“Mimi, come on! Anyone with eyes can see the way you and Ryan feel about each other! Why the hell are you wasting time on anyone else?” I pushed.

Simon pulled me back onto his lap and attempted to quiet me.

“Okay, this has gone far enough,” Neil said, starting to get out of the tub.

“No, no! Neil, look at Sophia. Can’t you see she is totally into you? Why the hell are you all so thick? Seriously? Are Simon and I the only ones that can see clearly here?” I yelled once more, bringing Simon into the conversation whether he wanted it or not.

Neil looked at Ryan, and then at Simon.

“Dude!” Neil exclaimed.

“Dude,” Simon answered, gesturing toward Sophia, who stood up like she was going to say something. Neil put his hand on her shoulder, and she stopped and sat back down. Neil nodded at Ryan.

“Dude?” he asked, and Ryan nodded back. Neil took a deep breath and looked at Sophia.

“Sophia, truth or dare?” Neil asked.

“We are not playing any more—” I tried to yell, but Simon took that moment to place his hand over my mouth.

“All clear over here,” Simon announced as he pinned me to his lap more securely with his other hand on my waist. Thunder rolled in, blanketing the scene with an ominous air.

“Sophia?” Neil asked again. She was quiet, and not looking in the direction of Mimi and Ryan.

“Dare,” she whispered and closed her eyes.

Alcohol made everything much more dramatic.

“I dare you to kiss me,” Neil said, and all you could hear was the occasional loon over the lake. The loons in the tub were finally quiet. We all watched as Sophia turned to Neil and placed a hand on the back of his head, pulling him toward her. She kissed him, slowly but surely, and it went on for days. I smiled into Simon’s hand, and he patted my stomach, which made me giddy.

When they finally broke apart, Sophia was laughing into Neil’s mouth, and he answered with his giant, goofy man-giggle.

“Well, it’s about freaking time,” Simon said, releasing my mouth.

“Mimi, I—” Sophia began, turning toward Mimi and finding an empty hot tub.

Mimi and Ryan were gone. I caught just the edge of Ryan’s towel headed into the pool house—with a slippery wet companion on his arm.

“Well, then, I guess we’ll call it a night.” Sophia sighed, grabbing Neil by the hand.

“’Night.” I giggled as she walked into the house with Neil in tow. They cuddled close, already a picture in the making. I looked at the pool house, and noticed no lights had come on yet. They probably would not be coming on in the near future.

“Well, that was a fine bit of matchmaking, although your bull-in-a-china-shop delivery left a lot to be desired.” Simon chuckled, letting his head rest against my back. I was still perched on his lap. His hand had left my mouth, and it was now drifting south, while his other hand remained tightly on my waist.

“Yes, I usually leave a lot to be desired,” I observed wryly, not wanting to leave this exquisite spot, but knowing I needed to—and soon. Simon was quiet behind me, and I started to move off his lap.

“You leave everything to be desired, Caroline,” he said softly, and I froze. It was quiet for another moment, both of us not moving, but still moving toward each other.

Without looking back, I let out a tiny laugh. “You know, I never really got that phrase. Does that mean I am desirable or—”

His fingers began to trace tiny circles on my skin. “You know exactly what it means,” he breathed into my ear. The air crackled around us, the tension as well as the actual weather. More tiny circles. In the end, it was the tiny circles that finally broke me.

I lost all control. I turned quickly, catching him off guard as I wrapped my legs around his waist and threw caution, and my harem mantra, to the wind. I sunk my hands into his hair, luxuriating in the feel of wet silk around my fingertips as I pulled him toward me.

“Why did you kiss me that night at the party?” I asked, my mouth mere inches from his. Once he realized I was driving this bus, he responded by pressing his hips into mine, bringing us closer together than we’d ever been.

“Why did you kiss me?” he asked, running his hands up and down my back, settling into the space where his hands spanned my waist exactly—thumbs in front, fingers in back—and pressed me into him further.

“Because I had to,” I answered honestly, remembering how I’d reacted instinctively, kissing him when I’d wanted to do anything but. “Why did you kiss me?” I asked again.

“Because I had to,” he said, the smirk returning. Luckily I didn’t see the smirk for too long. Because I’d finally discovered the secret of the ages.

How do you make Wallbanger stop smirking? You kiss him.

Chapter Thirteen

THE SKY OPENED UP, pelting us with chilly rain, which mixed with the heat around us, and between us. I looked at Simon underneath me, warm and wet, and there was nothing in the world I wanted more than his lips against mine. So even though every single cowbell in my head was ringing out the alarm, I centered myself, wrapped my legs tighter around his waist, and gazed directly into his eyes.

“Mmm, Caroline, what are you up to?” He smiled, his hands strong on my waist as his fingers dug into my skin. His skin slipped against mine in a way that made me not right in the head, and I could feel—I could actually feel—his abs against my tummy. He was so strong, so powerfully delicious that Brain began to burn, and other organs began to make all my decisions.

I think O even popped her head up for a moment, like a groundhog. She took a quick glance around and pronounced it much closer to spring than she’d been in months.

I licked my lips, and he mirrored my actions. I could barely see him through the haze of steam from the hot tub and the lust now brewing in this little cauldron of chlorinated chemistry.

“I’m up to no good, that’s for sure,” I breathed, rising up just a little. The feeling of my br**sts crushing against his skin was unimaginable. As I settled on his lap again, I felt his reaction in a very tangible way, and we both groaned at the contact.

“You’re up to no good, huh?” he said, his voice gruff and thick and maple syrup pouring over me.

“No good,” I whispered in his ear as he pressed his mouth against my neck. “Wanna be bad with me?”

“You sure about that?” he groaned, hands clutching at my back with delightful abandon.

“Come on, Simon, let’s bang some walls,” I answered, allowing my tongue to dart out from between my lips and against the skin just underneath his jaw. The scruff scratched my taste buds and gave me a sense of what that very scruff would feel like against other soft places on my body.