Chapter 9

Good grief! She was so comfortable with him, and he'd made her so

annoyed, she'd almost forgotten that she wore only a camisole that

didn't cover any part of her lower body. She turned for the quilt —

and he charged her.

Kairi only had time to yelp. She abandoned the idea of the quilt and

ran. Sora laughed behind her.

"A beautiful sight, Kairi!"

She knew her bottom was bouncing and she ran that much faster. But

there was no place to go. Sora was taller, stronger, his long legs

covering twice as much distance in less time. Then his hand snagged

in her shirt and she was jerked off her feet.

She screamed more from excitement than anything else. She didn't

fall. Nope, she found herself tossed over Sora's rock-solid shoulder

with a bird's-eye view of that muscular butt she'd admired only

minutes earlier. "Put me down!"

"Okay."

He headed for the lake and she couldn't stop laughing. "Don't you

dare, Sora!"

He fondled her bottom with a large hand, then kissed her hip.

"Skinny dipping, Kairi. It was your idea, not mine."

"But I —" That was as far as she got before she found herself flying

through the air. Seconds later, the icy cold water closed around her

and she screamed again from the shock of it, swallowing a mouthful

of water.

The ducks protested loudly, taking flight to the shore and making a

racket as she burst to the surface. Kairi shoved wet hair out of her

face, cursed as she whipped around, and found herself not more than

a foot away from Sora. He laughed at her.

The stone bottom of the pond was covered in moss and she barely held

her footing as she took a swing at Sora. He ducked and she ended up

turning full circle, only to find herself hauled up against his

wonderfully hard, warm chest. He kissed her, and she could have

sworn steam rose around them.

"Don't get riled, Kairi," he whispered against her lips. "If

you'd rather not swim right now, I can think of other things to do."

Since his erection nudged against her belly, not the least

intimidated by the icy water, she could well imagine what ideas he

had. In fact, she had them too. "Tell me."

He caught her naked bottom and lifted her into him. "We could go to

the house. Take a nice warm shower..."

"A shower?" That wasn't at all what she'd had in mind.

"Mmm. And I'd make sure I got every little inch of you real clean."

A shower! It was starting to sound like a heck of an idea. "And

then?"

"And then I'd dry you off nice and easy..."

"I don't like the sound of nice and easy. I think I'd rather hurry

things along a bit." The man had far more patience in sexual matters

than she did.

"Ah, but I'll make certain you enjoy every second of it, and I

promise to reward you for your patience."

"How?"

"By kissing you from your head all the way down to your toes, and

some very tasty spots in between."

Kairi blinked at him, her heart lodged in her throat. Her legs felt

rubbery and her pulse raced so hard it was a wonder she didn't cause

waves in the water. She stepped around him.

"Where are you going?" Sora asked.

Kairi kept walking. Her heart thumped so hard, she was amazed Sora

couldn't hear it. "To the house, of course. You've made some pretty

big promises there — now let's see if you can keep them..."