Playboy Princes (Royals of Arbon Academy, #2)(76)

“Your grandfather,” I said softly. “He’s the reason this was a prison?”

He stopped swimming and lifted himself out of the water to stand straight. I was distracted by the fucking massive expanse of smooth, muscled skin, tattoos, and the way the water hugged and loved him, running in arcs all over his body.

Rafe smirked, no doubt noticing the way he affected me, and I quickly shrugged it off. He pushed in closer to me then, and whatever cool I’d managed to recover was lost in the hard body that was crowding mine.

“Did I ever tell you that red is my favorite color?” he murmured, lips scraping across my jaw, tongue following as he caressed my skin.

A choked, breathless laugh left me. “Would have guessed black.”

“Like my soul?” he asked, pulling back a little. “Or maybe my heart.”

He shifted, like he was going to move away, and before I could stop myself, my hand shot out, grabbing onto the waistband of his swim shorts. Why the fuck I’d decided to grab there, so close to his dick I could practically feel it under my hand, was beyond me. All I knew was that I needed him to stay.

“Your soul is not black,” I said harshly. “Or your heart. I’ve known evil people, Rafe. I’ve loved them and suffered for it. I know the difference between someone who is a moody bastard with a problem tolerating the weaknesses of others, and someone who is straight up dark.”

He kissed me. It was hard and fast, and I gasped, releasing his shorts as I was pulled firmly against his chest.

“Fuck,” I gasped again, unable to catch my breath. “What are you doing to me?”

He took my lower lip between his teeth, biting down almost hard enough to break the skin. “Anything I fucking want,” he replied. His tongue slammed into my mouth, taking what he wanted, just as he’d said, and I gave it willingly.

"Raffa!" A high pitched squeal echoed across the pool, and Rafe's pained groan made me laugh.

"Go away, Lucy!" he shouted back at his little sister, barely sparing her a glance before dipping his head to kiss me again. Silly boy, he should have known better.

"Ewwwwwww!" The little girl’s shriek sounded a whole lot closer now. "Are you and Violet kissing?" Her utter horror made me dissolve into giggles, and I sank into the water to escape her prying eyes.

Rafe, though, turned on his little sister with murderous rage. Fake murderous rage, I was pretty sure, but she didn't know that. The little princess let out a shrill scream, bolting when her big brother jumped out of the spring and chased after her.

It was cute as shit seeing him play with his siblings like that. But also, what a little cockblocker! I needed to keep my eye on young Lucy-Liun.

"Rafe gone to murder the munchkin?" Nolan asked with a laugh, swimming over to me with Mattie and Jordan not far behind. "That kid loves him so damn much."

I grinned. "I know. It's weird seeing this side of him."

"We all have our layers, New Girl," Nolan told me with a wink. "But you know what this party needs?"

"This is a party?" Mattie asked with sarcasm.

Nolan just rolled his eyes. "Anything can be a party with the right company, sister dear. And booze. It needs booze."

Mattie smiled broadly and nodded. "Hell yeah, it does."

"Well, come on then, womb mate. Let's get some drinks!" Nolan jerked his head in the direction of the palace. It wasn't like they needed to get out of the water or anything; there was a little service window where the water met the side of the palace that they could just swim right up to. Still, Mattie wrinkled her nose.

"You don't need my help, Noles. Just go order from one of the staff."

Nolan flicked an apologetic glance at Jordan, then grabbed Mattie by the shoulder. "Come and help me get drinks, Mattie," he repeated, speaking slowly and clearly as if she were hard of hearing. "Now, Mattie." He gave her shoulder a tug, and she rolled her eyes.

"You're acting really weird, Nolan," she grumbled, but swam away with him to get those ever-so-important drinks.

I snickered a laugh. "He really is acting weird," I commented to Jordan, agreeing with Mattie. "What's going on?"

He shrugged, gliding closer to me in the warm water. "I might have asked him to distract her for a few minutes."

My brow hitched, and butterflies started flapping around in my belly. "Oh yeah? And why's that?"

Taking my hand in his under the water, he swam leisurely backward, pulling me with him until we reached the far side of the springs, as far away from our friends as we could get while still inside the hot water.

"Because I’ve missed you, Violet," he finally replied in a soft voice. "All week I've been trying to steal a moment alone with you, but..." He trailed off with an exasperated sigh. I knew what he meant, though. Between sharing a room with Mattie, tea with Queen Jacinta, and games with the twins, alone time had been nonexistent.

"Hmm," I murmured, swimming closer to him and snuggling into the embrace of his arms. "Well, how long does it take for them to get drinks?"

"Not anywhere near long enough," he lamented, "but I'll take what I can get."

The way Jordan kissed me always seemed to turn me into a puddle of goo. The dance of his mouth over mine, the way he nibbled and caressed my lips and his hands roamed my body made me feel like the whole center of his universe. Like I was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Like he cared a hell of a lot more about me than he should for this casual thing we had going.