Tell Me You're Mine (The British Billionaires #1) - J. S. Scott Page 0,70

the prize.”

He grinned as he looked up at me. “I’ll get my prize when you take off that ridiculous thing you’re wearing and get into the pool.”

Okay. My coverup was kind of silly, but I liked flowers. “Easy for you to say since you have a perfect damn body,” I grumbled.

“Yours is perfect, too,” he replied. “Or are you just shy because your entire body is covered in bad dragon tattoos?”

I felt my lips start to curve up in a small smile. I knew what he was up to, and it was working. A little. Damian was trying to make me laugh, and realize that I had no reason to feel self-conscious.

“Of course it isn’t,” I shot back, playing along. “I’ve always much preferred unicorn tattoos.”

“Now you’ve got me dying to see them, beautiful. Take it off.”

He knew damn well that I wasn’t sporting any kind of ink on my body, but his casual badgering was making me relax.

“Just for the record,” he added. “You’ll be the first female to ever swim in this pool. There’s been no women, bikini-clad or otherwise, in this house at all.”

I melted.

It was a home made to impress, yet Damian had never welcomed a female guest?

“Don’t say you weren’t warned,” I muttered as I started to lift the only article of clothing standing between me and embarrassment.

I flipped it over my head determinedly, and tossed the garment onto a nearby lounger.

“Don’t get in,” Damian said hoarsely. “Not yet.”

My entire body flushed bright pink as his eyes roamed over every tightly hugged curve, from the top of my head to my toes.

Finally, he met my eyes, and his covetous, hungry look told me everything I needed to know.

For some strange, unknown reason, Damian liked what he saw.

“How in the world could you see yourself as anything other than gorgeous?” he asked in a husky tone.

Frustrated, I did a twirl around slowly. “There’s not a single thing that’s gorgeous about me.”

It wasn’t like I enjoyed being self-conscious, but when I was beside a man like Damian, it was hard not to find every single flaw I had.

Granted, I was fit from swimming, diving, and all of the other physical exercise I did in the pursuit of fun in California, but the extra pounds I carried still stuck to my ass and hips like glue.

“Come here,” Damian demanded in his panty-dropping baritone.

He held his arms up, and I leapt, already knowing he’d catch me.

Even though the pool was heated, I still gasped from the shock of my body hitting the water. Damian kept me from submerging very far, but my hair was wet when he tightened his grasp and hauled my body against his.

“Don’t ever doubt yourself, Nicole,” he rasped. “I hate it. You’re gorgeously tall and curvy. You should be flaunting it. Or wait…maybe not, because seeing another man look at you like I do would make me fucking insane. But you should know that a lot of guys are going to salivate over a woman like you. And I happen to be one of them.”

I let go of a sigh as I put my hands on his shoulders to steady myself. “I’ve never met one who did. Even my high school prom date backed out of our date at the last minute because I towered over him, even in low-heeled shoes. I guess he’d never bothered to actually stand right next to me before. I was heartbroken. We were supposed to hang out with Kylie, Macy, and their dates. Instead, I stayed home and watched TV with Mom, and my date found a last-minute fill-in who was shorter than he was. After that first humiliation, I guess I just learned to settle. Somewhere along the way, I lost my confidence in how I looked, and I never quite got it back.”

Damian stroked the wet hair from my face. “You’ve had my dick rock-hard since the moment we met. Your prom date was an insecure idiot. And you should never have to settle for whatever affection a guy is willing to give you. You should demand whatever you want, Nicole, and if some guy won’t give it to you, crush him with a high-heeled shoe, and move on. No…scratch that, because you’ve already met a man who salivates over you. You don’t need another one.”

My heart tripped as I saw the longing glint in his gorgeous eyes. I wasn’t sure why I had such a hard time believing that Damian found me irresistibly sexy, but God,