The Price Of Scandal(64)

When she finally stepped off the treadmill and moved to the free weights, I helped myself to a water and loaded up a bar.

“Wraps and clips are in there,” she said, nodding toward a set of gray metal lockers along one wall.

I helped myself and worked through a set of clean and jerks, pretending not to notice her gaze glued to my ass in the mirror. She could play it as cool as she wanted, but I knew last night had affected her. Just as it had me.

I stripped off my shirt and tossed it in the direction of the door.

Emily bobbled the hand weight, and it fell, knocking over her water bottle.

When our gazes met in the mirror, I winked, and she rolled her eyes.

“Okay. Fine. I feel awkward. Happy now?” she said, trading the weights for a mat.

I grinned. “Ecstatic.”

“I’m not used to… whatever this is.”

“Intimacy?” I prodded.

“Invasion,” she corrected.

I dropped my bar and laid another mat next to hers. She started a set of crunches. I followed suit.

“You could send me on my way,” I told her, puffing out a breath and I contracted my abs.

“I could,” she agreed, switching to V-ups.

I followed her lead. “But you don’t want to?”

“I’m not clear on what I want,” she corrected.

“Do you want more of last night?” My dick went instantly hard in my shorts, reveling in some of the more vivid details of the night before.

She collapsed back onto the mat. “I don’t know if I can survive more of last night,” she laughed weakly.

“I’m up for trying,” I offered heroically.

She slapped me playfully in the gut, making my cock twitch.

“It was good,” she said.

“Very good,” I agreed, rolling onto my side.

Those blue-gray eyes studied mine seriously. “I want more,” she admitted. “But I can’t tell if it’s a catastrophic idea or just very, very bad.”

“And won’t it be fun finding out?” Testing, I leaned over and brushed my lips against hers. Gentle. Teasing. When I pulled back, she sucked her lower lip into her mouth.

“I don’t have time for fun,” she admitted.

“You forget. I run your calendar. I’m happy to pencil in sex, naps, perhaps some naked happy hours.”

Her smile was slow as she trailed her fingers down over my chest to my stomach. “Your shirtlessness makes a compelling argument.”

“Let me take my shorts off,” I volunteered.

She laughed. A real laugh, and I felt a brightness in my chest.

“You should do that more often,” I told her.

“What? Sweat all over the floor?”

“Laugh.” I kissed her again, enjoying the salt and softness. She was spectacular.

“Steve,” she said, putting her hand on my chest.

“No. Derek.”

“No,” she laughed. “Steve. I have to feed Steve. He doesn’t like it when I’m late.”





Steve was eight feet of hissing alligator at the end of a long lagoon dock marked “Steve’s House” in the center of the enclave.

“So that’s really an alligator with a prosthetic leg,” I asked, observing the reptile as it opened its massive jaws.

“It is. One of the residents had his lab print a 3-D stump for him. Poor guy lost it to a boat propeller and kept swimming in circles. He couldn’t be released into the wild, so we let him stay,” Emily explained. “Ready, big guy?”

She held a rotisserie chicken over the railing. I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my gym shorts and snapped a picture.

“Has he ever eaten any residents?” I asked.

Steve hissed as if offended, and Emily tossed him the chicken.

He snapped it up with one prehistoric lunge. I got him mid-jump.

“We have a deal. He gets fed every day as long as he doesn’t snack on any Bluewater pets. He’s pretty chill.”

“I’ll have a mai tai, sweetheart!”

I whirled around at the flash of color, and feathers alighted on the dock’s railing.

“Hi, Frank,” Emily said wryly.

“Nice tattoo, shithead,” the fat parrot said.

“Am I hallucinating right now?” I asked, fascinated.

“I’m afraid not,” she told me. “Frank is our free-range jerk. His previous owner was an asshole. As you might have guessed.”

“And now he lives here in Bluewater?”

“His previous owner died—bar fight, surprise surprise—and Frank here escaped the animal rescue that came for him. Bit the animal control officer in the ear and took off. He ended up here when the landscaping started going in.”

“And you let him stay?”

“What are you lookin’ at, dickhead?” Frank asked Steve, bobbing his colorful head.

The alligator hissed his response.

“We haven’t figured out how to get rid of him,” she confessed.

“Nice tits!” Frank squawked before buzzing Steve and flying off toward the beach.

“You know, I’m never bored around you, love,” I told her.

She bumped my shoulder, and together we strolled down the meandering path that led back to her house. The greenery was lush in the early morning sun. Established palms created a natural canopy above us. Oleander, bougainvillea, and other glossy green plants formed a lush, jungle-like underbrush that made everything feel secluded. Despite the multi-million-dollar mansions tucked behind greenery and gates, Bluewater felt like a deserted paradise.