Ella’s eyes stayed on Ax’s. She loved the disbelief, hunger, and glee on his face. The girls were right. They needed to push the men sometimes to prevent them from becoming bored.
Fury grabbed a towel. “Amelia, come out. We need to have a talk.”
Ella watched Amelia bite her lip and shake her head and then saw the look of excitement on Fury’s.
“We haven’t played very long,” Amelia said.
“It’s not exactly the type of weather to swim, girls,” Traeger said. “I can tell you’re all starting to shiver.”
“That’s only because we’re standing still. If you’d let us get back to the game, we’d feel better,” Tara said.
Traeger’s eyes widened and then narrowed before a grin grew on his face. The smile alone was enough to make Ella nervous. The men asked their own woman to come out, and everyone shook their heads.
Ella grabbed onto Lindsey’s hand. “Is this what we wanted to happen?” she whispered.
Lindsey nodded and grinned. “Exactly.”
Ella went back to staring at Ax. His boots and clothes came off quickly. One by one, the men dove into the pool and headed straight for their own women.
Ella heard several women gasp and cry out, but she didn’t take her gaze off Ax. Her heart tripped in her chest when he grinned at her before coming for her. For some reason, she decided to run. Maybe it was instinct or self-preservation, she didn’t know. A massive arm came around her waist and pulled her up against a hard, hot chest.
“Where do you think you’re going, babe?” Ax asked against her ear.
Ella swallowed. This was the first time she’d had him upset with her, making her nervous.
“Um … I…”
“You started this, and now I’m going to finish it.”
He pressed her up against the wall, gripped her face, and took her lips in a hot kiss that almost scorched her. It went on and on until she withered against him. Ella was vaguely aware of the different sounds the women were making and the fact they had an audience, but all she cared about was Ax.
“We were just playing,” she said.
He shook his head slowly and grinned. “I think you were trying to get my attention.”
“But … um…”
“I’d watch what I say because you’re already in trouble,” he said.
She couldn’t believe how hot she got from his deep, threatening voice.
It seemed operation rattle worked. Maybe it worked too well. It was too late to pull back now.
Chapter Nineteen
Ella gave herself over to him to do what he pleased. It wasn’t hard because she guessed it was the same things she craved.
“Let’s get you upstairs before you freeze to death,” Ax said.
He picked her up and carried her out of the pool. He stopped to grab a towel and wrapped it around her. She vaguely noticed that the other women were gone, and the audience of bikers was still there but starting to clear out.
Her heartbeat thundered in her chest the closer they got to their room. She knew Ax would never hurt her deep down, but the unknown was scaring her at the moment.
He locked the door behind them and then set her on the bed.
“Ax, my hair is wet.”
“Yeah, so.”