He shifted uncomfortably on the bench seat. Between the heat in his blood and the hot water pulsing around him, he was teetering on the edge of a very sharp cliff. All because he had wanted to change up his life. Mature.
Well, maturity was seriously overrated.
“You just have to hang on for a couple of weeks,” he told himself in a whisper. “Lucas has an extra crew working on Nicole’s place. It’ll be done and she will be gone before you know it.”
Perfectly reasonable.
It just didn’t help him now.
Hell, nothing could. He was wound tight enough to give off sparks, for God’s sake. And there was no end in sight. Thoughts blew through his mind, spinning with the force of a tornado. Griffin wasn’t used to backing away from a beautiful woman. Turned out, it was damned uncomfortable.
He thunked the back of his head against the edge of the tub. “You could just leave the house to Nicole and her son and go to a hotel. Hell, screw the whole vacation thing and go back to work, too.”
But that thought hit him wrong. Not only would his twin never let him forget it if Griffin gave up early and went back to work, but leaving the house now would be like running away, and one thing a King never did was turn tail and run. They stood their ground, even when that ground was crumbling beneath their feet, dropping them into an abyss of misery and pain.
He snorted. “Do-it-the-hard-way-Kings. That’s us.”
“Talking to yourself again?”
He sat up straight, sending water sloshing against the rim of the hot tub. Turning his head, he watched as Nicole stepped out of the house and walked toward him. Immediately he wished he hadn’t looked at her at all.
Damn.
He’d known the woman had a great body, but admiring her curves under a layer of tank tops and shorts was different than seeing those same curves defined by a bikini small enough to barely merit being called a swimsuit.
In the wash of moonlight, her skin gleamed like warm honey and looked just as smooth. Her br**sts were perfect, high and full and just barely hidden by the triangles of neon-green material. Her belly was flat, her h*ps rounded, and as his eyes were drawn down to another scrap of fabric at the juncture of her thighs, his own body went hard as stone.
Oh, man. This was not a good thing.
“Wow,” she murmured, tipping her head and smiling at him. “Didn’t think I’d ever see Griffin King suddenly struck speechless.”
He scrubbed one hand across his face and shook his head. Damned if he’d give Nicole the upper hand in this. No woman had ever knocked him on his ass before, and he wasn’t about to let this be the first time. He couldn’t afford to have a clouded mind—especially not now. Though how he was supposed to think about anything but the body she was displaying, Griffin didn’t know.
“Yeah. Sorry. Didn’t hear you come out here.” He looked past her and frowned. “Where’s Connor?”
“In bed,” Nicole said and handed over a bottle of wine and two glasses that he hadn’t even noticed she was carrying.
Watch your step, Griffin, he warned himself.
That warning went right out the window as he watched her mount the steps and slide slowly into the tub. She settled on the bench seat right beside him and Griffin would have sworn that the water temperature went up another hundred degrees.
“Oh, that feels good.” Her voice was a purr of pleasure that sent jagged bolts of need shooting through his body.
Danger.
“What’re you doing?” Hell, she’d been alternately snarling at him and ignoring him for days. All of a sudden she showed up, barely dressed, carrying wine? Something was definitely up—besides him. Griffin shifted uncomfortably and inched a bit farther away from the temptation right beside him.
He wasn’t an idiot. If she was here, she had something more than relaxing in the hot tub in mind. And damned if he was going to let his hormones take control until he knew exactly what was running through her brain.
She turned her head and smiled at him. Something in his chest caught and held in response.
“Thought I’d see for myself just why you spend so much time in this hot tub.” One of the jets bubbled and frothed at her back and she sighed again. “I think I get it.”
As she arched into the jet, her br**sts rose above the surface of the water and he stifled a groan. “Great. Happy to help. Now…”
“I brought wine,” she said, and nodded toward the open bottle he held.
“Yeah, I see that, but—”
“I’ve got the baby monitor out here, too. Sitting on the table by the back door. If Connor needs me, I’ll hear him.” She shrugged and took the acrylic wineglasses from him, holding both out for him to fill. “So, how about you pour the wine and we’ll just sit and enjoy for a while?”
He could use a drink. On the other hand, he thought, drinking wine with a beautiful woman while in a hot tub was only going to lead in one direction.
He smiled to himself.
Damn, even when he knew better, he couldn’t resist the lure she was holding out in front of him.
“So?” Nicole waved both empty glasses. “Are you going to pour, or would you rather I leave?”
There was his out. He should grab it with both hands. Instead, he poured the wine. He wasn’t letting her go anywhere until he knew what she was up to. This whole setup—alone in the darkness, wine, hot tub—was an ambush, and a damned good one. If he slipped out of her clutches now, without knowing what was going on, she’d just trip him up somewhere else along the line. Better to be prepared.
Reaching over the edge of the tub, he set the bottle down on the top step, then settled back, took a long drink of the wine and speared her gaze with his. “So, you want to tell me what’s going on, Nicole?”
“Not sure what you mean,” she said, a small smile curving her mouth as she sipped at her wine.
Women. He was pretty sure they were born knowing just how to twist a man into knots. And not to knock his own gender, but Griffin was willing to admit, at least silently, that it wasn’t difficult for them at all. Show a man a beautiful woman and he was already on a slippery slope. Give him one of those sexy half smiles and his fall started picking up speed.
“You know just what I mean.” Her smile deepened, and she slid a glance at him from the corners of her eyes. She was definitely up to something. And in Griffin’s experience, when a woman had a plan, every man in the vicinity should be on guard. “You’ve never joined me out here before. Why now? Why the wine?”