Chapter Twelve

Denton

Hell, I'm living in hell and it's all my own doing!

Victor had a playful side that I'd never fully seen and marveled at, or I would have if I wasn't attempting to express to every other guy in the pool—all clambering for his attention—that he was off limits. Victor's shy, flirty smiles set my teeth on edge when he aimed it at anyone else and made it really hard to keep my head in the game and help my team beat the opposing one.

Water polo, I'd discovered, wasn't my kind of sport because a wet and playful Victor was utter torture. He'd had another two potent cocktails, and the extra fruit I'd asked the guy behind the bar to add had made no difference to the effect, it appeared.

Bright, glassy eyes and hands that mercilessly wandered down my body like forty tentacles said karma was having a great time creating this sexy monster. Victor seemed to be everywhere at once and a certain part of me loved it. It just made it hard to remember the rules I was supposed to be following.

I wasn't as bad as Victor, who seemed to forget them the second the whistle blew. He appeared to be playing for both teams, annoying the hell out of the ref who was on the side of the pool, waving his arms around like he was trying to stop a hive of bees from attacking him. All of which Victor failed to notice.

It had all seemed so reasonable on the side of the pool. The referee explained each team required thirteen players with just seven players in the pool at any time. Six field players and one goalie. Each player could only use one hand to hold the ball apart from the goalie, who could use two hands when within five meters of their own goal. No one was allowed to touch the bottom of the pool, again, except for the goalkeeper, so we had to tread water.

Did Victor get any of that? Fuck no! Only it was impossible to be cross with him when he giggled at doing something wrong, offered a shy smile which made it impossible to remember what the heck I was supposed to be doing and keep a focus on my team.

"Sorry, my bad," Victor apologized once more at the sour-faced dude who was clearly taking the game far too seriously.

Victor, who appeared to have turned into a damn siren in the water, swam towards the opposing team to chase the ball. The shyness added to his allure, because it was easy to see it was genuine and not fake. The opposing team gave chase, but Victor didn't have the ball.

Fuck it!

It took all my willpower to wrench the men away when it was obvious Victor wasn't in the least distressed at getting so much attention.

"I'm here," Ollie called out, waving his hands as best he could while keeping afloat as Victor captured the ball, clearly not treading water by his static position.

Next thing, the ball flew in the air and hit an unsuspecting opposing team member… Mr. Polished.

Shit!

The guy spun around fast to glare at Victor, causing a wave of water to splash Leeson in the face. In turn, Victor shot daggers at Mr. Polished, unaware he'd caused the problem in the first place.

I bit my lip to contain my laughter when Victor swam over to Leeson, who was coughing violently.

"You, blondie, you're disqualified," the referee called out.

"Huh… what did I do?" Victor absently rubbed Leeson's back and gave the guy a crooked grin that didn't look in the least bit repentant. It wasn't the first time he'd lobbed the ball at the other guy, who was on the other team. Victor guided Leeson towards where Garrett stood at the edge of the pool, looking concerned.

The ref didn't respond, but Mr. Polished did. "Don't pretend!" he spluttered indignantly, hands going to his skinny hips as he waded to the shallow end, following Leeson and Victor. "You did it on purpose because your boyfriend is more interested in me."

If I hadn"t gone after them, I suspected I'd have missed the hurt look before Victor concealed it with an expressionless mask. Gone was the playfulness, and I wanted to kick Mr. Polished's ass for being such a prick.

My heart kicked up a notch when Mr. Polished jutted out his chin in an aggressive move, looking like he was going to attack Victor. I slipped my arm around Victor's waist, tugging him gently against my chest and out of harm"s way.

"I've got you," I whispered in his ear, then more loudly, "we both know I only have eyes for you, my love."

His full body shudder rocked wet skin against mine and his ass found itself cradled against my cock, getting an indrawn breath from both of us. He went limp, almost impaling himself on my growing erection. "You okay," I asked in alarm, tilting back my hips.

"I don't wanna play any more… in the pool."

Mr. Polished glared at Victor, and I gave him a baleful stare. "Sure," I murmured.

My hands encircled his waist to keep him close, as we headed through the throng of men in the pool who were obviously paying attention to the drama, rather than the ref who was calling out instructions.

At the steps, the blue of the tiles had an edge of white to make them more visible, but that didn't stop me missing the first and stubbing my toes on the second when Victor's backside connected with my cock once more. Any interest I may have had in staying at the poolside disappeared as I worked to keep my cusses to myself.

"Where are you going? The game's not over, there's still one more section to play," Leeson said as we exited the pool.

"It is for us," I replied, not pausing as we passed him and Garrett, both looking bemused. They weren't the only ones when, as I exited the water, my attraction to Victor became more obvious with how my swim shorts clung like a second skin.

"Let's grab our things," I said while doing my best not to let my hand follow the path of the water running down the pretty pink skin of Victor's back to his bubble ass.

Back at the loungers, I silently grabbed the bag with the sun cream, suite key and our wallets along with our towels, getting a grin from Beckett, who hadn't opted to play.

"See you at dinner," he murmured.

Flinging both towels over my shoulder, making sure one dangled over the front of my swim shorts, I nodded. "Sure thing."

The silence continued and I picked up the tension coming from Victor, who didn't look in my direction as we left. Then I caught sight of Mr. Polished out of the corner of my eye, and I switched the bag to my other hand so I could reach for Victor's.

