Page 49 of When the Scoundrel Sins

With a crook of his brow, he silently dared her to keep watching as he reached for the fall of his trousers. Her breath caught in her throat at his audacity, but a throbbing blend of tempting curiosity and tingling excitement jolted through her as she watched him loosen the first button—

Dear God,whatwas she doing? With a gasp, she spun around and squeezed her eyes shut.

His laughter rang out across the quiet dawn. Humiliated anger burned in her cheeks. Oh, blast him, blast him,blast him! God hadnevercreated a more antagonizing creature.

A loud splash echoed against the trees as he dove into the water. She didn’t dare turn to look, no matter how much she wanted to. Her heart pounded furiously at the soft splashing as he swam up behind her.

All kinds of sensations swirled through her at knowing he was standing right behind her in the water, as naked as she was…nervousness tinged with excited anticipation, an electric giddiness that left her light-headed, a craving to be kissed and knowing that if he slipped his arms around her, she wouldn’t refuse. But not one of those emotions was embarrassment. Having him here with her like this, surrounded by the stillness of the pond and the blue mountains rising in the distance as the shadows of night faded into the golden hues of sunrise, feltright.

“Lucifer’s balls, it’s cold!”

She bit her lip to keep from laughing.

“Good God!” he exclaimed. “How can you stand this?”

She looked at him over her shoulder, a sly smile playing at her lips. “Can’t handle a little cool water?”

“Coolwater?” He grumbled, “There’s an ice flow near the bushes!”

“Southerner,” she mocked, fighting back a laugh.

He chuckled, the deep sound rippling to her through the water and tickling at her bare back. “If you can stand it,” he declared, although his voice lacked conviction, “then I can stand it.”

And also standing awfully close for a naked man. But she didn’t have the willpower to step away. Not with the way her heart raced at having him so close. It was wholly improper, downright scandalous…and too thrilling to stop.

“Don’t worry,” she teased, despite her nervousness. For once she’d turned the tables on him and was enjoying it immensely. “I’ll let you know when your lips turn blue.”

“Well then.” He drawled playfully as he stepped forward and slipped his arms around her waist beneath the water, “How can any man resist such a welcoming invitation as that?”

She gasped at the unexpected contact, sucking in a deep breath. His mouth lowered against her bare shoulder.

“Mmm…mermaid,” he mumbled against her skin. “My favorite kind of seafood.”

She laughed. Quinn was always a charmer, even when wet up to his ears.

Then his mouth brushed back and forth across her shoulder, sending her heart pounding as he took increasingly bolder kisses.

She tensed in his arms. The playful teasing between them had instantly changed. An electric throbbing blossomed between her legs when he brushed her wet hair aside to nibble at the back of her neck. When his hands spread out across her belly, heat flared through her and curled her toes into the mud at the bottom of the pond.

He took another step forward until his body pressed against hers. Her back rested against his bare chest, and her bottom nestled against his…oh my.

“Annabelle,” he murmured as his hand slid over her hip.

Beneath his caresses, the world and all her problems disappeared, until she no longer cared about anything except the wicked sensation of his warm hands on her water-chilled skin.

Yet she felt compelled to protest, albeit extremely weakly. “Maybe we shouldn’t…”

“Can’t help it,” he admitted in a husky murmur, keeping himself pressed against her. “You’re too tempting.”

She wastempting? Impossible. Yet he didn’t back away, didn’t stop his hand from trailing down her bare leg—

She jumped, startled at the boldness of his touch.

“Relax,” he murmured reassuringly against the back of her neck.

Relax?Was he daft? How on earth was she supposed to relax?

Yet she exhaled a deep breath and willed herself to unwind the tension spiraling tightly inside her. But the churning nervousness was simply too strong to will away, the growing tingle at her core too insistent to ignore. Each breath she expelled emerged as a tremulous shiver.