“No,” I say, shaking my head. “Lora and I just got into a fight, is all.”
“Shit. Let me guess. She doesn’t like me.”
“She thinks what’s happening is weird and she’s scared for me.”
He cocks his head. “It is weird. But I’m guessing she doesn’t know the whole story.”
“I can’t tell her that.”
“No,” he says and sighs. “That’s for the best.”
“So what do I do?” I’m almost begging him, but I want a solution so badly it hurts.
“Come with me,” he says. “I was going to go swimming.”
I stare. “What?”
“Swimming. You know, in that huge indoor pool you guys have?”
I laugh a little. “I haven’t been in there in so long.”
“Well, it’s open and it’s nice. So come on, let’s go swim.”
“What about Tab?”
“She’s down in the kitchen getting a lesson from Dorian.”
“Really?”
“He’s shockingly good with her. Archie’s around and a few other staffers, so she’ll be taken care of for a while.”
I stare into his eyes. I want to kiss him so badly it hurts, but I settle for a nod. “I’ll change and meet you down there.”
“Good girl.” He squeezes my hand then walks off.
I watch him go and feel my pulse pick up in my chest.16MaxDelia steps into the pool room wearing this tight bikini and my cock goes half hard instantly.
Fucking hell, the girl is gorgeous, I don’t think she even realizes it yet. She’s wearing this simple sea-green thing with a ring between her breasts and at her hips. It’s tight and presses her breasts together just so. The color makes her pale skin look absolutely gorgeous, and I know I won’t be able to keep my hands off her.
She smiles at me as I take off my shirt. I love the way her eyes roam my body. “So, swimming,” she says.
“Yeah. You know how, right?”
“Of course.”
I walk over to her and she hesitates. I take the towel from her hand and toss it onto a chair. “Come on,” I say.
“I have a feeling you don’t just want to swim.”
I laugh and grab her hips. I kiss her neck. “You’re right. But let’s start with swimming first.”
She screams as I throw her into the pool.
“You… asshole!” She spits out water and glares at me. I bend over laughing at her and she starts to splash.
“Oh, bad idea,” I say and do a cannonball right next to her.
She laughs and swims away. I catch her and grab her. She struggles, splashes me, and pushes off. She swims again, this time moving fast. She’s got a nice forward stroke and I’m impressed as I try to keep up. I’m a city boy and only took lessons when I was a kid, so I’m not exactly the most graceful guy in the water, but I do okay.
I catch up with her in the shallow end. She screams and laughs as I grab her and lift her up. I throw her and she splashes me again. She comes at me, jumps at me, and I catch her and throw her into the water. She’s laughing so hard she snorts water from her nose, which only makes her laugh even more.
I grin and float on my back over to her. She looks at me then dunks me under water. I surface and grin. “Truce?”
“For now,” she says.
We float next to each other. She’s catching her breath and I smile, looking up at the semi-translucent ceiling. The sun’s out and shining, and the pool room is a comfortable temperature. The water’s warm and cozy and I can’t help but smile.
“Did you come in here much when you were younger?” I ask.
“Not really. I don’t think we appreciated much of this stuff when we were kids.”
“That’s always the way of it. You spend all your youth dreaming about being older, and then you wish you were young again when you’re old.”
“Mostly yeah,” she says and laughs. “Except I’m still young, old man.”
“Oh, ouch.” I splash her once and she splashes me right back. “The only pool we had was the one at the YMCA.”
“You grew up in the city?”
“Philly born and bred. I lived my whole life south of South Street. I thought my world was so big until I got older and realized I basically existed in a ten-block radius.”
“What was it like, living in a city?”
I shrug a little and the water shifts around me. “I don’t know, hard to say. I mean, it’s just what I did, you know? We spent a lot of time outside on the street, walking around, joking, laughing. There was some crime and stuff, but South Philly was pretty safe back then.”
“What about now?”
I grunt. “I like to think I helped make it a little safer when I put those mobster fucks behind bars.”
“I think you did,” she says. “I can’t imagine living in a place with the mafia.”