I took a sip of juice and nearly cried. It was the perfect mixture of sweet and pulp. “We gonna go bungee jumping on Thanksgiving?”
“Nah.” Wes put some of the roll in his mouth. “We’re going to skinny dip.”
I choked on my juice.
“Of course, we can’t do that in broad daylight. After all, what would Melda say? Swimming lessons first, nak*dness second.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask what third is.” I didn’t chance looking at him and losing my composure. I mean, I hadn’t kissed a guy before him.
“Kiersten,” he purred, his lips close to my ear. “You mean to tell me you don’t know what comes after being nak*d?”
Oh. My. Hell. Somebody open a window. His hand grazed my arm as he chuckled deeply into my ear. My body was tense with nervousness and anticipation as his hand made its way up to my shoulder and then he cupped my neck pulling me closer so our lips were nearly touching.
“Cranberry sauce.”
“Wh-what?” I shook my head. “That comes after being nak*d?”
Wes’s eyes lit up. “Of course, I mean that is how you wrote the list right? Or am I missing a few in between?” He tapped his fingers against his lips. “Maybe I have it mixed up, but I’m pretty sure you still haven’t done that.”
I shook my head no, not trusting myself to speak.
“Then it’s settled.”
“Right.” My voice was hoarse. “Swimming. Naked. Cranberry sauce.”
“SNC.”
“Awesome, like a code.”
Wes pulled back and popped some more food into his mouth. “Exactly.” He reached into his pocket and then his gaze furrowed for a few brief seconds before he pulled something out and kept it in his hand.
My eyes were trained on his hand as he kept it clenched tight.
Weird.
I turned my head and looked back out at the Puget Sound.
“So…” Wes’s hands were both empty as he braced himself on either side of my chair, his hands massaging my shoulders. “What do you say we eat some more breakfast and then go get ready for a morning swim?”
“Is it going to be cold?” I asked like a five-year-old not wanting to take swimming lessons.
“Heated pool,” Wes answered. “Besides, it’s not as if you won’t have me to warm you up.”
“Probably shouldn’t be doing any warming when we’re nak*d.”
“You sure about that?” His hands froze on my shoulders. Holy crap, what was I supposed to say?
“I mean, that’s wilderness 101, nak*d bodies rubbing together to create heat, friction—”
“Good thing we aren’t in the wilderness.” I laughed, trying to kill the sexual tension that was making me want to turn around and throw myself at him.
“I’d say it’s a pity.” Wes’s hands left my shoulders. I almost slumped over onto my plate but kept my body rigid. “Need a suit? I can grab you an extra if you do.”
I didn’t even want to think about why they would have extra suits.
“Lots of parties, people leave suits. All of them are clean I promise.”
“Yeah.” I swallowed. “A suit would be good then.”
He was gone for maybe five minutes before he returned with a white bikini. Surely that wasn’t all they had left?
My eyes narrowed.
He grinned. “What are you waiting for? Take it.”
“Will it cover anything?”
“The important parts.” He held it out to me. “Come on, live a little.”
I snatched it from his grip. “If I die from hypothermia…”
“Not possible.” Wes shrugged. “Not unless you decide to take a midnight swim in the Sound, and I would advise against it, since that giant squid seems to think it’s a cool place to live.”
“Noted.” Did I mention I hated fish? Or the fact that the reason I didn’t ever go diving with my parents was because water terrified me? Maybe that’s why the nightmares were worse for me than someone else. I couldn’t imagine dying a watery death. I was terrified of it. Ever since I fell in the pool when I was three, I hadn’t been able to go near it without feeling weak in the knees.
Well, Wes would find out soon why this was on my list, so I might as well tell him before I jumped into the water and made a fool out of myself. I went into the bathroom and shakily took off my clothes, then donned the white bikini. Little triangles covered my boobs, just barely, and the bottoms were strings tied to little patches for the front and back. Holy crap I looked like a prostitute. I mean, the suit looked fine for a stripper.
I leaned against the porcelain sink and took a few deep breaths. I could do this. I would do this. I was halfway through my list.
“Get it together, Kiersten.” I stared at my reflection in the mirror, my red hair hung down to the middle of my back in thick waves. My green eyes stared back in a terrified fashion, as if my insides were begging me not to go through with it.
“I can do this,” I repeated, my fingers still clutching the sink. “I will do this.” With a final jerk, I pulled away from the counter and opened the door. I shook the entire way down the hall. By the time I reached the door to the back porch and pool, my hands were shaking so bad it looked like I was a druggie in need of a hit.
“You can do this,” I whispered again and opened the door.
