Page 55 of Worth Every Penny
Mum’s still wearing her floral summer dress, but Curtis has shed all his clothes except a pair of tiny red Speedos. He’s tanned all over, suggesting he’s regularly exposing himself in his skimpy attire.
His hands skim up Mum’s legs and dance over her upper arms. Long fingers slide around her neck as he pulls her towards him. My stomach clenches and a little bubble of bile rises.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to Mum and her boyfriends, but Curtis strikes me as one of the worst. He’s sleazy, conceited, and seems far too comfortable in this house. Like he already owns the place.
I sit on the edge of a lounger and help myself to a glass of cucumber water from a jug that’s sitting on the side table.
The smell of chlorine mingles with the perfume of the jasmine plants that climb the walls of the pool house. My skin warms beneath the sun, and water rhythmically laps the sides of the pool as Jack swims. I try to imagine I’m on holiday.
The sight of the hot tub taunts me with memories of my disastrous strip tease with Nico all those years ago. It’s bubbling away, but no one’s in it.
As if my thoughts have summoned him, Nico walks out of the pool house wearing swimming trunks and a t-shirt.
Jack’s voice cracks through the air. “Nico, get in.”
Nico flashes a dazzling smile. I haven’t seen him do it much recently. What I wouldn’t give to see him smile like that for me.
I pull my sunglasses down to cover my eyes, thankful for the reflective lenses, just as Nico pulls his shirt over his head and throws it down on the nearest lounger.
My breath hitches.
He’s absolute perfection; skin gently tanned, shoulders broad. The muscles of his chest and the ridges of his abs are beautifully defined.Wow. He’s like a golden bar of chocolate, and I want to eat him up. When does he have time to work out? You don’t get a body like that by sitting at a desk all day. A trail of dark hair runs from his navel and disappears from view beneath his trunks, creating a pathway I desperately want to follow with my fingers… my tongue—
It’s been way too long since I had sex.
Every cell in my body heats as I watch Nico from behind the lenses of my glasses, careful to hold my head so it doesn’t look like I’m staring at him.
There isn’t an inch of fat on him. He’s glorious, built like an athlete. I’m so used to seeing him formally dressed; the only skin ever revealed is his forearms and the triangle at his neck when he isn’t wearing a tie.
Nico tosses his head to flick his hair off his forehead and dives into the water. It’s all so effortless. The muscles in his back and shoulders ripple with the movement as he freestyles the length of the pool. When he reaches the other end, he climbs out and stands, hand on his hip, the other in his hair as he talks to Jack, who’s messing about in the pool.
Jack splashes, deliberately showering Nico with water. It’s so childish, so joyful, that it immediately transports me back in time. How many times have I sat right here and secretly longed for Nico to notice me?
Far too many.
Jack splashes again and yells, “Get back in,” before dipping under the surface.
Nico laughs, then turns, his gaze honing in on me like he knows I haven’t taken my eyes off him. One of his hands is a visor that shields his eyes from the sun and our eyes lock. My heart races until I’m nothing but scorched flesh and pulse.
Neither of us moves, tethered by an invisible force that excludes everyone else. I can’t look away, can’t breathe… but he’s here with me in this. Locked into this storm of unspoken words and denied emotion.
His stare is so intense it strips away layers without my consent, exposing parts of me I wouldn’t want anyone else to see. One truth rises harder and faster than the rest: the old longing is as real and potent as it ever was.
Does he sense it too?
My throat tightens. It doesn’t matter whether Nico returns the sentiment because Ican’thave feelings for him. I simply can’t. The guilt would eat me alive. It’s easier to hate him, because he’s still the man who screwed over my father.
And yet, it’s a pull that’s hard to resist.
Nico’s the first to break eye contact. He dives back into the water, leaving me questioning every feeling, every thought I just experienced.
Perhaps I imagined it all.
I get up, still feeling a tad shaken, and make my way to the pool house. Inside, it’s as dowdy as the rest of the place, and I cringe at the idea of Nico getting changed in here.
I failed to remember a swimsuit when I packed, so I open the large plastic box that has held various family members’ swimsuits for years. I rifle through the offerings, hoping to find something suitable, when a white bikini top catches my eye.
It’sthebikini. The same one I wore ten years ago. I pull it out. Amazingly, it looks brand new. I find the matching bottoms, testing the elastic. Miraculously, it hasn’t perished.