“No.” The firmness in Holden’s tone stopped me. “You were in here first. I’ll go. You get back in.” When he stood up, water sluiced down his taut chest and defined abs. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t stop staring. He spread his arms out. “It’s clear you’re leaving on my account, and I don’t want it on my conscience when you fail your challenge.”
His words made me feel like a bitch. Had I really made it that obvious that I was leaving because of him? God, how petty did that make me seem? He stepped past me, his swim trunks skimming my thighs. I shivered. The water beckoned me. The last thing I wanted to do was leave, so I might as well get back in. But the truth was that deep down I didn’t want Holden to leave either. Seriously, what was wrong with me?
“I wasn’t leaving because of you,” I lied.
Holden’s head craned in my direction. “You weren’t?”
I shook my head, my gaze flickering to the clock on the wall near the spa. “I thought it was later than it was, but I think I can stay a few more minutes.”
With a slight bob of his head, Holden turned around making his way back down the steps. His lips curved upward at the edges. As he neared me, my heart picked up speed. “I guess I can too.” His gaze collided with mine, and I held my breath. My legs shook when he reached me. He was so close our chests almost touched. With a grin, he moved around me, his arm brushing mine. Then he sat on the same bench I’d been sitting on. He scooted over to allow enough room for me. As I took the empty space beside him, I mentally chastised myself. This was a mistake. That was obvious. And yet it was a mistake I wanted to make. Honestly, even if it ended badly I wasn’t even sure I’d regret it. Holden was the kind of guy that music lyrics were written about. He was the kind of guy a girl threw caution to the wind for. A guy so charming his presence eclipsed everything else.
As if proving my point, the elderly gentleman climbed out of the spa. I blinked, realizing I hadn’t even known he was still in here. Once Holden stepped into the spa, I’d lost all awareness of my surroundings.
“Let me see.” I almost jumped out of my skin when Holden’s fingers circled my wrist. The skin-on-skin contact stunned me. With tenderness he picked my arm up and studied my hands. “Nope. Your goal has not been reached. It’s a good thing you got back in.” His eyes found mine.
I smiled, willing my heart to slow. It was beating so erratically I feared I would go into cardiac arrest. Wouldn’t that be a crazy headline? Teenage girl dies of heart attack at the gym, but she wasn’t even working out. “Yeah, it’s a good thing.”
Dropping my arm, he turned his body angling it toward me. “You lied to me, you know.”
My insides coiled into knots. Was he going to bring up the marching band?
“You said you came in here every night, but that wasn’t true. I was here four nights in a row and you never showed.” His eyebrows raised in a question.
My stomach uncoiled a little. “So you were serious about joining me in my quest, huh?”
I squirmed under his intense gaze. “I was serious about wanting to see you again.”
“It didn’t seem like that last night.” The words tumbled from my mouth before I could stop them. For a moment I wished I could shove them back in, but then I realized it was probably for the best. It needed to be addressed.
His eyes flashed. “I was just surprised. I didn’t know you went to my school.”
“And you didn’t know I was in marching band,” I prompted him.
He shifted in his seat. “Yeah…that too.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Why would it be a problem?” His brows knit together in a look of confusion.
I shrugged. “Well, you’re a football player and I’m in marching band.” Why was he making me spell it out? I felt like an idiot.
“Right,” he said flippantly. “Why’s that a problem? What other people do on their free time doesn’t affect me.”
I swallowed hard. Other people. Of course. Why was I making this into a big deal? It wasn’t like we were dating, and clearly that wasn’t Holden’s intention. I was just a girl he flirted with in the spa. Surely he flirted with girls everywhere he went. I had kind of hoped it was more than that. I wanted to think we had a connection, but that was probably more on my part than his. Guys weren’t like that. They weren’t all sappy and romantic like girls were. I’d learned that the hard way with my ex-boyfriend, Ethan. Every little thing he did for me I turned into some sweeping, romantic gesture. I thought he really loved me. Like we had something special. Something ripped out of the pages of a romance novel. But it only took him two weeks after I moved to meet someone else and dump me. That had always been my issue. I liked the idea of being in love, and I guess I believed that other people did too. But most guys weren’t interested in falling in love. They liked the chase, they liked the game and of course, they liked sex. Not necessarily in that order. Seeing my parents’ relationship had given me this false sense that every relationship was romantic and true. But what I’d learned was that guys in high school were nothing like my dad. They were giant pervs, plain and simple.