How they hell was he supposed to say no to her?
He sank lower into the eddying water, letting a jet pound into the muscles of his back. Fuck. He was in big trouble. Especially when Krissa’s hand found his thigh under the water.
Startled he looked down. He couldn’t even see their bodies under the white foam, so he didn’t expect the others could either. But still…Derek sat right there, and she had her hand on his thigh, dangerously close to being able to feel exactly how aroused he was.
Kim and Steve continued to make out, tongues licking each other, mouths sliding, opening. Kim reached an arm up to her husband’s shoulder, exposing her breasts. Water swirled around them.
Dispassionately, Nate realized he didn’t like Kim’s breasts. Too big, too fake, the nipples looked stretched and distorted. They almost repulsed him.
He had to look. He had to see Krissa’s perfect tits again. He let his eyes search them out in the roiling foam and, as if sensing his regard, she lifted up slightly so he could see them, her fingers digging into his quadriceps. Jesus.
He was dissolving, the heat and motion of the water melting hm. He felt as if his body was spinning away from him in the twirling currents, lost, helpless.
“You’re doing this on purpose,” he choked out.
Krissa didn’t smile. Just looked at him. “Yes.”
“Derek.” The one world held a million questions.
Her big eyes responded wordlessly. He closed his.
He was going to sleep with his friend’s wife.
Chapter Sixteen
“When are we going to do this?”
Krissa smiled as she folded the towels she’d taken out of the dryer. The towels they’d all used last night after emerging from the hot tub, warm and wet and…hot.
She turned to Nate. His shaggy curls were rumpled, glasses shielding his eyes, as usual, from close scrutiny. He thrust his hands into the pockets of baggy cargo shorts, big shoulders hunched.
“Do what?” she asked.
He growled.
“I’m teasing.” She set down the folded towel on the stack, and laid her hand there. “I’m using an ovulation kit to tell me when.”
“Oh.” Discomfort flitted across his face. It was almost fun to tease him with all these personal details. She’d gotten so used to revealing every intimate particular of her menstrual cycles to Derek and about a hundred health care professionals, it no longer bothered her.
“I’m going to test this morning, and tonight. If it’s positive I’ll be ovulating in twenty-four hours. My periods have always been kind of wacky so I start testing a few days before I expect to be ovulating.”
“So if it’s positive today we don’t have sex until…when? Tuesday?”
“Monday night. And Tuesday. And maybe Wednesday.”
“Jesus.”
She laughed, moved closer to him. “You can handle it, big boy.”
She slid her hands up his chest to his shoulders. His body tightened beneath her palms. She wished she knew if it was a good tightening or a bad tightening. She wanted those glasses gone so she could see what he was thinking.
“Krissa…” He put his hands on her waist and set her away from him. She sighed. Okay, it was a bad tightening.
“Nate, if you don’t want to do this, please say so now.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to do it.”
“We have to talk about this. Derek’s downstairs working out. It’s just you and me, so be honest. Things are going to get very weird if we’re not honest with each other.”
“Have you done this before?”
She blinked. “Done what? Slept with another man?”
“Yes.”
“No.” She frowned. “Of course not.”
“There’s no ‘of course’ about it. You invited friends over last night and practically had an orgy in your hot tub. Why wouldn’t I think that maybe you guys have all…”
“I haven’t had sex with another man,” she said quietly, looking down at her hands. “But I have with another woman.”
She heard his sharp intake of air.
“With Kim?”
Krissa nodded. “Does that disgust you?”
“Christ, no! But…”
“I’m not a lesbian,” she said through a faint smile. “Or bisexual. Derek’s your friend. You figure it out.”
“He wanted you to do it.” She watched his face, below the glasses, the square shape of his jaw, the way the firm curve of his lips moved as he talked, his smooth skin.
“Yes.”
“He wanted to watch.”
“Yes.”
“He’s going to watch us, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know. He hasn’t said that. Would that make a difference to you?”
“I…don’t know.”
“He said you guys have done it before.”
Derek nodded, pressed his lips closed. “A long time ago. Christ, a lifetime ago. We were horny college students.”
Krissa wondered if Derek watching would ease Nate’s conscience about sleeping with her, or make him feel even worse. “Tell me,” she said. “You have to tell me how you feel about this.”
He shrugged. “There’s nothing to say. It’s no big deal. It’s just a sperm donation. Right?”
Krissa stared at him. “Right.” She blinked. Is that really how he felt? “I certainly wouldn’t want you to do something that’s clearly repulsive to you.” She started to walk by him, not wanting to stick around and say something she might regret.
He grabbed her wrist, his fingers hard. She looked up at him. His mouth was a grim line of annoyance, his jaw tight. “Krissa. Don’t walk away from me.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Don’t walk away.” He tugged her hand and she tried to yank it out of his grasp but he held tight.
“Let go of me.”
“No. Krissa. Don’t give in that easy. You’re pissed off at me. Stay and fight.”
“Whaaat!” Nobody in her life had ever said that to her. She’d walked away from many conflicts, always thought it was the best thing to do. She hated arguing, hated the sick feeling she got from the tension.
“You heard me. Say what you want to say.” His voice rasped.
“I’m not going to beg you to sleep with me. If it’s that difficult for you, I’m not going to force you.”
“Oh, God.” He rubbed his mouth. “Krissa. The problem is, it’s not difficult.” He paused and looked at her.
She met his eyes, through the dark glasses. “Oh.” Did he mean…?
He tugged again on her hand, and his arms snared her, strong and hard, held her up against his body. She gasped and flattened her palms on his hard chest. His heart thudded beneath her hand, strong and sure. She was so close to him she could see the morning stubble he hadn’t yet bothered to shave, felt his breath against her forehead, saw her own reflection in his dark lenses, her mouth an astonished O, eyes wide.
Her hands slid to his shoulders. His chest pressed against her breasts and her nipples hardened. His mouth brushed hers. Not a kiss. He spoke, so close to her their breath mingled. “I want you, Krissa. I don’t want to want you, but I do.” He shifted his hips and his erection rubbed against her stomach. Everything inside her went hot and liquid. She whimpered. “It won’t be a hardship to fuck you, Krissa.” His crude words made her tummy flip. “That’s not what I’m worried about.”
“What are you worried about?”
“That’s the part I haven’t figured out yet,” he muttered. He brushed his mouth over hers again and stepped back, released her. She stood there, chest heaving, heart racing. She swallowed.
“Right now,” she whispered. “I want it right now.” More than anything. The intensity of her desire for Nate rushed over her and shocked her.