes ran down his chest and abs and then into the swirling water for the rest of him and her breathing changed. He fought the urge to crush his mouth to hers, needing her to want him as badly as he wanted her.

  “I didn’t think we’d be doing this again,” she said.

  “Why?”

  “Because …” She paused and that’s when he knew. She was most definitely feeling the same as he was, and she was still scared. They weren’t just having fun, or exorcising ghosts. They weren’t just scratching an itch. It was more, far more, and he wanted her to say it. “Because what?” he asked, pressing a thigh between hers.

  “Because it wasn’t just sex,” she whispered, eyes heated. “Was it?”

  Eyes on hers, he slowly shook his head, getting even harder when she rocked into him. “No, it wasn’t.”

  “I’m not ready for what this is,” she said breathlessly.

  “What do you think this is?”

  She opened her mouth and then closed it, either unable or unwilling to define it.

  “Lily, whatever you think is happening between us, it’s under control,” he said, meaning to reassure her. But he knew that though he meant those words, the truth was he had no control over his feelings for her. He was in love, she was leaving, and he couldn’t do a damn thing about that.

  She stared at him for a long beat. “I won’t want to stop,” she whispered.

  Thank Christ, he thought as a groan shuddered through him. He lowered his head, skimming his lips up her throat, along her jaw to her ear, wanting her to do that thing where she hissed out a breath and clutched at him like he was the only anchor in a spinning world.

  And then she did exactly that.

  When he finally kissed her, she arched her wet, warm body harder into him, her breathing already labored, her hands sliding along his shoulders. One of her hands curled around the back of his neck, sinking her fingers into his hair as she slowly deepened the kiss, giving into him with the sexiest sigh of acquiescence he’d ever heard.

  And there in the moonlight, surrounded by a zillion stars and a beautiful, wet, warm woman, he leaned in close and watched her eyes dilate. Then he nibbled the curve where her neck met her shoulder, tracing his tongue over the spot as he ran his hands under the water and down her body, beneath her dress, sliding his palms slowly along her thighs, bringing the material of her skirt up with them.

  “Aidan—”

  “Hold this,” he murmured against her mouth when he had the dress up around her waist.

  When her hands reached down and gripped the dress, holding it up for him, he kissed her again and encouraged the bodice of the sundress to slip.

  She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her eyes were wide on his, her mouth open a little, like maybe she needed it that way just to breathe. Her expression said she wasn’t one hundred percent sure what he was up to.

  Which was just as well, since what he was up to was no good. He cupped her breasts and bent his head to them.

  She seemed to melt then, and he liked to think that if he didn’t have such a grip on her she’d have glided into a boneless heap at the bottom of the hot tub.

  But he did have her.

  He knew he always would.

  “What if someone comes?” she whispered.

  “No one’s coming but you.” And then he slid his hand between her legs, finding her hot and slick and ready. “God, Lily.”

  “Aidan—”

  “No one’s home tonight,” he promised. “By some miracle even Kenna’s out at a movie.”

  When she closed her eyes, swallowed hard and then moaned her pleasure, he knew he had her. He played his fingers over her and she sighed again, completely relaxing into his touch. Trusting. Pliant. “You want this,” he murmured.

  “I want you,” she agreed. “Always have.”

  It wasn’t a declaration of love, not even close, so why did it feel like one? He kissed her again, this kiss intense and lingering.

  She whispered against his lips soundlessly, but he heard her. Felt her.

  “Now. Please.”

  Yes. Now. He lifted her to the edge of the tub. Water splashed as he put hands on her thighs and gently nudged them wide, making himself at home in between.

  The only light came from the stars and crescent moon but it was enough to see clearly. She looked beautiful. He wanted this to last all night, but all his good intentions slipped when she whispered his name again, husky, needy. Hungry.

  Hungry for him, thank God.

  He kissed a slow trail down her body, lingering over her breasts. He took his time, rasping his work-roughened fingers over her quivering flesh, then his mouth as her hips began to rock, silently asking him for more, which he gladly gave. For long moments the only sounds were the night crickets, the gentle slosh of the water, and her soft sighs of pleasure that drove him wild. Her teeth were gritted, her lips parted, her breath coming in little gasps. “Aidan— I’m going to—”

  “Come,” he said against her. “I want to watch you.”

  She shuddered around him, and his own body vibrated with the need to let go right along with her. Lifting her in his arms, he turned and sank into the water, sitting with his back to the tile.

  Her face was pressed into the curve of his shoulder as she worked at catching her breath. He stroked her body, bringing her down slowly. When she stirred and kissed his throat, and then bit him lightly, he knew he was in trouble.

  And sure enough she shifted, humming her pleasure deep in her throat at finding him hard as a rock. Raising her face to his she straddled him—but he stopped her.

  “Not here,” he said, his voice nearly unrecognizable in its gravelly roughness, even to himself. He tried to hold her still, but that was an impossible feat and every single oscillation of those sexy hips threatened to get him off right then and there.

  “Why not?” she asked, cupping his face, running her mouth over his jaw, his ear, back to his mouth, his throat, everywhere she could reach. “You did me. Now I want to do you.”

  Yeah, she was going to be the death of him. “Condom,” he managed to grate out. “I don’t have one out here.”

  Her eyes met his. “I’m on the pill. I tried to tell you last time, but I could barely think much less speak. You don’t need a condom, Aidan. I’ve never not used one, but I trust you.”

  This last line was said just as the jets kicked off, so her words echoed louder than the others into the air and right into his heart.

  I trust you.

  How was he supposed to keep things light and easy and not scary for her when she said things like that to him? He had no idea what he’d done to inspire her trust, but he was grateful, and aroused as he’d ever been. He’d never had sex without a condom, either, had never even thought about it, but he didn’t want a condom with Lily. He wanted nothing between them.

  She kissed him this time as she raised up on he