Misbehaving(14)

I dropped my jeans and shirt over the closest lounge chair before turning back to see Jess watching me. The tip of her tongue peeked out as she licked the water off her bottom lip.

Hell. This might be worth the possible trouble we could get into. I saw her shiver and decided it was probably best that I dove on in. I needed some cold water at the moment.

When my head broke the surface, Jess was treading water and grinning. “I have to admit, I didn’t think you were gonna do it. I was afraid I might be swimming alone,” she said, then moved closer to me.

“I almost didn’t,” I told her honestly.

She tilted her head and a long lock of hair fell over her shoulder. “What changed your mind?”

I glanced down at the water. The pool lights illuminated her body. I could be a gentleman and lie, but I decided Jess wasn’t the kind of girl who wanted the proper response. She wanted the truth. “Those panties,” I replied.

Jess’s eyes went wide, and then she threw back her head and laughed. There was no teasing, coy act. It was refreshing. The girl knew she was sexy as hell and she liked it. She used it.

When she looked back at me, there was a wicked gleam in her eyes as she moved closer to me. The water was only six feet deep, so my feet were still touching the bottom with ease. I let her do this. She seemed to be sure of what she was doing, and I liked the show.

“Normally, I do this naked,” she said in a whisper.

“I wouldn’t have complained.”

She put her hands on my shoulders to hold her up. “You want me naked? Then finish undressing me.”

As tempting as that was, I wasn’t taking the bait. I had done the meaningless sex thing. One-night stands with groupies weren’t something new to me. I just didn’t want that with Jess. Something was off in her eyes. Sure, she was throwing herself at me with an open invitation, but there was this silent pleading there, almost as if she was begging me not to.

I reached up and touched her full bottom lip. “Not tonight.”

A small frown touched her lips as insecurity flashed in her eyes. She hadn’t been expecting that. “Changed your mind on slumming it?” she asked as she shoved away from me and swam back out to where she couldn’t touch the bottom.

I didn’t like the term “slumming it” or the way it had sounded coming out of her mouth. “Don’t sell yourself short, Jess,” I replied. The urge to go after her and jerk her into my arms so I could kiss that hurt look off her face was hard to resist.

She let out a hard laugh. “I don’t play games.”

Yeah, she did. Her life was one big playbook. “I don’t get a girl naked if I don’t intend to fuck her.”

Jess stopped treading water a second and filled her mouth up with water before spitting it out. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“What? The truth?”

She shook her head. “No. I just . . . You seem so clean-cut and polite. I didn’t expect you to actually get me naked, so that wasn’t a big surprise, but you said ‘fuck.’ ”

This time I laughed. She really had no idea. “Don’t forget who I am. Jax may be taken, but I never have been. I enjoy his life even more than he does.”

Jess was starting to say something when flashing red-and-blue lights lit up the darkness. She looked out toward the gate we had climbed to get in here, then back at me. “Time to run,” she said, before swimming to the edge of the pool and climbing out.

We only had time to grab our clothes before the cop at the gate pointed his flashlight on both our faces. “Jess, I thought we went over this,” the cop said in an annoyed tone before pulling out a set of keys and unlocking the gate.

I watched as Jess’s body language instantly changed. She dropped her clothes to her side and sauntered over to the cop as he stepped inside. “But I got hot, Walt, and I needed to cool down.”

The cop sighed and glanced over at me. “I bet you got hot. I told you that the next time you did this shit I was taking you in.”

Jess moved closer to him and tugged on the front of his shirt. “But then that wouldn’t be any fun. Momma’s working tonight, and I’ll be stuck there all wet until she comes to bail me out.”

It was working. The cop had forgotten my existence as he stared down at Jess in her wet undies. “You shouldn’t have been . . .”

“Swimming, I know. I’m sorry. I really am. But I got all sweaty dancing, and a nighttime swim sounded so good. I was a bad girl. You know I have weak moments.”

Her hand was now lying flat on his chest as he tugged on his collar.

“Who have you got with you?” he asked, still not looking away from her.