Escalation Clause by Liz Crowe Read Free Book Online Page A

feet into the cold water, groaning when his temples started pounding to the beat of his heart. He put his head in his hands. Mo was the first thing he saw when he closed his eyes. Her bright blue eyes snapping with laughter, anger, and…desire …. God help him; he had nursed a crush on her for years.
    She’d been such a tomboy, running with him and Jack, tagging along then joining in the baseball, basketball, soccer whatever they concocted, up to and including egg throwing at Halloween and snitching beers from the family fridge. Their easy camaraderie had always allowed them to wrestle, to tickle, to touch. After she’d shown up at his house last month, determined to escape her jerk-off father, he thought he could just ease back into it. But, he hadn’t seen her in over a year, and in that time, she had become a full-fledged, jaw-dropping woman. Her tall, athletic frame was lush, lovely, full-hipped and inviting. The deep blue of her eyes and inky black fall of her hair made him want to bury his hands in it, to kiss her until she begged for more.
    So, it seemed, his crush had bloomed into full-blown lust. A desire she apparently matched.
    No way.
    He’d heard Jack’s message loud and clear. And as much of a man-whore as Brandis was, he was a loyal friend. So, Mo was off limits. Fine. He did not need that hassle, not now, with just a month and a half before he left for Colorado.
    He propped himself on his elbows and willed his cock soft, but the memory of her lips, and the feel of her skin against his, if just for that one moment, was not something he would soon forget. When he’d fucked that girl in the basement then realized Mo had been down there, watching them, it had taken him a couple of seconds to acknowledge he’d been picturing her beneath him, her body taking his, the sounds of her climax in his ears the entire time.
    What a fucking mess.
    “Hey,” he nearly jumped a mile into the air at the sound of her voice. “I, um, just want to say, you know, well….” She sat a couple of feet from him and let her feet dangle in the water. “Sorry.” She looked straight ahead.
    “For what?” He cleared his throat, nervous beyond belief.
    “For spying on you. I mean, I wasn’t, I was getting a drink and just kind of …oh hell. You know what I mean.” She looked down into the water. “This pool is disgusting.” She shoved a greasy looking floating seat away with her foot. “Are those…” She pointed to the used rubbers on the bottom.
    “Yeah,” he ran a hand down his face, then jumped up, and grabbed the skimmer. He cleared the condoms, a bottle of sunscreen and three beer cans from the pool, trying to ignore her. But his baser self would not cooperate, and he had to grab a towel and fasten it around his waist to hide the damn tent in his shorts. She moved all the chairs back into their usual places and cleaned off the two glass-topped tables, finding yet another rubber in the grass near the back fence.
    “You guys sure do know how to throw a party.” She smiled at him, lifting his heart and making his damn cock pound in time with his headache.
    “Huh,” he grunted, before turning the water on to get the pool level back up and taking a reading on the chemicals. Sweat dripped off his forehead, blurring his vision. Fuck it was hot out already, and it was barely eight o’clock in the morning. She crouched down next to him, her arm grazing his, making him flinch. Crush, Brandis. Remember? She is a no-go zone. Don’t do it.
    “Those look okay,” she grabbed the testing box from him and tossed it up on the table, stripped off her tee shirt revealing a different bikini, a black one that highlighted the near-perfect shape of her long, lean frame. He looked away, heard the splash as she jumped in and couldn’t resist a peek she moved through the water. Damn he wanted her. Bad.
    She emerged, pushed her long hair back and stared at him. Her blue eyes were dark, non-committal. “Come on in. The water’s