The void in my chest is nowhere near or even halfway full, but I feel something enough that I don’t dread waking up in the mornings. I don’t know what to call that, but I feel…okay.
And okay is the most I’ve ever felt.
“So how did I do?” he asks, dropping on the chaise lounge chair after our hour session is over.
I wring the water out of my hair, keeping my gaze trained on his face and not let it coast down the way it wants to. I don’t know why I’m struggling. He’s just a guy…a guy who happens to be firm in all the right places, with abs that look unreal, light brown skin that glows beneath the sun, and a smile that makes me feel things.
“Is this another way to get me to praise you?” I tease and take my towel that he holds out for me.
“Why? Is it working?” He brushes the damp hair that falls over his forehead back, but it only falls forward. A drop clings to one of the ends and temptation screams for me to touch it, but I don’t.
“You got a praise kink I don’t know about?”
“I don’t know, but I’m willing to find out.” He smirks.
I’m not sure how much he’s joking right now, but my brain still accepts it as an invitation. My body goes taut, and a pulse grows between my thighs, but I don’t shuffle on my feet or squeeze them the way they desperately want to.
“I think I’m good. You’re a little needy for my taste,” I apathetically reply.
He gasps, placing his palm on his chest. “Needy? Josefine Resendiz, I’m anything but needy.”
A small chuckle claws out from the back of my throat. “Yeah, okay, Daniel Garcia.”
“Don’t mistake my willingness for neediness because I’m more than welcome to show you just howneedyI can makeyou.” The muscle on his jaw tics and his gaze sweeps over me in a slow, longing motion. This time I can’t stop myself from shifting from one foot to the other and clenching my thighs.
I tried not to make it obvious, but I know he notices because his jaw clenches and I hear his breath hitch.
Thankfully we’re saved by his vibrating phone on the table. While he answers, I grab his goggles and place them in the small shed I bought to store all my swimming gear.
When I’m out of the shed, the atmosphere doesn’t feel as charged as it did a few minutes ago. He approaches me with a smile on his face and pretends he hadn’t implied what he did.
“Go get changed or you can go like that too.” His eyes this time don’t graze over me, and I should be glad, but instead there’s this dip in my stomach. I shouldn’t want him to look at me, but I do.
We’re friends.
“What’s with the demand? Where are we going?”
He grins, grabbing the ends of the towel he has draped around his neck. “We’re going to the beach to play volleyball with the guys, have dinner, and then they go for a swim.”
I take a step back, everything good I was feeling rushing out. “Thanks for the invite, but I’d rather not go. I really don’t want to run into Bryson or?—”
“It’ll just be the guys I was roommates with. We do this roughly two weeks before the bonfire and the season begins. It’s a little tradition we started my freshman year. It’s just us, though sometimes Pen comes and brings her friends. She was going to ask you, but I told her I’d tell you. I meant to do that yesterday but with me moving in, it slipped my mind.”
“I think I’m going to stay and?—”
“And what are you going to do?”
Stare at the email from Monica Jameson and contemplate my life. I haven’t answered her and have been avoiding her on campus. I know I should turn her offer down, but for some reason, I can’t bring myself to do that.
“Tomorrow is Monday and I have classes and?—”
“And I do too, but you’re still going to come with me. Okay?”
“But—”
“Pero nada. Vas a venir conmigo. Ve agarrar tus cosas y apúrate.” It’s a nonnegotiable demand.
I should tell him that he can’t boss me around because I hate nothing more than a man telling me what to do but…this is Daniel, and I find it hot.
