Nothing Left to Lose (Guarded Hearts 1)

“Nope, not really. I mean, I’ve been out with girls but never seriously. You’ll be my first,” he joked, winking at me.

I raised one eyebrow knowingly. “And by never seriously, you mean you screw girls for fun before you screw them over,” I retorted.

He frowned, looking a little hurt. “I don’t screw girls over! I just never really met anyone I wanted to be with properly before, and even if I had met the right girl, I wouldn’t have had time, my training took up a lot of my time,” he protested, shrugging.

“You’re a player.”

“I am not!” he protested adamantly.

I nodded, giving him a sarcastic expression and laughed. “Whatever! Wanna swim?” I stood up, throwing my shades down onto his pile of clothes.

“Sure. Is the water warm?” he asked, sticking his foot in. He immediately gasped and jerked his foot out. “Holy shit! That’s freezing. We can’t swim in that,” he mumbled, shaking his foot to dry it.

“Oh quit being a baby, I thought you were a tough guy,” I teased.

“Yeah, I can fight and shoot bullets, but man, that is cold!” he whined like a little girl.

I pulled my T-shirt off over my head. When I looked back at him, he was staring at me, his mouth was slightly open, and his eyes were wide and raking over my body slowly. My stomach tightened into a knot when I realised he was checking me out. I wanted to pull the shirt back on and run, but there was something in his eyes that made me want to trust him; I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. So instead of putting the shirt back on, I folded it up deliberately slowly before dropping it on top of my jeans.

He hadn’t moved. It was like he was stuck on the spot, just staring at me. Taking advantage of his distraction, I stalked over to his side, smiling sweetly. When I got closer to him, my heart started to speed up fractionally, but it wasn’t from fear. When I was close enough, I raised my hands, putting them on his chest, making his full lips part and his eyes tighten. I grinned wickedly and shoved on his chest as hard as I could. Distracted, he lost his footing and stumbled backwards into the lake.

I burst out laughing as he broke the surface again, gasping and immediately swimming for the ladder. “Holy shit, that’s cold!” he rasped. I quickly moved to the ladder, sitting down and dangling my legs into the cold water so that he couldn’t get out. “Come on, let me out, it’s freezing!” he whined, half climbing out of the water so that we were at the same level.

“No way. You’re in now, you’ll get used to it in a minute or two,” I said confidently.

A wicked smile slipped onto his face as his arm snaked around my waist. I gasped, knowing too late what was happening. His body twisted and he threw me into the water. The cold shocked my body and made me stiffen automatically; I kicked for the top and gasped when my head broke the surface.

“Oh shit,” I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut, kicking my legs to stay afloat as the cold water attacked my system.

“Bet you want to get out now, huh?” he asked from behind me. I looked back at him; he was standing on the dock, his hair dripping. The sunlight kissed his wet skin, making him look sexy as hell.

“Oh come on, Pretty Boy, you afraid of a little cold water?” I jeered, swimming off.

I heard a splash and knew that he had dived back in; seconds later he grabbed my ankle. I laughed as I tried to carry on swimming, but he just pulled me back to him. I turned around and splashed him in the face, which just started a splashing war. It was fun and I hadn’t had fun for years. His easy smile and the beautiful surroundings made me feel more relaxed and unlike the uptight, frightened girl I had become. I felt younger somehow.

After a while, my teeth started to chatter noisily and my body was shivering uncontrollably. “Come on, let’s get back to the dock and get dried off before we get hypothermia,” he suggested, turning his back to me.

I quickly grabbed around his neck and wrapped my legs around his waist so I was on his back. “I’m too cold, you’ll have to carry me, tough guy,” I joked through my chattering teeth.

He laughed quietly but didn’t protest. As he swam for the dock I could feel his warmth seeping into my skin from everywhere our bodies touched. When we got to the dock, I climbed off his back and forced my shaking legs to climb the ladder. Picking up the two fluffy towels, I wrapped one around my body and turned, holding the other out towards him.

When I laid eyes on him, my stomach dropped into my toes. He was just pulling himself out of the lake. The water was running down his goosebump-covered body, and I secretly envisioned rubbing the towel all over him. Actually, screw the towel; I want to rub my hands all over him…

“Great idea, Anna, swimming in the lake. Next time let’s go to a pool,” he suggested, roughly rubbing his hand in his hair, flicking droplets of water everywhere.

I laughed awkwardly at the thoughts that were playing out inside my head. All of them involved me being about three feet closer to him. “You were the one who chose the lake. We do have a heated indoor swimming pool and a Jacuzzi. If you wanted that then you should have said,” I countered, grinning.

His mouth popped open in shock. “Damn it! You have a heated pool yet you’ve just made me swim in icy water?”

“Oh yeah, but where’s the romance in a heated pool, huh?” I joked.

He closed the distance between us and took his towel from my hand. A sexy smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he twisted it in his hands before looping it around the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him. I gasped and stiffened, shocked by the close proximity. My heart was beating way too fast as he leant in even closer, my stomach was clenching. It was one thing for my mind to play out a little fantasy of our bodies pressing together, but now that it was real and I wasn’t in control, I started to panic.