ME: Ha ha. Hot tub? Twenty minutes?
JACE: I’ll be waiting. {kissing face emoji}
I touch my lips as if he’d actually blown me a kiss. My perma-smile is still in place and my lips are sensitive to the touch. Another amazing side effect of being with Jace.
Rushing around to find a swimsuit and make myself presentable, I’m not surprised to find Jace waiting for me when I finally make it to the pool area. The girls are all lounging on the deck, soaking up the sun, while the guys are nowhere to be seen. Though I can hear them in the distance, shouting at each other.
“Hello, beautiful,” Jace greets me, taking my hand and helping me in the warm tub. The jets are already on, and as soon as I sink in the seat, I let out a little sigh. “That good?”
“Yes. Everything hurts but in a good way,” I say, closing my eyes and letting the pressure of the jets ease the ache in my muscles. “So, about—”
I cut myself off when I notice a cameraman standing behind Jace, the lens pointed directly at me. The last thing I want to do is give the world something to talk about, especially my sex life. Or to give Wren a reason to start texting me again. It’s only been two days, but I have high hopes Jace put a stop to his persistent and annoying communication.
Will he be there when I get back home? Probably.
I won’t be able to hide from him then, but for now, I’ll take the much-needed break.
“We can talk about it later,” Jace states, sliding into the seat across from me.
Neither of us says anything else as we sit and soak. My eyes are closed, and I’m enjoying the pressure from the jet at the base of my back when I feel something brush against my foot. Opening my eyes, I watch as Jace lifts my right foot out of the water and begins massaging. The cameraman is nowhere in sight, and I’m grateful the second Jace reaches my arch and I let out a moan.
“Keep doing that and I’m going to rub more than just your feet, Presley,” Jace warns, his voice filled with promise.
After spending ten minutes on my right foot, he repeats the process on my left. I do the best I can to keep my noises to a minimum, but by the time he’s finished, I’m so turned on I’m ready to strip him right here and now.
Damn the cameras.
Damn the girls who are still lounging across the pool.
Damn this stupid game.
“Stop looking at me like that,” he says as he lifts himself onto the edge of the hot tub before walking over to grab a towel.
I’m unable to avert my eyes as water drips from his firm body. A body I know better today than I did yesterday. A body that, when wrapped around me, makes me feel safe. When pressed against mine causes a fire to burn deep inside.
A fire I don’t want to extinguish. If anything, I want to stoke the flames and see how hot I can make it.
If last night was any indication, we could ignite an inferno and I’d still beg for more. More of him. More time alone. More of everything.
After wrapping a towel around his waist and securing it, Jace moves behind the bar and begins mixing both of us a drink. When he returns to the hot tub, he sits on the edge next to me, his feet dangling in the water, and hands me an electric-green drink that fades to more of a lime color the closer you get to the top of the glass. His is red and fades to pink. Both are bubbly, and I’m not sure if there’s alcohol in them or not, but if I had to guess, there is.
“What’s this?” I ask, hesitant to take a sip.
“Do you like green apple?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you’ll love this. I’ve been soaking vodka in Jolly Ranchers for a few days. It infuses the flavor of the Jolly Rancher into the vodka and then you mix it with lemon-lime soda.”
Taking a tentative sip, I’m surprised how much I like it. You can really taste the Jolly Rancher, but it still has a kick from the amount of vodka he put in there. “It’s great,” I say, setting my drink aside.
This is the kind of drink that could get me in trouble. It goes down easy, and if I drink too much too fast, I’ll be drunk before I start cooking for Drake tonight. I’m already not that great. Being intoxicated won’t help my case, and he’s expecting to be fed.
Jace offered to make me another drink an hour later when I finally took the last sip, but I declined. I needed to get cleaned up for tonight and start prepping for what should be the easiest dinner I have to make this week.
Drake’s favorite foods are all centered around breakfast, so that’s what I’m making him. An egg, spinach, and sausage frittata with hash browns, toast, and bacon. Easy peasy. I hope. The recipe I pulled for the frittata made it sound like even a beginner couldn’t screw it up.
“Want me to walk you back?” Jace asks as we exit the gate to the pool area.