I’d bought it at this fancy store my mom had taken me to. I’d fallen in love with the fresh smell, and I’d secretly thought he would like it, too.
What if I was wrong and he hated it?
Oh God, did I smell awful?
“No, it makes me want to lick you.”
“You’re blushing,” Garrett said with a grin.
“I was thinking about that time you told me you wanted to lick me.”
His grin widened, and he pushed me down farther on the bed, so he could stretch out above me. “It drove me crazy. I’d sit in class and feel like I was swimming in it. It made my mouth water and my dick hard.” His nose moved down my neck as he left a path of kisses. “It still does, and now, I want to rub it all over your body.”
He hadn’t been kidding. He spent an hour rubbing the orange-scented lotion over every inch of my skin, paying special care to my br**sts and the inside of my thighs. He rubbed his circles closer and closer to my core until I was begging him to touch me. By the time his fingers touched my clit, I was so wet and ready that I nearly exploded on contact.
It took us half the day to eat breakfast, shower, and drive over to Garrett’s, so he could change.
“So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?” he asked before shoving a ham sandwich in his mouth.
Besides last night in the restaurant, the man never stopped eating. After he’d changed, he’d placed a soft kiss on my nose and then sauntered into his tiny kitchen where he whipped up two ham sandwiches.
“Oh, did you want one?” he said between bites.
I laughed and jumped in to make my own while answering his previous question. “I don’t know. Why don’t you pick the activity for the day? It is, after all, your first sick day. Better make it count,” I said with a wink.
He’d finished off his sandwich and moved on to a bag of chips as he thought for a moment.
“Hmm…are you sure you want me to decide?”
“Yep,” I answered.
“Okay, but you can’t complain.”
“I trust you.”
“Good. We need to stop back at your house for a bathing suit.”
A bathing suit? How bad could that be?
***
It was bad, really bad.
“Rafting?” I squeaked, looking at the tiny building with the large rafting sign displayed.
We’d broken off the main road and turned down a lone beaten path toward the James River. I’d figured we were going swimming or floating but not rafting.
“You know I don’t do rafts!”
“No, you just haven’t gone before,” he corrected.
“Yes, because I’m terrified!”
“Why?”
“Because the river moves, Garrett. It moves. I don’t want to be in a tiny inflatable boat, floating down the river, with no ability to turn around!”
He laughed and cupped my chin. “You’re being irrational.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “You’re being irrational,” I said, acting like a five-year-old.
His laugh turned into a smirk, and it was infectious. I couldn’t help but grin back.
“Fine,” I agreed. “But if I die, you’re going to feel really bad about it.”
“You’re not going to die, baby. You’ll have me, and for f**k’s sake, it’s the James, not the Grand Rapids!”
My stomach fluttered every time he called me baby. Besides renaming me Mia, it was what he always called me, and hearing him fall back into it so easily made my heart swell.
“Come on, let’s go inside,” he urged.
“Okay.” I was rewarded with a huge grin, one I hadn’t seen in ages, and it made me incredibly happy to be the one who had made him smile again.
With everything he’d been through in the last few weeks, he deserved to smile again.
We both hopped out of Garrett’s car, and he came around the back to walk by my side. His arm went casually over my shoulder, and I naturally melted into him, the two of us falling into a natural rhythm.
The door chimed as we entered the small rafting company. A few other customers milled around, waiting for the scheduled tour to begin. There was a small store set up with snacks, drinks, and a few rafting supplies.
Garrett looked down at my flip-flops and frowned.
“What?” I asked.
“You are going to lose the flip-flops in the water.” His eyes traveled around the store until he found a rack displaying water shoes.
“I’m fine,” I tried to argue.
But he hauled me over to the rack and started sorting through the shoes. He didn’t need to ask me what size I wore. He remembered, picking up a size seven in black and pink.
“Which color, baby?”
I started to disagree, folding my arms over my chest in protest, but he just rolled his eyes and bent down on the ground. He lifted my foot up on his muscular thigh, forcing me to balance on one foot.
“Pink or black, Mia?”
I let out an exasperated sigh, but its effectiveness was lost when my lips curved into a goofy grin.
“Fine. Pink.”
“Good choice. Very girlie.”
He slipped my flip-flop off, and he began to help me put on the water shoes. He pulled the tag off, so he could pay for them whenever the store clerk decided to show up. He’d just finished putting on my right shoe when the store clerk, who was clearly not worried about theft, finally decided to make an appearance.
He was tall and lean, and as he turned around to greet everyone, I heard Garrett mutter a curse under his breath.
Brent’s eyes caught mine, and he instantly smiled. “Well, long time no see. Hello, Mia.” His eyes briefly met Garrett’s in greeting. “Garrett, good to see you again.”
Garrett didn’t say anything in return. He just continued to stare at Brent like he was the devil incarnate.
“So, here to take a trip down the James?”
“Uh…yes,” I answered.
“Good, I’ll be your guide.”
Crap.
“I thought you were in graduate school?” Garrett said with a menacing tone.
My fingers found his and weaved around them. I was hoping my touch would keep him from killing our rafting instructor.
“I am, or was. I just completed my MBA. I’d taken a few years off in between to work for my dad, but I figured it was time to spread my wings.” His white toothy grin grew—along with his arrogance.
Brent’s family came from the same social circle as mine. I’d known him far longer than Garrett, having attended social events with Brent since I was in grade school. His dad was a major player at a corporate bank, and Brent had wanted nothing more in life than to follow in his father’s footsteps.