Page 18 of Seductive Swimmer
ALEX: You tell me, love. After what happened at the pool, and at the office last week, I haven’t seen you much.
ALEX: I suppose I want to ensure you aren’t uncomfortable being around me.
There’s a softness to his words, a consideration for my feelings that I haven’t felt from him before. I can sense his vulnerability through the phone, so acting on impulse, I hit the button that will connect us audibly.
“Hello, Savannah,” his voice slides across my skin like the softest caress. There’s a nervous stirring in my belly, but it’s the good kind of nerves. Anticipation.
“I didn’t think I could answer you over text,” I blurt out. He chuckles, and it’s a low rumble that is comforting to my ears and to my heart.
“I’ll never turn down an opportunity to hear your voice.”
My heart quickens. He’s flirting, yet it’s not the superficial banter that he has been pushing on me for weeks. This is deeper, more intimate somehow.
“I’m not uncomfortable with you, Alex.”
The words are a lie, and they leave a sour taste in my mouth. I am uncomfortable around him but not in a bad way. I just can’t quite bring myself to admit that my attraction to him is growing just as fast as my resistance to him is crumbling.
“Really,” he says wryly. “So why have you been avoiding the office, and not even gracing me with your beautiful smile at the pool each morning?”
Well, shit. I guess he noticed I wasn’t swimming at my usual time. Wait,he noticed. Suddenly the very real possibility that I am more than just a passing fancy to Alex Devlin hits me. If all he wanted was a one-and-done, would he pay me this much attention?
Emboldened by this realization, the next words are out of my mouth before I can second-guess them.
“What do you want from me, Alex?”
There’s a moment of silence before he answers. Silence that is broken only by a slow intake of breath on the other end of the phone.
“A chance.”
With those two words, the last of my defenses against Alexander Devlin are destroyed.
“Okay,” I say softly. So softly, I worry he didn’t hear me when he doesn’t say anything right away. Then finally I hear his chuckle, laced with relief.
“I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll see you tomorrow, love.”
