Free Bet on Me by Mia Hoddell

“Stop doing what, sweetheart? I’m just relaxing here like any other guest.”
    “You know exactly what you’ve been doing.”
    “I really don’t, so enlighten me.”
    I snatched the bottle from his grip. Figuring it was the only way to shut him up and get out of the situation, I made a spinning gesture with my finger. Cole swivelled on the seat and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs and exposing his back to me.
    I shook the bottle and squirted a trail along his spine. My initial idea was to get it over with as quickly as possible, but as my hands connected with the strong, sinewy muscles I couldn’t resist taking my time. Slowing my movements, my actions changed into more of a caress when a plan came to me.
    Wiping the excess cream on my leg, I straightened one finger and proceeded to write on his back. Removing a layer of cream in certain patches, I hoped to brand the name ‘Hazel’ on to his back. I finished my drawing with a little heart and pronounced myself done.
    Cole spun back to me and I handed him the bottle without a word as I began to leave.
    “Nice try, Gingernut, but not good enough.” Glancing over my shoulder, I watched Cole perform a perfect dive into the water. His body cut through the surface gracefully as he immediately broke out into long, powerful strokes, which pulled him towards the opposite end of the pool. When he gripped hold of the tiles, shook the water off, and beamed at me, I glowered in response. Biting my tongue to hold any frustrated retorts in, I spun swiftly to clock off. I’d show him how to really get under someone’s skin. I planned to change into my tiniest bikini and once I finished with him he would wish he’d never started the game.
     

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    Cole
     
    I knew my taunts were getting to Alaya. If she thought for one second I hadn’t noticed any of her frustrated rants to the girl behind the bar, she was wrong. I noticed everything she did, down to the tiny hair flick she performed before picking up every tray of drinks. It also meant I couldn’t miss the fact she’d disappeared. Her friend remained behind the bar, but I couldn’t find Alaya anywhere around the pool.
    For a second I wondered if I’d pushed her too far. Though I couldn’t help myself. I got a kick out of frustrating her and her anger only made her hotter. I liked the way she fought back and pretended I had no effect on her. Her flushed cheeks and clenched jaw told me otherwise.
    I was about to get up and head back to my room when she stepped out of the building. Unlike earlier, she had ditched her work clothes in favour of a navy camisole and denim skirt. She carried a pale yellow towel in one hand, and sunglasses and sun lotion in the other. Beneath the material of her top, the white strings of a bikini poked out. My eyes followed the thin strands up from her chest to where they tied at her neck and became lost in the tendrils of deep red hair falling around her shoulders.
    She circled around the pool towards me with a deliberate sway to her hips. Within seconds she stood beside me and threw her towel over the free lounger next to mine. Placing the rest of her belongings on the table, she turned her back on me to give me a close-up view of her perfect ass.
    When her hands dipped to the bottom of her shirt I couldn’t look away. She raised the material up over her skin slowly. Pulling it over her head, she shook out her hair and threw the top on to the lounger. Her hands lowered to the waistband of her skirt. The material loosened as she undid the front and then her hands were on her hips. My throat bobbed as I swallowed, my heart hammering in my chest.
    Carefully, with deliberate movements, she slid the denim over her skin to expose the tiniest bikini bottoms I’d ever seen hugging her curves like they were a second skin. Everything seemed to play out in slow motion as she inched the material lower, exposing a centimetre at a time.
    She allowed the material to drop and