He cast a look in my direction, his brows rising as he threaded his fingers through mine. The simple touch, the act of holding hands in public, gave me a spark of deep-seated happiness. It felt right. Felt like he really was my boyfriend, like he'd declared.

Even inside the ship, away from prying eyes, he never let go as we walked back to our room. There was sexual tension between us, I wasn't wrong. I just wasn't sure how to make my next move.

Inside our room, I kicked the door closed and dropped the bag. It thudded at my feet unnoticed as I stepped to Victor, one thing on my mind—kissing him.

His eyelashes fluttered and lowered to conceal his thoughts from me.

"I want to kiss you," I murmured softly, not wanting to break the mood.

In a move that was sexy as fuck when it came with a bashful smile, he slipped his hand along the sensitive skin above my shorts. The muscles beneath the simple touch quivered and my aching cock pushed against the damp material, letting Victor know I wasn't unaffected by the move. When his hand came to rest on my hip, he rose onto his toes. His plump lips parted, and I could scent the fruity alcohol when he ran the tip of his tongue over his full bottom lip before his eyelids dipped once more.

"Okay."

The breath I'd held whooshed out of my lungs at the simple reply.

I searched his expression as I let go of his hand to cup his cheeks, making him look at me. "This… I'll go at your pace… whatever you want, love."

I had no idea how long we stood like that, but my lungs were screaming by the time he came forward and ever so softly brushed his mouth over mine.

His pace. His pace! Fuck it all to hell and back.

I groaned at the back of my throat as the kiss remained as gentle as a breeze on a summer evening. It sent flutters of delight somewhere in the center of my chest. I held my need on a tight rein, wanting desperately to let Victor do what he wanted, no matter how I ached to deepen the kiss.

When Victor eased back all flushed and wearing a curious expression, I'd never come closer to losing my composure. He looked so fucking gorgeous. Breathtaking.

He came close again and ran the tip of his tongue over my lower lip as if chasing my taste. A sexy fucking move if ever there was one. The eroticism of it left me gasping for air, hands dropping to my sides to clench tightly to stop me dragging him to the bed. There was a bite of pain as my fingernails dug into flesh, which made no difference to the violent urges.

His wet chest touching mine broke me. "Can I touch you?" The strangled sounding voice that came out of me was that of a stranger.

He reached for my hands and placed them on his hips in a way that added to the sexual tension fizzing between us, adding to the euphoric moment. Then he rose once more, and the kiss was soft, explorative. Just lips moving softly over mine with a definite edge of hunger that sent fire through my veins. The last guy I'd dated had been all about getting to the end result. Quick, hard fucks.

What we were doing was the polar opposite and so much more of a turn on. My cock throbbed in time to my pulse, and I worked to keep my position so as not to frighten Victor. When his lips parted and he encouraged me to open to him, there was the sweetness of the drinks he'd consumed but also an underlying taste that was all Victor. Staying still and letting him control the situation was hard and easy in equal measures.

There, in the back of my consciousness, was his past trauma and I wanted him to be the one who led, who said how far we'd go. No matter how much I wanted him naked, I wanted his trust more. The problem with that was the tentative kisses were better than any aphrodisiac and they were taking apart my control piece by piece. To experience his desire in this way… it was fucking hard to not want to show him how I felt.

When he pulled back, looking dazed and oh so fuckable, I released a shuddery breath. "Fuck, you're so beautiful, I could kiss you all day and never want to stop," I murmured unintentionally. The thought came out before I could get my head online.

"I am? You do?" he replied shakily.

The need to reassure came with the hate at how Davey had treated this beautiful man. I gently ran my hands over his shoulders, trying to convey the truth, only the skin under my hands felt warmer than it should. Was the heat of his skin from excitement?

It radiated against my skin and when I pulled my head from my lusty thoughts, it struck what the issue was. "Shit! You"ve got sunburnt!" I exclaimed in worry, making me sound a little harsher than normal.

Victor blinked dazedly up at me. "Huh?"

"Your skin is boiling, we need to get you in a cool shower and put some after sun on."

"Huh," he repeated, a furrow appearing between his brows.

Goddamnit, he looked adorable, making it hard to resist him. Resist I did when taking care of him was top of my priorities.

"Love, you got a little burnt in the sun." I skimmed a finger over the top of his shoulder, where the once pale skin now glowed a deep red. "I thought I'd put plenty of cream on you. What factor was the lotion? We should have put more on your shoulders before you got in the pool."

I was cross with myself for not doing exactly that after getting distracted by adding more to his back and legs. Clearly, I'd forgotten his shoulders.

He glanced towards where I was touching, and the frown deepened. "I'm red!" he exclaimed, like I hadn't just said it.

I chuckled and tugged him towards the bathroom. "You need to shower off the sunscreen and chlorine and I'll rub some after sun on for you."

In the bathroom, he stared at me with big blue eyes that were brighter than the sky and begging for something that clearly wasn't what we were about to do. I hesitated when he made no move to undress and continued to hold my gaze.

"Do you want me…" I swallowed, my throat clicking, "to help wash off the sunscreen first?" What he was potentially wanting gave my cock a boost of adrenaline and it perked up again after the worry for him.

Sucking his plump lower lip between teeth, his eyelids dipped and he nodded quickly.

Fuck!

You can do this.

You can do this!

No… yes… no… Oh, fuck you, karma!