From the foyer, the house’s design became apparent. It was long and narrow with large rooms stacked side-by-side so that each looked out at the canyon beyond. The entire back wall, in fact, was made of floor-to-ceiling windows. And the views were breathtaking. The kind of breathtaking that made me pause midstep so that I could look without the distraction of moving at the same time. From every direction, there was something to look at, the far side peering out over Franklin Canyon Park, the windows to the right revealing Fryman Canyon Park, and to the left, the Sunset Strip.
Then, when I acclimated to the grand scene, I saw another view that made my pulse speed up and my breathing uneven – the pool. More specifically, the man in red swim trunks sitting on a deck chair next to the pool.
And fuck if all the windows didn’t have perfect sightlines to every inch of the backyard.
“This way, Ms. Wayborn.” Anatolios stood ahead of me pointing not toward the yard, but toward an open door.
I raised a questioning brow.
“If you’d like to change.”
Change. Into a swimsuit. I hesitated.
It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable with nudity. I’d done modeling and bit parts on cable television that called for no clothing. Before that, with Amber, I’d done so many things beyond stripping that being naked had become no big deal.
My apprehension now came from another angle entirely. I’d be naked. With Reeve. In front of the butler and Anatolios, who’d probably get a hard-on over it, and whoever else was in the house, as well as anyone who might have binoculars in the houses across the canyon.
The whole scenario was an epic turn-on.
It was another check against me in the vulnerability category. If I did this, if I walked out there and let the scene unfold the way I so very much wanted it to, I wouldn’t be able to turn back. It would be like going down the rabbit hole. There would be no way I’d come out the other side the same.
But it wasn’t like I could change my mind about wearing a swimsuit – I hadn’t brought one with me at all. And really, turning back had stopped being an option a while ago now.
With revived determination, I turned down Anatolios’s offer. “Nope. I’m good, thank you.”
If this surprised him, he didn’t let on. He pointed to the glass door ahead of us. “Right that way then.”
He wasn’t accompanying me any farther, which meant he’d been told to stay behind. Been told to leave Reeve and me alone.
My stomach fluttered. Oh, God. I was a goner.
It felt like miles from the door to where Reeve sat in his chair, reading from a tablet of some sort. Nervousness spun through me, dizzying me. Keeping me frozen in place.
Then, he looked up. Looked right at me as though he sensed I was there.
It was all the invitation I needed. Focused on him, the walk became easy. He wore sunglasses, but the tilt of his head, the stillness of him told me his eyes were glued to me as I made my way toward him. He was an incubus, calling me with a seduction song so well known to me that I didn’t have to hear it to respond. My body hummed with it naturally. The air vibrated with the tune, the rhythm of it growing stronger with each step I took.
When I reached him, I realized I’d been smiling since I walked out of the house.
“You made it,” he said, with a smile of his own. The radiance of it competed for attention with the bronze, toned planes of his chest. I wanted to touch them, follow the dips and ridges with my fingertips. Trace them with my tongue.
But I also wanted to keep staring at those lips.
“Did you have any problem finding me? I realized too late that I should have sent a car.”
“No. It was fine. No problem at all.” I didn’t add that I would have turned him down if he’d offered. I preferred the freedom my own vehicle gave me.
He must have read between the lines. “You wouldn’t have accepted it anyway. I get that, I suppose. You could have come in earlier, though. Instead of parking down the street.”
A blush crawled up my neck. “I suppose I should have expected that.” But the embarrassment quickly passed when I realized he’d been waiting for me. Watching for me. It should have been irritating to have my movements so scrutinized. Instead, it made me ridiculously thrilled.
“Probably.” He never stopped looking at me. I didn’t want him to. I couldn’t stop looking at him either, both of us with grins that bordered on goofy.
It was that damn kiss, I realized. It had moved us from flirtation to action. From the place where we just imagined what it would be like to give in to our attraction to a place where we knew. It turned something that had only existed in our heads into something that lived, something that burned and throbbed in our sense memory.
Or maybe it was just me. It would be best if it were. Because the only thing worse than falling under Reeve’s spell would be me believing that he’d fallen under mine as well.
I forced myself to look away. “It’s beautiful here. Your house. The view. I bet you never get tired of looking at it.”
He didn’t move his focus from me. “I haven’t so far.”
It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean anything. Of course he’d like looking at me. He’d already admitted to wanting to fuck me, which he wouldn’t want to do if he didn’t find my appearance pleasing. And anyway, this was the type of line I’d heard before and never thought twice about. So why when Reeve said it? Why, of all the men I’d been with – all the rich, attractive, adoring men – why was this guy the one who made me weak in the knees?