Under His Command (For His Pleasure, Book 17) (12 page)

“Do you even want to swim?” Easton asked her.

“I don’t see why not.”

“Because it’s unprofessional.”

“Tonight’s a social event,” she said. “Red said as much himself.”

Easton sighed, shook his head, and took another long pull from his beer.

Red came back a couple of minutes later with fuzzy robes, towels, and bathing suits. He handed a set to each of them.

Kennedy went into the cabana changing room and closed the door behind her.

She put the towel down on a bench, hung the robe on a nearby hook, and held the red bikini up to the light.

Has Nicole ever worn this
?

The thought gave her pause. Tears sprang to her eyes, suddenly, and she wondered if it was real emotion or just the alcohol kicking in.

There was something poetic in her wearing Nicole’s bathing suit, and she took off her clothes and changed into the bikini. It was a little embarrassing, and she felt rather exposed, but then again, he’d given her a robe to wear.

Besides, Easton’s already seen way more than this, so you’ve got nothing to
worry about there.

Kennedy put the robe on and cinched it tight on her waist, then walked out to the pool area, where Easton was already waiting in his swim trunks that Red had loaned him.

He hadn’t bothered to put on the robe, but was standing unabashedly in front of her, drinking a second beer.

On a nearby table, Red had brought another round of drinks.

Kennedy stole another covert glance at Easton as she fetched herself a second glass of white wine. Easton was much more muscular than she’d first thought, but it wasn’t just a bulky bodybuilder physique. He was taught, toned, and every part of him was chiseled, from his washboard abs up to his broad shoulders. His legs were like two oak trees, probably from his days as a professional kickboxer.

Red and Easton were engaged in some sort of business discussion that Kennedy couldn’t even follow, so she walked to the edge of the pool and dipped her toe in the water, swishing her foot in a slow arc, causing ripples to spread across the entire length of the pool.

The temperature was warm, almost like a bath. Kennedy looked up and saw they were still talking, but Easton had an eye on her. She smiled to herself, her nipples stiffening.

He can’t keep his eyes off me. And soon, he won’t be able to keep his hands off
me, either.

Kennedy untied the belt and let the robe fall open. Then she slowly shrugged it off her shoulders, felt it fall to her feet, leaving her bare skin visible to the world. She walked calmly around the perimeter of the pool to the deepest part, glancing over at Easton to see his reaction.

He was watching her, though clearly trying to pretend not to.

What is Red thinking?
She wondered.
And what will he say to Nicole about me?

You’re not doing anything wrong. You’re taking a dip in the pool, that’s all. He
doesn’t know about Easton, and even if he did—Red met Nicole much the same way,
through work. What could he say about any of it?

Kennedy stood at the very edge, took a deep breath and then dove in.

Suddenly, she was submerged completely in the warm, evanescent liquid, like jumping into a glass of her wine. She flowed to the surface, breaking free, her head coming up and taking in a big gulp of air, blinking. She wiped her hair back, slicking it against her skull.

In contrast to the warm water, the air now felt chilly. She laughed.

“How is it?” Red asked.

“It’s heaven. Pure heaven,” she replied, and it was the truth.

I belong here
, she thought.
I knew I’d belong here if I just had a chance to prove
it
.

Easton put his beer down on the table and then walked over to the pool and executed a perfect dive. He looked like Michael Phelps, his sculpted body going under the surface and leaving barely a trace in his wake.

A moment later, he came to the surface not far from her. “Hi there,” he said.

She couldn’t help but laugh, both from excitement and nervousness.

Red came poolside and sat on one of the nearby deck chairs, drinking his beer and chatting with them as they paddled lazily in the water.

The conversation turned to sports, and then celebrities. Red knew a lot of the inside gossip and seemed willing to share some interesting but ultimately harmless anecdotes about famous people he’d run into over the years.

“And what about you, Kennedy?” Red asked, after a short lull in the conversation.

“What about me?” she replied, doing a back stroke past Easton, who was hanging on the side.

“What’s your story? How did you end up here?”

