“Don’t be,” He purrs, “I like your eyes on me.”
Zara’s laugh draws my attention, and I see her walking out with Jake, her smile bright as she giggles at something he whispers to her. I know they’ve been talking since they met at the carnival, and she likes him, a lot.
I try to hide my reaction to what River had said but it feels like my cheeks have only gotten hotter and hotter since he arrived.
“Oh shoot,” Zara stops, “I forgot the drinks.”
“I’ll get them!” I stand, grasping the towel to my body and then make my way quickly up the path and into the house. Once alone in the kitchen, I take a breath. Being around River is a lot like standing too close to a fire, he burns where he touches with no chance of ever cooling down.
“Running away from me, princess?” The door clicks closed behind River.
I stand on one side of the kitchen island while he remains on the other, next to the door, watching me intently. His white tee stretches over his chest and arms, a snug fit that shows every ridge and dip and curve of his muscles and several leather bracelets are wrapped around his wrist, along with some rings on his fingers.
His dark hair falls across his forehead, disheveled as if he’s run his hands through it a few times and there’s a slight shadow around his mouth and chin.
“I was getting drinks,” I whisper.
“Let me help you,” He suggests, stepping forward.
I stay rooted to the spot, watching him close the space between us until he’s right ahead of me.
“Where are the glasses?” he asks, looking down at me.
“Behind me.” My voice is all breath, and it feels as if my heart might jump right through my ribcage.
River leans forward and reaches above me, “This one?”
I nod and don’t move, his body brushes against mine as he pulls down the glasses, placing each one on the counter.
“What are you afraid of?” He asks eventually, neither of us having moved to prepare any of the drinks.
My eyes bounce between his, his so dark it feels as if I could get lost in them.
“I’m not afraid,” I lie.
“I think you’re lying,” My breath stutters from my chest as his fingers move up my arm, skin pebbling under his touch as he trails his hand, the touch featherlight, to my shoulder. “I think you want me and are too scared to admit it.”
“I don’t know you,” I point out.
“No,” His hand pause for a moment, “But you could.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ilet my hand start to move again, the skin under my fingers pebbling with each pass of my touch.
Her breath stutters from her lips, her skin a little pink from the sun but it’s nothing to the way she blushed when I first got here. She shows every reaction to me without even knowing she does, she can’t hide. She can lie through her teeth, but her body tells me the truth.
She is afraid.
She is afraid because she wants me, and she shouldn’t. Not because she knows who I am, because of course she doesn’t, she’s afraid because wanting me doesn’t fit into whatever box she has been placed in.
She’s a good girl and I’m the guy from the wrong side of the track.
It would be poetic if not for the damage her family has done to mine.
I lean closer to her, inhaling the smell of her suntan lotion and shampoo and her lashes flutter closed. This close I can see the dusting of freckles on her nose, can feel the whisper of her breath against my lips.
I’m an inch away when the door to the kitchen slams open.
