He looks at me and shakes his head slightly. “Go get your swimsuit, Violet. And relax. It looks like your head's about to explode.”
I frown harder. “I’m fine! You just caught me by surprise, is all. Just…turn around. I can’t undress while you’re looking at me.”
He gets this funny look on his face. He opens his mouth to say something, then shuts it quickly. Shaking his head again, he turns and dives smoothly into the pool. When he resurfaces, he immediately begins to do laps.
I clutch the bottom of my shirt with trembling hands. Am I really doing this? Wait, do I have on nice underwear right now? Oh, God, I can’t do this. My boobs are too big. It will be too embarrassing.
God, don’t over think this, Violet. It’s just swimming in a pool with a friend. An incredibly hot and sexy friend. In our underwear. It’s not like he hasn’t seen me in my underwear before, damn it. He’s not making a big deal out of this, so neither should I. Don’t want him to think I’m a prude. I’m not a prude!
I stand there, agonizing over the prude-ish thoughts in my head. Then something wet grabs my ankle and I scream and flail backwards.
It’s Zane. His dark eyes gleam up at me, made luminescent by the reflection of the lit pool water. His dark hair sticks up in cute little spikes when he runs a hand through it. “What are you doing?”
“Thinking,” I say, patting a hand over my still-racing heart.
“Yeah? About what?”
“Um…I don’t know if I should go swimming. I don’t think I—”
“Let me make this easy on you, then.”
Before I can ask him what he means by that, he lifts himself up, grabs my hand, and tugs. I’m pulled off balance, and with a scream and a huge splash, I’m drowning in the pool!
Okay, maybe I’m not drowning. I break the surface, already yelling at him. “You idiot!”
“You’re welcome!” he yells back. Laughing, he swims away.
Now that the shock has worn off, my tense muscles start to loosen at the pure enjoyment of being in a beautiful pool on a beautiful night, with a beautiful boy. The water is the perfect temperature, cooling my heated skin and gently lapping against my body. I glance over at Zane to make sure he’s not looking, then I quickly struggle out of my shirt and pants under the cover of the water. Thank goodness I’m wearing my black lace bra and matching panties. Nice, but not too revealing.
Okay, this isn’t too weird. I can do this.
I swim over to Zane, and we splash around for a little while before challenging each other to a swim race. He wins, of course. I’m a good swimmer, but his 6’2” frame gives him an unfair advantage. That doesn’t stop me from demanding a rematch or two. I don’t win any of those, either.
After doing a few lazy laps together, we decide to take a break in the shallow end. By this time, I’ve completely forgotten I’m only in my underwear. I lean against the edge of the pool, the water hitting me at the top of my rib cage.
“This is really nice,” I sigh contentedly, tilting my head back to see the star-filled sky.
“Yeah. Really nice.”
Something in the dark tone of his voice makes me look at him. His eyes meet mine, then his gaze slowly lowers down my body. They linger deliberately on my chest, and there's no mistaking what he’s looking at.
I can’t help the audible gasp that escapes me as Zane moves over to me, placing his hands on either side of me on the edge of the pool and caging me in with his body. We aren’t quite touching, but close enough that I can feel the heat of his skin and become dizzy at his nearness.
He lowers his head so he can look me in the eye. “I was wrong,” he says softly.
His proximity is making me squirmy in places I never knew I had. It’s all I can do to try to relearn to breathe and not give in to the sudden ache that is driving me to connect our bodies.
“About what?” I ask in a low voice. My eyes helplessly drop down to his crazy sexy mouth.
That beautiful mouth moves into his familiar half-smile. “I thought I could control myself enough to be with you like this,” he murmurs. “But it turns out, I can’t. You need to go, Violet.”
I’m so surprised, I barely take in the meaning of his words. “What? You go. Wait…why?”
Zane inhales deeply and turns his head to avoid my confusion. “Because,” he says through gritted teeth. “If you don’t , I’m going to kiss you, and if I kiss you, you’re going to end up naked.”
Oh...wait, what?!
Shock and desire have my nerves tingling like I’ve been struck by horny lightning. My heart is doing joyful leaps. He wants me!