She allowed herself to float for a bit. “That’s a rather long story,” she said.

“I just can’t shake this feeling that I’ve run into you before,” Red told her.

She laughed. “Not this again.”

“It’s true. I’d almost bet my life on it.”

Easton looked at her, his eyes narrowing. “Do you know him, Kennedy?”

“No,” she said, pretending to be shocked. “I swear, I’ve never met him or Nicole before. I’m from MIT, the math department,” she explained. “I was supposed to be a career academic, writing papers, teaching classes, attending conferences and doing research.”

“Really,” Red said, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “I never would have guessed that.”

“It’s a little odd, I know,” she said, swimming to the edge beside Easton.

“So why the switch to the advertising world and our little town?”

Kennedy hesitated. She didn’t want to lie to him. Someday, he might learn the truth and it would hurt him if she lied, it might even make him hate her to some degree.

But she certainly wasn’t ready to tell him anything yet. She might never want to.

“There are a lot of factors that went into it,” she answered, after a long pause.

Red looked at Easton. “She just politely told me to go fuck myself, didn’t she?”

Easton laughed, nodding. “I think she did.”

“But she said it so nicely that I can’t be mad,” Red laughed.

Kennedy shook her head. “I did not say anything of the sort. I just don’t know how to answer the question.”

“I think you and Nicole would really hit it off,” Red told her. “Two peas in a pod.”

***

Kennedy was on her third glass of wine when she decided to try and dunk Easton under the water. She took a sip of wine, then gently placed the glass back on the pool deck, right next to the edge. This time, as she set the glass down, she sprang off the wall of the pool and on top of Easton, giving a war cry as she did so.

Her body landed on his with the slap of wet flesh against wet flesh. He was like a mountain, immovable as she crawled onto his shoulders and back.

“What the hell are you doing?” he chuckled, spitting water from his mouth.

“I’m going to hold you under,” she said, and wrapped her legs around his torso, locking on him. She hung on his back, squealing.

“Fine, I’ll take us both down, then,” he yelled, and plunged under.

They sank like a stone in the pool. She ran her hands around to his chest, reveling in the feel of him. Her breasts were pressing into his back as she clutched him tightly.

And then he shot to the surface and took her with him.

They burst out laughing as they came up for air.

“I’m getting out before you do anything else to try and kill me,” Easton said, and he just shook his head and swam to the edge, climbing out. Kennedy couldn’t help but watch the way his shorts clung to his buttocks, which were hard and muscular, and thought about the way his wet skin had felt on hers just now.

Shortly thereafter, she also climbed out of the pool. As she was walking to her towel, the door to the house opened and someone else came outside. At first, Kennedy couldn’t see who it was, because the person was just a silhouette against the outdoor lights.

Kennedy crossed her arms and shivered, until she realized that it was Nicole who must have just gotten home.

“Hey honey,” Red said, walking to her and greeting his wife with a hug.

“Where’s Riley?”

“She was tired so I put her down,” Nicole said.

Kennedy was frozen in place. Now that the moment of truth was upon her, she couldn’t move, speak or even breathe. She was like a baby herself, totally vulnerable and fearful of being exposed.

“We’re just about to come back inside,” Red told her. “We were swimming.”

“You went swimming?”

“They went swimming,” Red clarified. “You remember Easton?”

“Yes, of course,” Nicole said, stepping forward. Easton extended his hand and they shook. He was practically dripping on her.

“Sorry, I’m soaking wet,” Easton said with a tinge of embarrassment in his voice.

“Aren’t those your swim trunks?” Nicole asked Red.

“Uh…yeah…I leant them bathing suits, since they hadn’t thought to bring any.”

Nicole walked further into the light, and she was gorgeous, stunning, and completely intimidating, Kennedy thought. Her eyes lit on Kennedy and narrowed. “I see you also gave away one of my bikinis.”

“Yeah,” Red said. “Just being, you know, hospitable and all.”

“I’m Nicole Jameson,” Nicole said, still a dozen feet away.

