Page 96 of The Divine Lies We Weave

Leela splashed, spinning around to find Rajesh on the other side of the pool. With a stern look, he stood with his hands in his pockets. She pushed against the edge, hoping he hadn’t been standing there long.

“What are you doing?” she snapped.

“Trying to find you, after you let her in. I thought we were training?”

“Wasn’t it over when she threw you across the room?”

A flash flickered in his eyes. “Don’t test me, Leela. I’m trying to help you, and the Viperess kicked my ass after we were… well, when we were…”

Oh, Leela knew what they were about to do. She was almost thankful the Viperess had intervened, because if she hadn’t, Leela wouldn’t be able to stop. She had once stuck her lips to his all night, and she was sure, after six years of not tasting him, she wouldn’t be able to control herself at the brush of their lips. Her body still responded with a desperate ache, one that churned her stomach with want.

Even now, glancing up at him, she almost hoped he saw her naked.

It was such a frivolous thought. A pointless desire. He was only doing it to entice the Viperess out.

Leela gripped the edge of the pool and averted her gaze.

Rajesh sighed and ran a hand through his curls. He crouched to Leela’s eye level. “Is there room in there for me?”

Heat flushed through her, and she was scared it was the Viperess. But the Viperess lay dormant in the back of her mind, and it was in fact heat at the thought of seeing Rajesh. All of him. The curved edges, the muscled ridges she had only touched too long ago.

“No,” she said.

Rajesh’s lip twitched. “Move aside. I need to wash off this sweat.”

“You are not coming in here.”

“This is my ship.”

“I was in here first.”

“Doesn’t count. I never said we were finished,” Rajesh argued.

Leela opened her mouth to retort, but before she could, Rajesh was already flinging off his shoes and untucking his black shirt. He pulled it over his head with one swoop, revealing the muscled abdomen she had come to admire. Six years had changed him for the better, the training days strengthening his muscles and tightening his skin around the proper parts. He tugged on the fabric of his pants and unwrapped it from his legs, dropping it beside his shirt.

Leela finally turned away, the heat suddenly all around her.

Oh Flames… No…

Want me to stop him? The Viperess hummed.

Leela couldn’t tell the Viperess that a small part of her wanted to say ‘no.’

She shut her eyes, trying to calm her heart. The water swayed around her, and Leela glanced over her shoulder, hiding herself in the corner.

Rajesh waded into the pool, the ripples hiding what lay underneath. What Leela knew was underneath.

“All the Viperess can do is drown me now,” Rajesh said. “And something tells me you won’t let her.”

“How could you know that?” Leela mumbled.

Rajesh moved closer.

“Stop that,” she ordered, arm outstretched. “Stay.”

“I’m not a dog, Leela.”

Leela clung to the edge of the pool, her hair hanging in wet curls around her face. Any closer and he would be able to touch her, and she was too scared of the Viperess taking over and ruining the moment.