Hydromancist (Seven Forbidden Arts 4)

Thoroughly wet, she rushed from the water and hurried to her unit. She almost bumped into Tim halfway down the path.

His eyes roamed over her naked body, and despite her mental reasons for disliking and distrusting him, her body still reacted to the heat in his stare when it fixed on her breasts.

“Maya,” he said in a forbidding tone, “what the fuck are you doing?”

She cocked her hip. “Went for a swim. The question is, what are you doing?”

From the bulge in his pants, she gathered he recovered fast. Could probably do the deed several times a night. If that thought didn’t get her wet, the size of him did, but she forced the image of Felicity in his lap into her mind. That sure was a lust cooler.

Tim’s nostrils flared. His gaze shifted and landed on the part of her body that ached most for his touch, a traitorous nub that throbbed under his inspection. When their eyes locked again, his shone with something different that looked a lot like possessiveness.

He jerked off his shirt, not bothering to unbutton it. In silent instruction, he lifted her arms, and slipped it over her head.

“You can’t do that, do you hear me?” he said.

“Do what?”

His eyes narrowed a fraction. “Don’t play games with me. You can’t swim naked. Especially not alone at night.”

“I can swim as I please.”

“Lee is just behind me, dammit!”

She arched a brow. “And?”

He grabbed her arm and led her down the path, back to the tree house. “I don’t share—in any way.”

Oh, he was a contradicting, hypocritical bastard. That was rich coming from someone who’d just screwed a girl near unconscious.

She freed her arm. “How was your urgent business meeting?”

“Satisfying.”

She almost made a snarky comment, but bit her tongue. Lee stood at the bottom of the ladder to her house, looking everywhere but at her.

“Stay here,” Tim said to Lee.

The deeper meaning in his words wasn’t lost on her. He was instructing his bodyguard to keep watch.

Once inside the house, he pushed her ahead of him over the bridge to the bedroom and closed the door.

She turned to face him, her arms crossed. “Now what? Do I get a spanking for swimming naked?”

“Don’t test me, Maya. I like the idea way too much.”

“Why are you here?”

“We have unfinished business.”

“What unfinished business?”

His chiseled chest rippled as he closed the single step between them. “This,” he said, cupping her sex.

She took a step back to escape the touch.

“I told you I’d finish what I started earlier tonight,” he said.

“I thought you said no sex.”

“This doesn’t require sex.” He shot her a disarming look. “Well, not sex with my cock.”

Scanning the room, his gaze settled on the chair facing the writing desk. He hooked his shoe under the foot-bar and pulled it close. “Sit.”

She regarded him with distrust. “Why?”

“Don’t you know?”

She lifted her chin. “I have no intention of sleeping with you.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “What changed between dinner and now?”

“What makes you think anything changed?”

“Come on, Maya. I know I turned you on. Earlier, you were quite willing to ask.” His smile was demonic. “Maybe even to beg. Why the sudden animosity?”

His eyes had turned wary. She’d better be careful, or Tim would sniff a rat.

“Nothing,” she said.

“Then sit.”

“No sex?”

“No sex.”

Since this wasn’t going to involve the actual act of fornication, she may as well play his game. She sat down grudgingly.

“Good girl. Now spread your legs.”

The command had heat pool in her belly. She contemplated the instruction. Nothing good could come of this. If she gave in, would Tim hold power over her, or would she have a better hold on him? The more she rationalized why she shouldn’t do as he demanded, the more her traitorous body begged for his touch. If she appeased him, it would be because it was in the best interest of getting her job done, but even as the thought developed, she recognized the justification for what it was. All the while, he watched her, the determined set of his jaw telling her he wouldn’t accept defiance. She didn’t like his lies or his criminal business, but this was purely physical. Nothing more. It couldn’t hurt to give in. Just this once.

Darren snickered somewhere in the back of her mind, but she did exactly what Darren had always told her not to do. She spread her legs for Tim. When she did, her desire was pushed higher by the lust that shone in his eyes. They widened a fraction, and a muscle ticked underneath his eye.

“You’re beautiful, Maya.” Tim crouched between her legs. “I knew you’d be shaved, just how I like it.” He drew a finger through her folds while he fixed his attention on her face. “Is this where it aches?”

An involuntary whimper fell from her lips.

“You like this?” He repeated the pattern, running the tip of his finger up and down her slit.