The Neighbor's Son (The Forbidden Love Series: Book 1) (4 page)

"Do you want another glass?"

"Nope. You know what would really help
me cool off?”

I narrowed my eyes at him.
“What?”

“
A quick swim in this
magnificent pool of yours.”

“
I have no problem letting
you in the water, but how are you going to go for a swim without a
bathing suit?”

With his hands stuck in the front
pockets of his shorts, Cade wiggled his eyebrows at me while
dragging his teeth over his lower lip. I shook my head furiously
and let out an exaggerated gasp when I figured out what he was
hinting at.

“
No way. Absolutely not.”
I turned my back to him and began to walk back towards the deck.
“There’s no way I’m letting you swim in my pool naked.”

“
Why not?” Cade asked
while chasing after me.

I stopped, turned around and scoffed at
the audacity of the question. “Why not? Are you kidding
me?”

“
I don’t see what the big
deal is. It’ll be just a quick swim. And you don’t have to watch me
swim…unless you want to…” There it was again…the maddening lip
bite. I wanted to slap him silly.

“
I said no.”

“
Why? Who am I
hurting?”

I kept shaking my head at him. “Someone
could peek their head over the fence and see you. The last thing I
need is one of these nosy housewives seeing the neighbor’s kid
swimming naked in my pool. You may be new to the neighborhood, but
I’ve lived here for more than a decade. This is a small town. There
are no secrets here. I don’t want to be known as the sick,
perverted lady who seduces teenage boys and watches them swim naked
in her pool.”

“
I’m not a teenage boy,
Sidney. I’m a grown man.”

“
Nineteen is still a child
in my book. And it’s inappropriate. I’m sorry.”

“
Fine,” Case groaned as he
walked past me and continued towards the deck. “I’ll go back to
work. I’m feeling very dizzy right now, but I’ll go back to work.
For all we know I may be suffering from heatstroke but you don’t
care about that. I'll go back to work. I just hope I don’t pass
out.”

The word “heatstroke” caught my
attention. A heatstroke was a serious health issue that shouldn't
be taken lightly. I followed Cade to the deck. “Really?”

Cade stopped cold and swung around to
face me. He gave me a sad look as I almost bumped into him. “You
know Sidney, if I go back to work feeling like this I may die. If I
drop dead in your backyard, how are you going to explain it to
people? And all because you wouldn't let me take a little swim in
your pool. The world will know how heartless you are. How will you
be able to live with yourself?”

I couldn't tell if he meant all those
things or if he was just pulling my leg. Damn him. While he
gathered his tools with one hand, he held his head with the other
as if he had a headache. The sunburned skin on his face and
shoulders looked pretty painful. I still didn't know if he was
being serious or not about the heatstroke thing, but I wasn't going
to take any chances. Besides, he still had a few more hours to go
before he was done with the deck.

I let out a sharp breath. “Okay, okay.
You can go for a swim." With a wide-toothed, triumphant smile
plastered on his face, Cade made his way back to the pool. I went
after him, already second guessing my decision. “Just make it
quick, okay? I don’t want anyone to see you.”

Cade paid no mind to my pleas. He just
kept walking, undoing the button and zipper of his shorts and
kicking his sneakers off as he reached the edge of the pool. When
those shorts started to slide down his hips, I covered my eyes with
my hands and turned away. I kept my back to him until I heard water
splashing around.

“
The water’s really good.
You should get in,” Cade suggested. His piercing blue eyes sparkled
with mischief while his arms slowly treaded water.

“
Not a chance,” I said
with my arms crossed over my chest. I wanted to look like I was
annoyed at him but was failing miserably. Cade just looked yummier
than ever with strands of wet hair sticking to his forehead and
water dripping down his perfect, angular face. I tried my best to
keep my eyes on his face but my curiosity betrayed me. For a
second, my gaze fell… and holy freaking mother of Heaven. The man
was hung like a barnyard animal. Now I was the one feeling a little
dizzy and disoriented, and my symptoms had nothing to do with the
scorching summer heat.

