“I guess not.” Hunter moved over to the next pool chair and squeezed sunscreen into his hand. I tried not to sigh happily as he touched my upper back, rubbing the warm liquid all over my skin. His motions were stiff and mechanical, like he was trying very hard to pretend he wasn’t enjoying it just as much as I was. I could sense that he wanted to do more than just rub lotion into me. Hulking over me from behind, I could feel the body heat coming off him in waves. It was as hot as the sun above, and I imagined how he would feel ontopof me rather than just an inch away.
But with my brother watching, the inch separating us might as well have been a mile.
Hunter leaned closer and whispered, “This feels familiar.”
I smiled while facing away from him and whispered back, “Are you talking about what we did last night? Or putting lotion on my back five years ago?”
“The latter,” he replied under his breath. “But now you’ve got me thinking about last night again…”
“I should take a picture,” Brad teased. “I could threaten to send it to Carmen unless you hook me up with a sweet new car.”
“I don’t respond well to blackmail,” Hunter said with a laugh.
“Is she going to come visit while you’re here?” Brad asked.
Hunter finished my back and pulled away. “Nah, probably not.”
Brad made atsk tsksound. “That’s too bad. I’d love to meet the girl who got Hunter Cade to finally settle down. I’m serious about getting a wedding invite. We’d fly out to Portland to be there. You’d come, wouldn’t you, Erica?”
“Sure I would,” I said while laying flat on my belly. I was turned to my left, so I could see both of them. Hunter looked tense.
“We haven’t really talked about wedding plans,” he said.
Brad scoffed. “You two have been engaged for over a year, right? What’s the hold up?”
I saw the indecision on Hunter’s handsome face. He didn’t know what to say. Healmostlooked like he wanted to tell Brad the truth about it.
Don’t, I thought.If you tell him now, he will ask why you lied, and it will unravel the entire thing.
“We’re, uh…” Hunter said.
Brad’s phone rang. “Shit. Hold on. Hello? Yes, this is Brad Porter. Yep, we took care of them last night. Nope, I didn’t mind getting on the call that late. I’m happy to have the opportunity. While we’re talking about it, I have room on my plate for more sales accounts, if you can send them my way…”
Hunter and I shared a look of relief that the line of questioning had ended.
I sunbathed for another hour, flipping over to get some sun on my chest again. Hunter stretched, climbed out of his chair, and then walked to the edge of the pool. He left his feet effortlessly, arcing into a hands-first dive into the deep end. A few seconds later he broke the surface, swimming back to the pool ladder directly in front of me.
I was grateful to be wearing sunglasses as he climbed the ladder, because it meant I could gawk at him secretly. Water ran over the topography of his gorgeous body, rivulets in the valleys of his well-defined muscle. His swim trunks stuck wetly to his crotch, revealing the long outline of his penis. Hunter adjusted himself while the water pooled at his feet, then returned to his chair.
He gave me a small smile, like he knew that he had just given me a show.He probably did that intentionally,I thought.
“Hey,” Brad suddenly said. “Don’t you need to go to work?”
I glanced at my watch. It was two-thirty. “Crap. Thanks for the reminder.”
Time to get even.
I got up from the chair and bent over to gather my things, making sure that Hunter got a long view of my ass. I slowly stood up, feeling like a stripper. His gaze was obscured by his sunglasses, but I felt his gaze as I walked across the patio and inside.
Think about that while I’m at work.
I hurried upstairs and got in the shower. While I scrubbed the greasy lotion off my skin, I avoided getting my hair wet because I didn’t have the time to go through the process of washing, drying, and then straightening it before work. I was already cutting things close.
I didn’t hear the bathroom door open, so I jumped and yelped when a silhouette passed across the glass wall of the shower. The door opened and Hunter’s face appeared, smiling and pressing a finger to his lips. He was already nude.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
He grinned. “You.”