Beauty (A Midsummer Suspense Tale) by Asha King Read Free Book Online Page A

private property. So cops bust a lot of the parties. I was a regular fixture here in my youth.”
    “But not now that you’re an old maid?”
    Bryar laughed and averted her eyes. Moving closer still—close enough that he could see the fine mist of water dotting her cheeks and lips that he longed to taste. “I’m aware of the fact that rebellion hardly looks good on someone my age. I’m supposed to be in college and readying for a career, being a grownup. I’m not really good at those things. Now, you need someone to steal a car or go skinny dipping with strangers, that I can do.”
    “I think direction in life is a little overrated.” He held her eyes, wished he could stay more. To explain that he longed to have the time in his formative years to fuck around—that rushing to be serious about life was just as much hell as the alternative. Managers and agents and studios and parents fighting over his money before he turned eighteen. Image consultants and endorsements. He tried to be grateful for everything he had, especially when so many people in the world went without, but it was exhausting. And when he did get in trouble, it was magnified by a thousand.
    Which is what had brought him here, in this moment, to her in the first place.
    They shifted closer in the water, whether it was the current drawing them nearer or their own movements, he didn’t know. The temperature of the lake was long forgotten, his desire heating him through. A tiny shiver worked through her, dancing along her shoulders in a twitch.
    “Too cold?” His voice was thick with want and he tried to breathe deeply, to remain focused and not just reach for her.
    Bryar peered up at him beneath long lashes, her lips parted invitingly. “Getting warmer.”
    Damn, this woman was killing him. He gave in then, his hand gliding through the dark water to reach her waist. She drew closer the moment his fingers folded over her flesh, the tips of her breasts coming in contact with his chest. Sawyer sucked in a breath.
    “I think skinny dipping with strangers is actually a very useful skill,” he said in a low voice.
    She gave him a sexy little smile that had his heart beating even faster. “You’re not so bad at it yourself.”
    Bryar leaned closer and the heat in her eyes matched his own. His hand moved more possessively over her waist, pulling her closer, and the previously cool water seemed to warm between them as waves gently lapped at their flesh. Another shiver worked along her arms, one he doubted was just from the temperature.
    He wanted to kiss her. More than anything he could recall wanting in recent memory. Just to taste her and feel her against him, to lose himself and his troubles and make his focus her pleasure.
    It was crazy and foolish, he knew, but he couldn’t resist leaning in as her chest firmly pressed against his. He was rock hard, craving the feel of being buried in her folds, of grasping her thighs and hoisting her up to wrap her legs around him. Her eyes were heavy-lidded as their lips neared and soon he felt her hot breath on his mouth, the little pants that said she was as eager for him as he was for her. He had no idea where this was going tonight but became quite certain that whatever she was up for, he’d be game as well.
    Their breath mingled, that sweet moment of anticipation before the kiss rising—he could all but taste her now.
    Water splashed suddenly to his right, voices raised in laughs and jeers. Sawyer blinked against the sudden flash of light—a camera.
    His body iced over with fear but it was just the kids from the bonfire, someone waving around a cell phone and shouting at Bryar.
    Bryar. Not him. Because they knew her and he was just the strange guy hanging around the beach with them.
    “Fuck,” she cursed under her breath and he let her go as she backed off, crossed her arms up over her chest. The others were undressing, apparently liking the idea of mid-fall skinny dipping, and the spell between them now