Cold air hit me immediately. Whose brilliant idea was it again to go swimming in November? Oh right, mine. Teeth chattering, I walked over to the edge of the pool and nearly had a heart attack when Wes’s hand touched my shoulder.
“Ready?” he asked.
No. I swallowed and gave him one jerky nod.
With an understanding smile, he pulled me into his warm embrace. His body was searing against mine, the only thing dividing us was our suits and quite honestly it scared the heck out of me that I wanted nothing between us, that I wanted to be pressed against him and only him. I could almost forget about the pool, forget about the terror.
“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered in my hair. “I’ve got you.”
“Promise?”
“I promise, I won’t let you fall, not on your own. I won’t let you drown. I won’t release your hand until you’re ready and even then I won’t turn my back on you until you’re safely back on the ground.”
“Okay.”
“Really?” He stepped back.
“Yes, just we need to be fast.”
“Ah, music to every man’s ears.” He laughed aloud and helped me step into the pool.
Chapter Thirty-Three
She has absolutely no idea what she does to me… She’s my medicine, my cure, my everything. If only hearts could heal that way — through someone else’s beating.
Weston
“There you go.” I helped her down the first stair into the giant pool. It was one of those infinity ones; at first glance it looked like the pool ran directly into the Sound instead of off a nice little cliff leading to the hot tub.
“It’s warm.” Kiersten splashed her feet a bit and looked up at me, the brightest, sexiest smile I’d ever seen on her lips. It was hopeful and completely trusting in me, and in us. I should have told her then. Told her that I wasn’t the hero she thought I was. Nah, I was keeping something epic from her, which sort of made me the villain in this tale. But damn, I wanted to be the hero. Gabe’s words haunted me.
“Don’t tell her.” His damn voice blared in my head, reminding me that I needed to let her make her own decisions, that when the ball did drop, I allowed it to stay in her court, not mine.
“Do yourself a favor. Let her be the one to make that choice in the end, not you.”
Kiersten wasn’t like other girls; she probably wouldn’t run away from me. No, she’d cling. She’d make me feel worse about my future, and in the end she’d hate me for taking away her choice. I didn’t—
“Wes?” Kiersten’s hand cupped my cheek. “Where’d you go?”
“Sorry. Thinking.” I offered her a grin and stepped down to the second stair. “Alright, keep going.”
Kiersten’s hand tensed in mine but she stepped down.
“See?” I splashed some of the water with my hand. “No big deal, super easy. The water’s nice.”
“Nice,” she repeated with her teeth chattering. “Right, it’s nice.” She took the final stair, bringing the water level to her waist. Damn, she looked good in that suit. So maybe some of my past was coming back to haunt me. I was acting like a selfish ass, but I’d been wondering for weeks what she’d look like in a bathing suit. I’d wanted to see every inch of that glowing skin. I’d wanted to watch the sunlight reflect off her hair.
Couldn’t a dying man at least have one last wish? Even prisoners on Death Row were given a last meal — she was mine.
“Come on.” I swam backward and let the water wash over my chest. It was comfortably heated at ninety degrees, almost like a giant hot tub.
With a curse, Kiersten walked toward me, the water rising to her br**sts. I knew I was acting like a complete guy, but I stared, and then was suddenly so jealous of the water touching her in spots I never could, that I swore and looked away.
“Wes?” Kiersten reached out and grabbed my arm. “I’m freaked, and like I said, I want to get this done as fast as possible.”
“Ah, stop saying that, you’ll hurt my ego.”
“Fine.” Her teeth chattered some more. “I’m excited—” She looked like she was walking to her death. “—to get started, so can we, just… swim?”
“Sure.” I grinned. “First lesson…”
“What?”
“Float.”
“I can’t.”
“Everyone floats.”
“I don’t know how.”
I sighed and looked into her eyes. “Do you trust me?”
She nodded slowly.
“Okay, then lean back. Feel my hand? I won’t let you drown, and it’s not deep enough for that to happen in the first place, lean back and relax, think about something happy.”
“I’m too terrified to think.” Her body was stiff as a board as she leaned against my hand and began to float.
“Think about kissing.” My hands moved from her back to her butt as I held her body in a plank position. “Think about my hands running slowly over your body until all you can do is think about what I’m going to do next.”
“What are you going to do next?” Her voice was quieter, her breathing labored as she lay in my arms, trusting me.
“I’m going to devour you with my eyes. I’m going to look at every inch of skin, memorize it, store it in the little box in my head labeled the most beautiful girl in the world. I’m going to hold you until you’re ready for me to let go, and then, when you float on your own, I’m going to keep staring, keep wanting, keep desiring, until I have to go jump into the Sound.”
Her body went limp against my arms.