“Cam won’t get off my dick unless I do it. He says it’s good for recovery.”
Dick.
Well, that’s a word I certainly didn't need coming up because now I’m thinking about—
“Flo, you’re already burning.”
I peer down at my shoulders, which are slathered in sunscreen, but Evan shakes his head as he swims forward until he can walk again.
“No, you’re back.”
“Must have not been able to reach it.”
He’s out of the water now, hair darkened, and droplets cascade down him like rain sliding off marble.
“Do you need—” Evan stops himself before he finishes the question, fingernails scraping at his stubble-covered jaw.
My hands are passing him the sunblock before my brain can register what I’m doing. “It would be a shame to burn.”
I didn't think he actually would, but now he’s behind me on his haunches, sunblock between his palms, and suddenly I’m hyper-aware of how his large hands feel against the skin of my heated back.
Good. It feels good.
Evan’s movements are steady and confident. He spreads the cream slowly, fingertips gliding over the muscles of my back and down the curve of my spine. He doesn’t rush it, like he’s trying not to make it weird. Except itisweird, right? I mean, he’s rubbing lotion into my back while we sit together, barely clothed, and I’m his kid’s nanny.
It’s taking everything in me right now not to moan and lean into his touch. This is casual. All he’s doing is making sure I don’t get burned. I’m sure he would do this for any of his nannies.
Okay, I don’t believe what I’m telling myself, but I’m trying to.
“There, you should be good,” he tells me, although his hand remains on my lower back as he reaches around me to place the bottle of sunblock back in my bag.
Our eyes lock. We’re mere inches apart, so close to kissing, and as my blues fall to his plush, rosy lips, Evan knits his brows together. After a few seconds of what looks to be contemplation, Evan peels his body away from mine.
“Thanks.”
He enters the water again, facing forward the entire time, which makes me suspicious.
But maybe I’m overthinking it. Who says Evan was turned on? Maybe he just doesn’t want me to be forced to look at what he’s packing.
Only when he’s waist-deep does he turn to me, and I smile, which turns into a snigger. It causes him to do the same, even though he doesn’t want to.
“Fuck’s sake, woman”, Evan murmurs, craning his neck to look up at the sky, running a hand down his face, which makes me then burst out into laughter.
14: Flo
“You’re breath reeks!” I laugh as Radish clambers onto my lap while I sit in Nathan and Mae’s living room, the dog panting in my face as he tries to practically climb inside of my skin. “Go and play with Chump, boy!”
Radish ignores me when I point to Mae’s pet tortoise’s hutch in the corner of the room.
“Stop making out with my dog, Flo.” Nathan snaps his fingers, orders Radish to get off me, and gives him a bone-shaped treat when he obliges, barking by his feet. He opens the back door, taking Radish outside for a run around in the large garden.
Meanwhile, Bennett throws a piece of lettuce into Chump’s pen, chuckling to himself as he watches his long neck stretch out to grab it. “You do know this tortoise is probably going to outlive all of us, right? Like, does nobody else find that weird? And he doesn’t have to pay taxes or anything.”
“You’d be a great psychology student, you know, Bennett?” Poppy says from her seat on the cream-coloured couch. “You overthink absolutely everything.” However,she seems preoccupied, like she has been a lot lately, cheeks turning red as she stares at her phone screen.
Bennett doesn’t fail to notice it, and when he flops down onto the couch beside Poppy and lets his eyes dart to her phone, he grinds his molars. His eyebrows pinch, and when Poppy blushes even harder, Bennett finally stands with a popping jaw. “Does anyone else want a drink?” The question is said with a gruff tone, and he disappears into the kitchen before anyone can answer, strides a little too eager.
Poppy’s blues follow Bennett, and she sighs, locking her phone and following him into the kitchen after casually saying, “Um, I’m gonna go get a drink too.”
