Strong arms wrap around my middle and haul me under the water. I manage a scream, the sound cutting off when water fills my mouth. I kick and claw, but there’s too much resistance in the water for me to hit Jude. The arms that were hauling me down are pushing me up, and I explode from the water, fountaining water.
My scream becomes a squeal as I realize he wasn’t trying to drown me, and then I splash back into the water. “What the fuck!” I yell as I surface, pushing wet hair out of my face.
Jude moves to the shallower end of the pool and stands, everything below his belly button under the water. With the pool’s dark blue paint and the overcast sky, everything below his waist is obscured. If I squint, it looks like he’s naked.
“Got something in your eye?” Jude asks.
I hurriedly stop squinting and kick my legs up, floating on the water as I study him. He drags both hands through his hair, squeezing out water while making all the muscles on his arms and torso cord. God, he’s such a show-off. I bet he jerks off in front of a mirror every morning—
Oh, hell no! I should not be thinking like that. Bad Harper!
I smirk. “I never thought I’d see you having fun.”
He cocks a dark eyebrow at me and wades into the deep end. The way his hips move through the water does terrible things to my insides.
“You’re not setting the bar very high.” He ducks into the water, swimming around me in a smooth circle. God, watching him move makes me want to start exercising just so I can do things as effortlessly as him.
I think back to the question I asked earlier. I guess that was a low blow, asking after his mom like that. But even my mother doesn’t know what happened to Wayne’s wife, the first Mrs. Dearth. I just know she’s dead...and if neither Wayne nor Jude want to talk about it, it must mean something tragic happened.
Which obviously just makes me more curious.
“Truth or dare,” I call out.
Jude stops swimming, ducks under the water, and comes up with a toss of his head. “Truth.”
He makes it too easy.
I cock my head, paddling with my arms and legs to keep myself afloat. As much as I’d want to ask him about his mom again, I know he won’t answer me. The alcohol we downed is starting to take effect, and my mouth slides into a smug smile as I study my stepbrother.
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”
There’s a moment, just a fraction of a second, where a shadow crosses his face. But it’s gone so fast, I’m not sure if I imagined it.
“I cheated on a test in junior high.”
I roll my eyes and start swimming for the side of the pool. “If you didn’t want to play, you should have just said so.”
He snags my ankle. I twist around and try to tug myself free, but he’s too strong. “Let go!”
“Where are you going?”
“I have better things to do than being lied to.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Now let go.”
Jude drags me closer. When I’m in arms-reach, he lets go of my leg and grabs my wrist instead. “The worst thing?” he murmurs.
I study him for a second, shrug. “Yeah.”
“Why would I willingly give you dirt on me?” He cocks his head. “You could just use it against me.”
“See, this is why I was leaving. You don’t even know me, but you immediately assume that I’m out to get you. Paranoid much?”
He watches me for a long moment. “I videotaped a couple having sex.”
I expected another lie, maybe him trying to figure out my motives. But this...?
I stop swimming in surprise, and flounder as my chin and mouth bob under the surface. Jude slides his hand up my arm, supporting me, holding my weight in the water. Moving closer. His gaze is intent, completely fixated on me. It feels too intense, but I can’t seem to look away.
“That’s...”
“They asked me to,” he says.
There’s a tiny flutter inside me. I really hope it’s relief...but I’m pretty sure it’s disappointment.
For a moment...just a second...I’d thought my dream was coming true. That Jude was telling me exactly what I wanted to hear.
That he was a freak...just like me.
Chapter 7
Jude
This is the closest I’ve ever been to Harper. I can’t lie—the view is phenomenal. I’ve never noticed the sapphire flecks in her blue eyes, or how the dark ring around her irises makes her thick lashes pop. There’s a beauty spot on one cheekbone, close to the edge of her eye, and I’m overcome with the urge to kiss it.
Why did I just tell her that? With a little legwork, she could probably find out who I videotaped, maybe even find some evidence, and rat me out to my father—whose puritan views on sex are ridiculously hypocritical.
But then I see the fascinated glitter in her eyes, her pink lips still parted and gleaming wet from her dunk in the water.
“My turn,” I say.
“But—” Her eyes widen, and I know she has a hundred questions, but that’s not the game we’re playing.
“What’s the worst thing...” I pull her even closer and drop my mouth to her ear. “…you’ve ever wanted to do?”
Her arm muscle tenses in my hand, so I squeeze her a little tighter. She draws back just enough to look into my eyes.
It’s laughable, but for some reason, I think I already know what she’s going to say.
But the longer she gazes up at me, the clearer my suspicion becomes. A pump of blood hardens my cock, and I pull her even closer until our bodies brush against each other as we bob in the water.
“Harper.”
She swallows, blinks rapidly. But her eyes stay fixed on me like she can’t look away. Which is perfect because I don’t want her to. I love the way it feels when our eyes lock, the intensity of that intangible connection.
I duck my head, and she shivers violently like my breath on her wet skin is too much for her to bear.
Christ, I’ve never wanted to kiss anyone this badly in my entire fucking life. I already have a semi, and that’s merely from the thought that she might, on some level, want me.
Fuck the fact that she’s my stepsister. I couldn’t care less. I’ve been watching this pretty little thing dance around me for weeks. Saw her getting off in the shower. Now I have her less than an inch from me—from my hardening cock—and I can’t stop looking at her mouth.
She tilts her head back, her eyes shuttering, long lashes shadowing her blue eyes as she gazes up at me.
“I can’t tell you,” she whispers. “You’ll think...you’ll think I’m a freak.” There’s something about the way she says it, a special emphasis on freak that sends another hard pump of blood to my dick.
“We’re all freaks, Harper. You know my secret...” I tuck a section of wet hair behind her ear, gaining another violent shudder from her. “Now tell me yours.”
Her lips part. Our bodies brush, and this time she doesn’t move away. I slide a hand up her back, kicking slowly with my feet to keep my head above water, still supporting her with my other hand. Her eyelids quiver like she wants to shut them, and she leans in, asking—fucking begging—for a kiss.