“Are you calling me silly?” I giggled.
“Would I do such a thing?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go swim.”
“I’ll race you.” I pulled away from him and ran to the pool. I pulled off items of clothing as I ran—well mainly my top. I tried to pull the rest off, but it was too hard to do as I was running. I groaned inside at my major fail at seductive disrobing.
Greyson caught up with me at the side of the pool and laughed. “What was that?”
I tried not to stare at his body as he was making my heart palpitate. He was too sexy for his own good. It was like Michelangelo had carved his body out of stone. It was so perfect. I couldn’t resist myself and reached over and ran my fingers down his washboard abs and shivered. Greyson stared at me and gave me a small smile.
“No one’s touched me so reverently before.”
“I don’t know why not.” I smiled back at him weakly. “You’re perfect.”
“We both know that’s not true.”
“Well, your body is pretty darn perfect.”
“I wish I were perfect in other ways.” He looked at me wistfully. “I’ve never wished for a different life before now. My philosophy is life gives us what we can take and we have to make the best of it. But somehow with you, I wish it had been different. Maybe if my life had been different from the beginning, I’d be a different man now. A better man.”
“Why do you wish you were a better man?” I asked with my heart in my throat.
“Probably for the same reason you wish I were a better man,” he answered astutely.
“I don’t even know you.” I shrugged and stared at the pool. The water was such a calming and beautiful blue. The serenity of the setting belied the churning of the hurricane in my heart and stomach.
“I guess sometimes you don’t have to know someone very long to know you like them.”
“Or dislike them,” I quipped back.
“I wonder how things would have been different if we’d met in a different setting,” he continued.
“What sort of setting?” I looked up at him, wondering what he was thinking and feeling inside.
“Like a grocery store.” He laughed. “If we’d bumped into each other at Whole Foods, or maybe even Trader Joes. You’d be buying a French baguette and some brie. I’d be buying a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio or maybe even a cabernet.”
“And then what?” I asked breathlessly as he stopped.
“You have to take off another piece of clothing before I continue.” He nodded at me and I rolled my eyes, but I still removed my pants and shoes off. He watched me with narrowed eyes then, surveying my nearly naked body with eager lust. “Beautiful,” he muttered as he looked back into my eyes. “I’d look at you as you bumped into me and I’d wonder—”
“Who said it was me bumping into you?” I interrupted.
“I’m not clumsy.”
“Neither am I.”
“Like I was saying… As you bumped into me”—he grinned at me then—“I would see how beautiful and witty you were and I’d think to myself, ‘Maybe we could pair our wine and bread together.’”
“That’s what you would say?” I laughed, feeling young and happy at our banter. “You’d say, ‘Let’s pair our wine and bread together’? To a girl you just bumped into at the grocery store?”
“No, that’s not what I’d say.” He cocked his head and stared at me with a sly smile. “If you want to know what I’d say, please take off another item of clothing.”
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes, but inside I was shivering with excitement. I looked down at my body in consideration for a moment and then took off my bra. Greyson’s eyes dilated as he stared at my naked breasts, and his fingers reached over to cup them gently. He took a step towards me and I moaned as I felt his hardness brush against my legs.
“I would say, ‘You have beautiful eyes.’” He looked down at me as his fingers gently rubbed my nipples. “I would say that I had a bottle of wine, but no bread and cheese. I’d give you a sweet smile.” He looked at me. “Much like this. And I’d ask if you’d like to go on a picnic.”
“A picnic?” I asked and then gasped as his fingers pinched my nipples.
“Of course. A cutesy picnic in Central Park.”
“I can’t see you on a picnic in Central Park,” I laughed, and he smiled back at me.
“Well, this is if I had had a different life. If I’d had a different life, I’d love picnics in Central Park.”