Page 25 of Bound Bride
A distracted but understanding murmur drifts around the table and they grow more so when Calvin's grumble carries through the air.
Rose splashes up with the water and then quickly swims away, leaving him to follow her down the side of the pool all while motioning for her to get out.
She's doing this on purpose.
But why?
The general next to me finally caves and glances toward the water. The moment he does, I stand abruptly and my chair loudly scrapes back. "Get out."
Everyone begins to stand.
"You have your orders. The next time we meet, I want answers, understand?"
"Yes, sir," comes their mingled replies.
"And one more thing."
Six pairs of eyes finally lock onto me with full focus.
"If anyone looks at my wife again, even for a second, I will cut off their balls and serve them as a reminder to every other remaining man around this table. Are we understood?"
Despite the flush from the sun, a couple of men lose all color in their faces.
Then, all six of them hurry from the patio as if the sun itself is scorching their retreating ankles. Not once does anyone glance at the pool.
"Boss?" Ethan steps closer, then he glances past me to the pool. "Do you want me to handle it?"
"No," I reply tightly. "I have this."
Shedding my suit jacket given the heat from the sun, I roll up my shirt sleeves and stroll down the short steps from the patio that lead to the nearby pool.
Calvin, in the middle of chasing Rose around the other side of the pool, immediately stops and straightens up when he sees me.
"Boss," he gasps, panting slightly. "I'm sorry, I?—"
Ignoring him, I stride past to the edge of the pool and stop. "Rose." Her name cuts across the hot air like the lash of a whip and the water below me rolls and bubbles as she breaches the surface with a laugh.
She's more than beautiful. Water droplets cling to her face and shoulders like she's bathed in crystal, her hair fans out behind her head, and the dark color she's painted across her lips pulls into a wide, teasing smile.
"Husband of mine," she murmurs. "Is everything alright?"
"What are you playing at?" I snap down at her. "Coming out here dressed like that?"
Her brows drift together and she tilts her head. "You mean in a bathing suit?"
"What you are wearing can hardly be called that."
Her arms drift back and forth across the surface as she treads water while heat coils low in my gut.
Water droplets run from her shoulders and follow the curve of her body down to the valley between her breasts.
She smirks when she catches me looking.
"It's a bikini. If you're about to tell me that you're too prudish for something like this then we're going to have a problem."
"I do not have a problem with the bikini."
"Are you sure?" Rose pouts up at me. "You seemreallymad."