DANGER! DANGER!

“
Okay, that's enough. I’m
going to go get you a towel,” I said. “When I come back, you have
to get out of the water and get back to work.” Cade let his body
sink to the bottom of the pool, but not before torturing me with
another flash of his adorable dimples. I rushed back inside the
house and grabbed a towel out of the linen closet. When I came back
outside, I found Cade doing all sorts of fancy swimming strokes up
and down the length of the pool like a freaking Olympic swimmer. He
was so into it, he didn’t even notice I was back.

I was starting to get really worried. I
had a next door neighbor who was always peeking her head over my
fence every time she heard activity in my backyard. That woman was
the biggest blabbermouth in the entire neighborhood. I was afraid
she’d make an appearance and find Cade, the new neighbor’s kid,
swimming in my pool in all his naked glory. I needed to get Cade
out of the water and back in his clothes as soon as
possible.

“
Okay, Cade. That’s
enough. You need to get out of the water now,” I whispered while
waving him over with dramatic hand gestures. Cade stopped doing
laps and went back to treading water while standing in the center
of the pool.

“
But I just got in. Just a
little longer, please. The water is so good.”

“
No,” I snapped. “You need
to get out now.”

“
Come on, Sidney. Get in.
Swim with me,” he said, pointing his chin at me. His voice sounded
more sensual than ever.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t
tempted. Cade looked absolutely scrumptious, but I couldn’t let my
lust overrule my good judgment.

“
I’m not kidding around
Cade. You need to get out of the water. Now.” My tone was harsh and
so was my expression.

Cade let out a big, mocking sigh and
began to swim towards me. The wicked expression on his face
vanished and an unreadable one took its place. “Okay, okay. I’ll
get out. No need to get upset, doll.”

I dropped the beach towel at the edge
of the pool, took a few steps back and turned around so he could
get out of the water, dry himself off and get dressed.

“
Ouch,” Cade cried out. I
swung around to find him still in the water and looking down at
something. His face was twisting with pain.

“
What? What’s wrong?” I
asked.

“
I stepped on something. I
think I’m bleeding,” he said, bending down and looking like he was
grabbing his foot.

“
That’s not possible. I
just had that pool cleaned three days ago.” I walked over and stood
on the edge of the pool. When I felt Cade’s hands wrapping around
the back of my calves, I knew I had been had. Before I could even
try to jerk away from his grip, I was airborne. The next thing I
knew, I was fully submerged, struggling to keep the water out of my
lungs. I flapped my arms and legs around, trying to get back to the
surface. When I reemerged, I was coughing, gasping for air and
water was coming out of my mouth and nose. I couldn’t see anything
in front of me because a heavy a mat of wet hair was covering my
face. I swept the hair away and found Cade giggling at me from the
opposite side of the pool. I wanted to kill him.

“
Are you out of your
freaking mind?” I shrieked. I was shivering, partly from the
coldness of the water and partly from the rage building inside me.
I shot daggers at Cade with my eyes, but he didn’t care. He just
kept giggling at me while casually treading water.

“
You think this is funny?”
I barked at him.

“
Actually, I do,” he
quipped before swimming toward the shallow end where I was. The
predatory look in his eyes made my stomach flip. I retreated until
my back was pressed against the wall of the pool. Then I froze. I
knew I should have tried to get out of the water before he got to
me. But I just couldn’t move.

Suddenly he was hovering over me, his
naked, wet body just inches away from mine, his lust filled eyes
boring a hole in me, his slightly parted lips begging me to kiss
them. So many times I had fantasized about kissing those lips,
touching that body. The moment was my most forbidden fantasy coming
true but it was also my worst nightmare. I kept looking around,
afraid someone would see us. That’s when Cade moved closer until
his body was pressing against mine. He gripped the edge of the
pool, trapping me under him while the tip of his massive erection
rubbed against my belly. I wanted to step back, but there was no
place for me to go. The pure, blazing lust burning behind his eyes
was too much for me to bare so I dropped my gaze.

