Stopping in front of the door, I turn around. Tyler’s staring at me with a look I can’t quite place, and I don’t know that I want to because I don’t need to get any more involved with him. Spinning around, I reach for the door but hesitate.

“You and I both know you aren’t going inside,” he says, and I swear I can hear the smile on his lips.

“I don’t know what the fuck you want from me, Tyler!” My voice echoes across the empty pool deck, and I cringe. That statement came out much louder than I meant for it to.

He walks toward me much like a predator stalking its prey. My heart slams against my ribs. My breath falls ragged.

“Simple.” He grabs me by the waist, his fingers digging into my side. “Stop lying to yourself.”

“I’m not.” My pulse is thrumming. He’s right in my face, and all I can smell is his Dolce and Gabbana.

One corner of his mouth lifts to a smirk. “Really? How sure are you about that?” He backs me toward the water and within a few steps, I feel the concrete beneath my bare feet turn into the slick edges of the tiled pool.

I swallow. “Tyler…”

His eyes drop to my lips before he pushes me backward. My back hits the cold water with a splash, and I sink to the bottom. Seconds later, I hear the muffled gurgle of him jumping in after me. When I surface, he’s right beside me, smiling.

“I hate you,” I say.

“I couldn’t help it.”

“This dress is dry clean only…”

There’s a flash in his eyes as he backs me toward the pool wall. My shoulders hit the rough concrete. His hands are on my waist again, slowly sliding up my sides. “That’s what you get for lying.”

“Tyler, I’m not—”

“One kiss, that’s all I want. One fucking kiss to prove that you’re not lying, titch.”

And before I can form words, his lips are on mine. Something inside tells me not to kiss him back, that this is bad. This is very, very bad, but don’t we all like to feel like a dirty little whore sometimes? His large hands cup my face, and the way he touches me—I can’t not kiss him. I tilt my head, parting my lips to allow his tongue to dip inside my mouth. His wet chest presses against mine, his hold on my face tightens and the kiss grows more desperate, needier.

When Tyler kisses me, I swear it’s as though the boundaries between our bodies melt away, and we become one person. It’s always been like that, and only with him. My very soul bleeds into his with this kiss, my body betrays me because as much as I want to say I don’t want him, he’s right. It’s a damn lie. His lips press over my throat and with each hard breath he releases, chill bumps race over my wet skin. Teeth rake over my neck, forcing a slutty moan from my lips as he glides his hands over the soaked material of my dress and groans. Before I know it, he’s ripped the straps down and is squeezing my exposed breasts while pressing his hard dick against me.

“You fucking liar,” he says in a growl before grabbing the back of my thighs to lift me up. Instinctively, I wrap my legs around his waist. “I hate when you lie to me.”

Fisting my hair, he kisses me with a refined brutality, in a way that would leave any woman weak and at his mercy. My hands fall beneath the water, rubbing over the defined ridges of his stomach on the way to the waist of his jeans. The whirring of the pool pump drowns out the noise from the party as Tyler walks us away from the lights of the house, wading deeper into the pool. His hand slides down the small of my back and across the top of my thigh, every last inch of my skin heating beneath his touch. His finger brushes the lace of my thong. Even in the water, I can feel how wet I am.

“Oh,” he smirks. “What a fucking liar you are,” he says as he rubs beneath the edge of my panties, feeling how turned on I am.

He teases my entrance. I grab his face to kiss him, but he turns his head, sucking one of my fingers into his warm mouth. And then, he sinks his finger inside me, my body involuntarily clenching around it. Tyler pulls my bottom lip into his mouth and bites down on it. Moaning, I push my hips against his hand. He slips another finger in up to his knuckles, resting his forehead against mine and staring into my eyes. He fucks me with his hand. Hard. Rough. Gentle. Slow. His thumb circling my clit the entire time. My body tenses, my back bows, and when I’m teetering on the brink of all that built up tension releasing. He stops moving.

His lips lay next to my ear, his hot, uneven breathes fanning over my cooled skin. “Tell me you lied.”

“Tyler!” I swat at his chest and water splashes up.

“Tell me.” His thumb glides over my clit, causing my body to jerk.

“Fine. Fuck. I lied.”

He shoves his fingers deeper inside me, bending them to rub over that one perfect spot. Then he stops again.

“Tell me you missed this.”

“Ugh.” I grit my teeth. “I missed it.”

“And…” There he goes over my clit again, this time pinching it between his fingers and tugging on it. Fuck me. A moan slips from my lips. “Tell me you want me,” he says.

“Goddamn it. I want you to get me off and stop with this bullshit.”

Laughing a deep, throaty laugh, he traces his tongue over the shell of my ear, and with just a few slight movements of his hand, my fingers are digging into his shoulders, my head falling back, and I’m moaning like a whore in heat. The moment I open my eyes I’m met with his intense stare. A slight smirk plays over his lips as he pulls his hand from the water and slips his fingers, one by one, into his mouth. “Fuck me, Jemma. I have never wanted anyone the way I want you.”

Hands. Mouths. Teeth—we’re all over each other. And in a split second, his shirt’s over his head, my thong is floating in the water, and his pants are undone, his hard cock sliding and slipping against me.

“Oh, my God.” A girly laugh bounces around the pool deck. “Who’s…Oh…Ohhhh!”

I panic and grab the top of my dress, covering myself up as I push away from Tyler.

“Tyler? Is that…” Brandi says, and the childish lilt in her voice makes me cringe. I don’t like her calling him by his real name. It feels so dirty. “What are you doing?”

He doesn’t even look at her. He just makes his way to me, grabbing me and kissing me again.

I press my palms flat against his bare chest. “Tyler, stop,” I whisper, backing away again.

“Brandi,” he says with an edge to his voice, “go the fuck away.” He reaches for me again, but I jerk away.

That one second without him touching me is all it takes to clear the sex-fog that’s clouding my mind. I can’t do this with him. I won’t do this to myself.

His eyes narrow and he frowns “Don’t do this,” he whispers.

“I…I can’t.” The back of my calves hit the steps, and I spin around, clutching my dress to my chest as I climb out of the pool. Brandi glares at me as I make my way toward the house.

“Titch!”

I don’t turn around. I grab the door and hurry inside, dripping wet. Hudson’s eyes land on me, his brow wrinkling in confusion. “Uh, you fall into the pool, chicken?”

“I just…I need a towel.”

“Bathroom’s down the hall. Help yourself.” The backdoor slams shut and Tyler calls my name again. “Oh, I see what happened here,” Hudson laughs.

I’m almost to the bathroom when someone grabs onto my elbow and spins me around.

“Jemma,” Tyler says.

“Stop,” I say as I push into the bathroom and flip on the lights.

“No.” The door closes and the lock clicks. “You stop.”

I stare at my reflection in the mirror. My hair’s matted to my head, my mascara’s all over the place, and my face is flushed. There is no coming back from this. And you want to know why? Because I fucking lied to myself. I told myself I could handle this. That it didn’t matter to me that he did porn because there would never be an “us” again when the truth is, when someone has meant as much to you as Tyler has, that idea of “us” never goes away.

Tyler grabs a towel from the linen closet and wraps it around my shoulders. “You can’t run away from this, Jemma. You can’t.”

And, right now, I want to punch him. Fuck him for not letting me.