Page 63 of Hate To Be Mine

The day finished up and we all headed back to the resort. That night, my phone buzzed with a text.

Sebastian: Pool?

I said yes because I wanted to see him. Just to hang out. As friends. People who happened to have slept together once but were mature enough to move past it. I put on my one-piece swimsuit. It was boring and black and very conservative. It was the kind you’d wear to a family pool party. Nothing sexy about it.

The pool area was busy when I arrived. Crew members floated on rafts and models posed for selfies in the shallow end. Taylor Swift was coming out of a rock. Not the human, but her music. Shake it Off was blasting and a couple of the ladies were dancing. It took me a second to realize it was a speaker disguised as a rock. Clever.

It felt like a party, casual and relaxed. Sebastian was already in the water, leaning against the edge in the deep end, away from the main crowd. When he saw me he flashed me a warm smile.

I slipped into the pool and swam over to him, the water warm and silky against my skin.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

We were in the corner, half-hidden by shadows, but surrounded by people. No one was paying attention to us. They were all doing their own thing.

His leg brushed mine under the water. Then his hand found my waist, hidden beneath the surface. His touch was light enough that anyone looking would see two people just talking.

“We shouldn’t,” I whispered.

“I know.” His hand slid over my bare thigh.

My breath caught. “Sebastian.”

“I’m not doing anything,” he said innocently. “Just having a conversation with my safety girl. Very professional.”

“Your hand is on my thigh.”

“Is it? I hadn’t noticed.”

I should have moved away. Instead, I shifted slightly closer and put my hand on his thigh.

All around us, people laughed and splashed and paid us no attention. Lots of people were flirting out here, touching, canoodling in the water. We weren’t unusual. We were just two more people enjoying the pool.

I had a feeling it was pretty normal for these location shoots to get a little spicy. It was like what happened in Miratoa stayed in Miratoa.

I liked that idea. It made all of it okay.

My body was acutely aware of every point where we touched.

“I still want you,” I admitted quietly. “Even though we said one time. Even though we agreed it was a bad idea.”

“I know. I want you too. It’s like I can’t get enough of you.”

“But we can’t keep doing this. It’s too risky.”

“I know that too.” His hand slid higher on my thigh, still hidden underwater. I had to bite my lip to keep from making a sound. “Doesn’t change how I feel.”

“How do you feel?”

“Like I’m in trouble,” he said, echoing my own thoughts from two nights ago. “The good kind.”

We stayed like that, touching in ways no one could see, having a conversation that looked perfectly innocent from the outside.

“My brothers will be here in two days.”

“I know.”