Ebony shivered at the memory, just as she shivered then. The look he gave her was unlike anything he had ever given her before, heated and dangerous.
Ebony blinked, pushing the memory away. It had been nothing. There had been no awkward feelings between them that following morning and whatever she saw on his face was just in her head.
"He simply got up to go to his own room, that was it," she told herself firmly.
She smiled thinking of his expression when she came into the kitchen that morning cradling his coffee close to his face.
"I'm going to need every drop of this. You took all the covers. I was in there shivering to death," he complained.
Ebony shook her head and pulled out her phone to check the time. Yeah, it was all just in her head.
A few hours later, she was walking toward the parking lot while texting Gavin. School let out over an hour ago and he was already home texting her to hurry up so they could train. Ugh. The last thing she wanted to do was train. She just spent the last forty-five minutes in a meeting with the assistant principal and some of the teachers going over plans for school spirit week.
She was walking past the open doors of the natatorium when she heard her name.
"Ebony!"
Stopping, she looked through the doors and caught sight of a familiar bronze body half in and half out of the pool like a merman. Ebony blinked. A very fit merman. This wasn't her first time seeing Cameron shirtless. He had been over to the house to swim and trained often with them for years at the martial arts school. Shirtless was nothing new, but the bulk to him was.
With his arms folded on the edge of the pool, Cameron watched her excitedly as she stepped into the large humid room. Behind him the massive pool with its lanes corded off with bright red buoys stretched out behind him. In the other lanes students went back and forth through the water as they practiced.
Cameron was wearing a dark blue swim cap, hiding his cinnamon brown curls. He was giving her a bright open smile so different from the arrogant smirk he normally gave girls around school. With her he was just Cameron, tall, dripping wet, and practically naked Cameron. Why hadn't she ever noticed how muscular he had gotten? She could hardly stop herself from staring at his chest. With no control her gaze dropped; his chest, broad and slick with water was mesmerizing, each muscle in sharp relief as if carved from stone.His biceps flexed against the tiled floor as he kept himself upright; they were lean and unforgiving, and she suddenly understood the reaction of the girls at school.
"Hey," she said, trying not to let her eyes linger too long on the water sliding down his chest. "How’s practice?"
Cameron grinned, the cocky edge of it softened just for her. "Oh, you know, just trying to cut time so Coach stops breathing down my neck."
She smirked. "Tell him you're the type of talent that shows up when it counts. Just like how you beat Randall Pickett the other week with only a few seconds left on the clock."
He leaned a little closer over the edge of the pool, drops of water trailing down his arm. "Careful, Ebbs. Keep complimenting me like that and I’ll start thinking you like me."
Ebony rolled her eyes, but she couldn't fight the growing smile. "You're right I do need to be careful,; you're already unbearably arrogant, Gavin’s influence no doubt. I don't think any girl in this school would survive it if your ego grew any larger."
His smile turned slow. "I'm sure you’d manage."
With a smooth upward thrust that did wonderful things to his chest and arms, Cameron pushed himself out of the pool revealing his small—so small, so very small—swimming briefs. Good Lord.
Turning away, she was fully prepared to march right back out.
"Hey, come on," Cameron's playful voice was as smooth as his firm chest. "Don’t run away."
Exasperated with him she gave him a pointed look and then to the pool behind him. "Don’t you have prac-"
An automated rumbling noise sounded from her phone and all the playfulness left her body as she checked her weather app. There was a storm coming in.
Standing only a few inches from her, still dripping wet, Cameron had seen her expression change and watched her check her phone. "Oh yeah, I forgot. You don't like storms, do you?" he said, his tone dipped low, meant only for her.
Looking up, she caught his gaze and her stomach tightened at the concern glittering back. Ebony nodded, this time not taking her eyes from his.
"Yeah, but I'm headed home. Gavin will no doubt do something annoying to keep me distracted," she laughed, thinking of Gavin's text to train. Now it all made sense. "Well, I'm going to head out. Good luck with your numbers."
For a split second, something flickered across his face as she began to turn around. His handsome smile stayed in place, but his jaw tightened for a fraction of a second as if he wanted to say something but changed his mind.
By the time she pulled down the long driveway to her house the light misting of rain was quickly turning into a soaking pour. The tires of her Camaro rolled quietly along the wet pavement and past the line of rosebushes framing their large circle drive. Even in the rain and the dim light of the overcast sky, the deep-red, almost black, roses stood out against their deep green foliage. Five years ago, her dad surprised her on her birthday, presenting her the one-of-a-kind rose: Velvet Dusk. He had told her he had it made just for her and no one else in the world would have it.
Ebony smiled and reached up to press the garage button.
The third garage door opened slowly, revealing a person standing in her spot, glaring at her. Ebony sighed. Gavin hardly waited for her to open her door before he began.