Kennedy folded her arms self-consciously over her breasts, aware that her nipples were probably visible through the thin bikini top. “Hello, I’m Kennedy Saunders,” she said. Her confidence gone, her voice shook and wavered.

Nicole gave Red a strange look, turned and walked back inside.

Red gave them an apologetic shrug. “So…we’re going to go inside. Why don’t you two join us when you’ve changed back into your regular clothes? You can leave the wet suits in the cabana.”

He hurried after Nicole, and Kennedy could hear the muted strains of their hushed conversation as they went inside together.

Easton sighed, walking past her toward the cabana. “I don’t think we made a very good impression,” he said.

“No, I don’t think we did either,” Kennedy agreed. Her stomach was in knots and she felt sick and vaguely ashamed. This wasn’t how her first meeting with Nicole was supposed to have gone. Not at all.

Easton went into the cabana and Kennedy followed, quickly stripping off her bikini—actually, Nicole’s bikini—and dropping it into a small bucket that was labeled

“laundry.”

She changed back into her cocktail dress, straightening it and smoothing it the best she could, using the towel to dry her hair off. There was no denying that Nicole had not given her the kind of warm reception she’d been hoping for and even expecting.

Can you blame her? She doesn’t know a thing about you, other than you were in
her house wearing her clothes and flaunting your nearly naked body in front of her
husband and another man.

We were just swimming. Red invited us.

She came out of the cabana to find Easton waiting for her. He gave her a tight smile. “Having fun yet?” he asked.

“Actually, I am. I’m glad you brought me here.”

“And I’m glad you didn’t have a fourth glass of wine.”

“The night’s still young.”

They went back inside to find Red by himself in the sitting room. He gave them another apologetic smile. “Sorry, guys. Nicole was exhausted and had to go to sleep.

She wishes she could have stuck around.”

Kennedy could tell from his eyes that it was a lie—Nicole simply hadn’t wanted anything to do with them.

She’d hated Kennedy on sight.

But although Kennedy had assumed Red would kick them out then and there, he didn’t. He invited them to grab some food together in the kitchen.

Red gathered together snacks and food and laid it out on the table, along with more beer and wine.

They were like three teenagers, or maybe college students, Kennedy thought.

This was how college was supposed to have felt, except she’d never lived any of it—

she’d been too busy “succeeding.”

Red was funny, kind and intelligent. He never pushed too hard on any subject or made anyone feel that he was judging them. She liked him more and more as they spent time together.

Easton was at ease, but not so much as her. She sensed a brooding tension with him that was slowly growing throughout the night. The more Kennedy and Red talked, joked and laughed, the quieter Easton became.

And he drank more.

As another hour passed, Easton was becoming truly drunk, she realized. Even Red saw it.

“Hey, you might want to slow down,” Red told him. “Don’t you have to drive back?”

Easton shrugged. “She can drive.”

Red looked at Kennedy. She was holding a glass of wine. “I don’t think that’s a good idea either,” he replied.

“We’ll take a cab then,” Easton mumbled. His eyes were bloodshot, his lids heavy.

Red looked from Easton to Kennedy and back again. “You know what,” he said, standing up, “why don’t you both just stay the night? We’ve got plenty of rooms here.

Sleep well and drive home early in the morning.”

Easton shrugged, looking away and drinking the last of his beer. He put it down next to a handful of other empty containers on the table. “You’re the boss, boss,” he muttered.

Red looked at Kennedy. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

She nodded. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. But we probably should stay, if that’s all right with you. He’s in no condition to drive and neither am I.”

“It’s fine,” Red said. “I’d hate to have to send you home tonight in a separate car and then have to deal with coming back for his vehicle tomorrow. It’s not even necessary.” He walked toward the hallway. “Follow me and I’ll show you to your accommodations.”

***

Kennedy certainly wasn’t surprised that Red gave them separate rooms, but she was curious to find that he showed them to rooms that were at total opposite ends of the house. He led Easton to his room first, and then walked Kennedy down to hers.

As they made their way along, he glanced at Kennedy. “Have their been any issues between you and Easton so far? I know it can be a real pressure cooker at the office.”