Read Online All the Pretty Lies by M. Leighton - Free Book Online Page B

She
lunges, I evade. “Don’t hurt yourself, little girl,” I mock as she
leaps to try and get a hold on my arm.
    “I’m not a little girl,” she demands,
hurling herself at me. I sidestep her and she splashes into the
water.
    “Prove it,” I tease playfully.
    Sloane stops. Just stops. She stops and
watches me. Through her spiky eyelashes, I can see flecks of gold
in the chocolate of her eyes. I can see that her suckable lips are
parted slightly and I can see that her chest is heaving as a result
of our play.
    She raises her hands to smooth her hair away
from her face. It stretches her bathing suit top tight across her
tits, plainly displaying her hard little nipples. For a second, it
feels like I’m watching a Sports Illustrated shoot.
    I let my eyes roam her curves. Droplets ease
their way down her throat and into the valley between her breasts.
Her stomach contracts with each breath. Her thighs move
rhythmically through the swirling water as she walks toward me.
    When I raise my gaze back to her face, I see
that her eyes are fixed on mine. She holds me there until she
reaches me and stops again.
    She tilts her face up toward mine. Other than
that, she doesn’t move. Doesn’t speak. She’s close enough that I
can feel her body heat despite the cool water bathing my skin.
    I see her reach out. I feel her warm hands
when she grips my sides. I watch her pull herself up onto her
tiptoes. I hold my breath as her lips get closer and closer.
    And then they’re touching mine.
    The kiss is soft and innocent and fleeting.
And when she leans back, I see that there is, in fact, a
woman behind the guileless eyes that I see every time I close mine.
There’s a woman in there, and she knows what she wants. Maybe I’ve
not given her enough credit. Maybe I missed seeing it at first,
when I got lost in her sweet smile and blushing cheeks. Maybe she’s
more like the women I’ve known than what I suspected.
    Yes, this girl knows what she wants. And,
while she may not be as deliberate in getting it as the others I’ve
bedded, she still knows how to use what she’s got.
    And she’s using it.
    Right now.
    On me.
    When she leans into me again, I go into the
kiss with the intention of leading Sloane out into the deeper water
and showing her just what she’s asking of me. And showing her a
little taste of just what she’ll get.
    But before any of that can happen, she
flinches, pulling away from me with a gasp.
    “Ouch!” At first it seems like she stepped on
something. But then I hear the air hiss between her teeth again and
she cries out. “Oh shit! Something just bit me.”
    She darts away from me, swishing the water
around her like she’s trying to scare something away. She screeches
and grabs her right leg.
    “Ohmigod, Hemi, something bit me!”
    I can see that she’s not kidding. And that
she’s getting more upset by the second. I kick into action.
    Moving as quickly as I can through the
churning water, I sweep Sloane up into my arms and I run her to the
shore. I drop to my knees in the wet sand, laying her gently in
front of me. I see the cringe marring her beautiful features, her
expression one of pain. She’s paler than usual, too.
    “Show me where,” I command.
    Sloane indicates the outside of her right
thigh. That’s when I see the angry red slashes filled with angry
red dots.
    A jellyfish sting.
    “You’ve been stung by a jellyfish,” I say by
way of explanation. “Hold still.”
    I check her skin to make sure there are no
tentacles attached. When I confirm that there aren’t, I stand.
    “You’re not gonna pee on me, are you?” she
asks, her eyes slightly horrified despite the pain she’s in.
    I can’t help but grin. “No, I just need to go
get something. Stay put. I’ll be right back.”
    I run up the beach to where our stuff is.
Luckily we’d almost made our way back to where we started. I grab
the tube of sunscreen from Sloane’s bag and retrace my steps. It
only takes me a few seconds to