“
Please Cade. We can’t do
this,” I mumbled with my head still down.

“
Why not?” he asked before
curling a finger under my chin and tilting my head up. “What are
you afraid of, Sidney?”

“
Someone could see us.
This is wrong.”

“
There’s nothing wrong
about this, Sidney,” he whispered, brushing strands of wet hair
away from my face. He cradled my jaw with one hand while his other
hand gripped the edge of the pool. “You and I are two unattached,
consenting adults who are clearly very attracted to each other.
There’s nothing wrong with this. What we do here today is nobody’s
business. We’re not hurting anyone.”

“
You’re too young for me,
Cade.”

“
You need to stop worrying
about what the world thinks, Sidney and just trust your
instincts.”

I didn’t get a chance to utter another
word. With his head cocked to the side, Cade leaned in, claiming my
lips with the softest, most tender of kisses. His cool, wet lips
lingered on mine, and it was as if I was transplanted to another
planet for a moment. I felt a shiver ripple through me, from the
tip of my toes to the top of my head. When he pulled away, it took
me a second to come back to earth. A short, labored gasp escaped my
lips and I finally opened my eyes. I found Cade studying my face as
if he was waiting for me to react to the kiss. I think he expected
me to get angry and slap him away. I should have gotten angry. I
should have pushed him away and gotten myself out of that pool. But
my mind was too fuzzy with lust and desire for the beautiful man. I
just stared at him, my eyes bouncing from his eyes to his parted
lips and back to his eyes.

Cade leaned in and seized my lips once
more. But this kiss was very different from the one we had just
shared. There was nothing tender or sweet about it. He crushed my
lips with such ferocity and hunger my mind was blown to pieces. The
truth is I had never been kissed like that before in my life. I
didn’t even know I could evoke that type of passion in a man.
Peter, the only man I had ever been with, never kissed me like
that, not even close. Peter’s kisses were often very chaste and
mechanical. To him, passion meant sloppiness. But Cade… Oh my
fucking God. That man knew how to use those perfect lips of
his.

While his tongue furiously plundered
mine, his hands moved to cradle the nape of my neck. He pulled me
in, making sure there wasn't a single corner of my mouth that was
left unexplored. I threw my arms around his neck, moaning into his
mouth while he grunted into mine. The throbbing desire building
between my legs grew more and more unbearable with every swipe of
his tongue against mine. I wanted him as badly as he wanted me and
he knew it. His hands fell from my neck and landed on my ass,
cupping and lifting it until my feet were no longer touching the
bottom of the pool. I wrapped my legs around his waist while our
kiss kept growing more desperate with every passing
second.

“
Oh Cade,” I whispered
when his lips moved to nibble and lick the curve of my neck. With
my breath coming in shallow gasps, I buried my hands in his thick
black hair, tugging at it while my body writhed against his. His
frantic hands began roughing the back of my thighs and calves,
settling briefly on my ass before finding the mounds of my breasts.
The feel of his strong, punishing hands squeezing and stroking me
over the fabric of my shirt drove the last bit of sanity out of
me.

I cried out his name, placing my hands
over his and guiding them as they continued their assault on my
humble breasts. His lips abandoned my neck and made their way back
to my mouth, gasping and grunting against it until he could close
his teeth around my lower lip. While he nipped and tugged at it, I
could feel his erection growing harder. Every muscle in his body
was stiff with anticipation and pent up need. The fact that I was
turning him on that much made my own desire grow to dangerous
levels.

“
I want you so badly,
Sidney,” he breathed against my lips while unwrapping my legs from
his waist. My feet hadn’t touched the bottom of the pool yet when
his hands started to fumble with the button on the front of my
short. At that moment, I heard voices coming from the other side of
the fence and something inside me snapped. What the hell are you
doing Sidney? It finally dawned on me that I was about to have sex
with a guy almost half my age, a guy I just met, in broad daylight.
I had to put an end to it. Going through with it would have been
wrong for so many reasons. My lust for that beautiful boy was
strong, but my sense of decency and propriety was even
stronger.