He takes them from my hands and drags his finger around the lenses before feeling the dark green silicone strap. He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I hope you don’t regret this.”
I pull my shirt off and toss it on the chaise. “My only regret will be not being able to help you.”
There’s a clench to his jaw, his eyes hardened, and it makes me wonder if I’m doing too much. Am I pushing too hard, too fast?
“I really want to help you, but if you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to. I actually found a few people online who are trained and certified specialists. I wrote their information down; I can go get—” I throw my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of my house.
“That’s not necessary. I…” He scratches the back of his neck, cheeks a rosy pink. “I’m…I don’t know how to say this without coming off as a…” He coyly looks down. “Pervert…” He draws that word out, eyes meeting mine now.
“Okay?”
“You’re just…” He waves a hand down my chest. “God, I swear I’m never this awkward. Matter of fact, I’m?—”
“Spit it out, Garcia.” I tap my foot impatiently.
“Hot.” He clenches his jaw again. “You’re hot and you’re wearing that, Jos. I just needed to get that off my chest. I’m not trying to make it weird, but you’ve got nice?—”
“Please shut up.” My cheeks flame. No. Scratch that. My body is an inferno. But I play it off. Act like I’m not affected at all byhim whatsoever. Act like he wasn’t going to say that I have nice tits.
“Right, yeah.” He presses his lips together, eyes flitting to my chest swiftly before shifting back up to mine. “I don’t know why I said that, but disregard it. I promise I’m not going to be weird or creepy.”
I glance down at my bikini top. I didn’t wear my usual swimsuit because I wanted to make him comfortable. I didn’t want to make this too formal, but maybe I made a mistake. Not that him staring at me makes me uncomfortable. It’s actually the opposite. But right now is not the time for me or my libido to act up.
“It’s a good thing I didn’t wear the bottoms that came with this.” I pull my shorts off and toss them with my shirt.
He smiles, grabbing the neck of his shirt, and tugs it off. “Why’s that?”
Abs. Beautiful, tanned, sculpted, firm, and whatever other positive adjective can be used to describe his abdomen is that.
“It’s a thong. If you’re flustered over breasts, I’d hate to see what my ass would do to you,” I absently throw out, but cringe a second later because why am I trying to flirt and why did that sound…ehhh.
“Do you want the truth or the lie?”
Our eyes lock. My heart goes berserk. And my body burns so intensely, I feel like I’m lying on top of lava.
“Pool. We should get in the pool,” I say instead because I can’t be trusted. This is going from G to PG-13. “You won’t need the goggles or board right now. You can just set those down.”
“Right behind you.” I hear the taunt in his voice.Who’s flustered now?I’m sure he’s thinking.
He follows behind me and once we’re waist deep in, his entire demeanor shifts. All the playfulness feels like it was sucked out of him and he’s a different version of the Daniel I know.
“Hey, look at me.” I stand in front of him, leaving a few inches of space between us. “I got you. I promise.” I place my hand over my heart and he follows it. His distressed eyes soften before he nods.
“Sorry, I’m…nervous.”
“Don’t apologize. I promise I’m not going to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” I gently reiterate. “Just follow my lead.”
I stretch my arms at my side, my palms hovering above the surface. Slowly, I wave them back and forth, sink them underneath, and repeat the motion. He follows, his eyes trained on me.
“I’m going to ask you a few questions.”
He nods.
“How do you feel about going under shallow water?”
Daniel falters before he picks up where he left off until we’re in sync again. “I don’t mind it, but I can’t keep my head underwater for long.”
“How long do you think you can keep it for?”
