Free Red Hot Obsessions by Blair Babylon Page A

implying?”
    “Forgive me,” he says, his voice thick with amusement. “I didn’t mean to give offense. I was only suggesting that by this point in your life you’ve probably seen a naked man or two—unless I’m mistaken?”
    “I’m not a virgin,” I say, rolling my eyes. “But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with men just stripping off their clothes in front of me.” No, but I’m all right with spying on those same men while they pleasure themselves in their bedroom.
    Forget the ripe tomato—I’m probably as red as a fire truck right now.
    “Well,” says Calder behind me, “if you’re not comfortable with complete nudity, then maybe we can keep our undergarments on.”
    “I’m not swimming.”
    “Where’s your sense of adventure?” he says. “May I remind you that you broke onto my property? That I had to wrestle you down in the mud? Certainly you can’t be afraid of taking a little dip in the rain.”
    “I’m not afraid,” I say, spinning on him angrily. He’s closer than I thought—just in front of me now. There’s still a bit of amusement around the corners of his mouth, but his dark eyes bore into me. Butterflies dance in my stomach.
    “If you’re not afraid,” he says, his voice breathy and low, “then why are you resisting?”
    He’s so close that I can feel the heat radiating off his skin, so close that I can smell the musky scent of his soap—or is that only him? All it would take is the smallest of movements and I could brush my fingers against his bare stomach, learn if his skin is as soft and smooth and hot as I imagined last night.
    “I…” I don’t know what to say. I don’t have an excuse, not really, except for the general sense that this is a bad, bad idea.
    Oh, I’m in trouble.
    Calder must sense my indecision, because his eyes suddenly darken. Before I can react, he grabs me around the waist, just as he did on the lawn yesterday.
    “What the—” I cry as he hoists me off my feet. “What are you doing?”
    He doesn’t answer. Instead he turns and starts carrying me to the pool.
    “Put me down!” I cry, pissed that I fell for his trick a second time. “I swear, if you throw me—”
    Suddenly I’m flying through the air, Calder’s arms still around me. We crash into the pool, and water rushes all around us.
    He releases me when I start to struggle. I kick my way back up to the surface, gasping and coughing as I come up for air.
    “What the hell?” Louisa’s dress is tangled around my knees and my hair is clinging to my face. I flip the wet strands away from my eyes.
    Calder, meanwhile, is laughing his ass off.
    “Come on. It’s just a little water.”
    “I’m wearing your sister’s clothes,” I remind him. I felt bad enough about borrowing them in the first place.
    “I offered you an alternative,” he says, still far too pleased with himself.
    He stands up, and the water spills down his body. I try not to notice the way the drops slide down the grooves between his muscles. The corner of his mouth twists upward.
    “Ugh,” I say, before he can accuse me of checking him out again. “You’re despicable, you know that?” I turn and start trudging through the water toward the ladder.
    I hear sloshing as he moves after me.
    “Come on, Ms. Frazer,” he says. “Just a little—”
    “No!” I say, spinning back toward him. I move my hand as I do, trying to keep him back, and in the process I send a wave spraying up at him. I splash him square in the face. He stops, blinking and sputtering as the drops spill out of his eyes and mouth and nose.
    It takes a moment for him to recover, and when he does, he stares at me with astonishment.
    “Did you just splash me, Ms. Frazer?”
    “I… not on purpose. I—”
    He moves toward me, and I stumble back, instinctively throwing my arms out again and sending another surge of water at him.
    But he’s prepared this time, and his eyes light up devilishly.
    “Now it’s on,” he says, lunging for me.
    I