Ben was a people person, generous and sincere, and everyone loved him. For some strange reason she felt a sense of pride unfurl inside her.
A knock on the girl’s changing room made her gasp. “You ready yet or are you waiting on the full thirty minutes? ‘Cause I can tell you that passed ten minutes ago and we’ve only got the pool to ourselves for another hour and a half.”
“Just a sec.” Pulling gray shorts on over her swim bottoms, Willow paused, because not only had Ben somehow convinced the pool cleaner to hold off until eight, Ben had the code and keys to get into the school. And the keys weren’t just a borrowed set. They’d been on his key chain, right next to his truck and several other keys.
Just what was Ben to the people of Woodcliff?
Tucking her towel around her, she opened the door to ask Ben just that, when all the spit dried up in her mouth and she gaped.
Hello, chest.
Ben’s bare, muscled, delicious chest greeted her on the other side of the door. “You going swimming in the towel?”
Dragging her dazed eyes from his chest took all her might, yet the male satisfaction in his eyes at her reaction brought her back to sanity. The conceited oaf knew what the sight of all that hard yummy flesh was doing to her brain and was supremely pleased. “Ah. Funny.” She walked around him to the shallow end of the pool.
“I’m surprised the school didn’t do more with this area.” Keeping her back to him while speaking was much easier. “You know. Liven it up for the kids.”
Willow felt the heat of his body seep into hers as he came up behind her, his scent, clean, masculine and pure Ben, drugging her senses and making her belly pitch and tremble.
Maybe turning her back on him hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
“What do you suggest?” His voice was soft in her ear, his hands gentle yet sure as he reached around to loosen her towel. Rough fingertips brushed the top swell of her breasts.
A shiver coursed through her, but she forged on, determined not to turn around and jump his bones at the slightest provocation. She looked at the drab wall. “I’d definitely paint the walls, maybe a couple of murals depicting sea creatures or a scene from The Little Mermaid.”
There. That didn’t sound too breathy. Did it?
“I like that idea. Why the shorts, Will?” His hands rested lightly on her hips.
She shifted, placing on foot on top of the other. “I’m still a bit self-conscience about my scar. Not much I can do about the one on my knee unless I wear sweats in the pool.”
His hands tightened for just a moment before he murmured against her neck, “It’s just me.” He slipped his fingers under the waistband and started sliding them down her legs.
She let him.
It seemed to take him a really long time to divest her of her shorts, his journey back up taking even longer. His hands wrapped around her calves. She felt his warm breath against her skin, then the soft press of his lips at the back of each knee, followed by another kiss at her hip, right over her scar.
Stunned, throat thick at the sensual caress, she watched wide-eyed as he stepped around her and into the pool. “Phase Two of Pleasing Willow.” He lifted a hand, one brow arched invitingly over smiling eyes that matched the curve of his lips. “Join me, won’t you?”
She didn’t even hesitate. She simply took his hand and stepped in.
Chapter Fourteen
Swimming came easily to Willow, and when Ben didn’t press her about her injuries or try to kiss her, she began to relax.
Okay. That was a lie. She couldn’t completely relax, not while painfully aware as she was of Ben’s long, muscled arms and thighs flashing in and out of the water as he swam next to her. She was glad to be in the pool, if for no other reason than the water hid the drool that was no doubt falling from her lips whenever she glanced his way.
Stupid drool.
She swam back toward the shallow end, making her way to the edge where Ben had dropped his towel. She wiped her face with one corner then turned back to watch Ben glide effortlessly through the water.
He must have sensed her focus because he stopped mid-stride, treading water. Their eyes met.
“Come here.”
She resisted the demand.
“It’s too deep for me to stand.”
He smiled, and she wouldn’t have been surprised to see steam rise from the pool. “Then I’ll come to you.”
Muscled arms swept wide, propelling his body through the water until he stood, droplets running in tantalizing rivulets down his sculpted body. By the flare of heat in his eyes, she felt he was stalking her, in slow, steady steps, the water no obstacle to his determined advance.
Some female part of her screamed to retreat and she took a step back, her heart beating heavily against her ribs, her blood turning molten.