“I know. But I could do it, so I did,” I say with a shrug. “I thought we could go out after lunch. You’ve been working hard.”
“I could use a break.” Preston puts his notes away before changing into a pair of board shorts and nothing else. His tone, ripped torso is on full display as he walks out of his bedroom. Preston’s smirk tells me he knows exactly what he is doing to me.
Two can play that game.I peel my tank top off, revealing my bikini top but leaving on the shorts before Preston looks up.When he does, his steps falter and his Adam’s apple bobs. His pupils dilate and his gaze zeroes in on my boobs.
“Ready?” I ask, bringing his attention back to my face. Mission accomplished.
“Let’s go,” Preston responds in a husky tone.
Rain pours down around us as we make our way back to the beach. It’s rare for rain this time of year in Belize, but today it started pouring buckets when Preston and I got out of the kayaks to snorkel at a reef nearby. Large droplets splash around me causing ripples in the ocean as I row the kayak up to shore. It was fun while it lasted.
Preston makes everything fun though. He listens if I have something to say. He pokes fun at me when he thinks I’m being too serious or when I do something stupid. He lets me know it’s okay to not be perfect. He shows me that he likes this version of me. The version I really am and the one I’m fighting to be. It’s been a long time since I’ve had that. Preston is slowly giving me the confidence to be myself. If I take nothing else home from Belize, I can take this. I can take the better, healed, and rested version of me. But I’m not ready to leave yet. I’m having too much fun. I don’t want to leave Preston yet either. Suddenly, I’m not sure if another week is enough time with him.
The clear blue water looks darker with the gray storm clouds reflecting off the surface. Preston jumps out of his kayak ahead of me and comes over to help pull me in. Taking his offered hand, I stand and step out of the hull. Preston pulls me to him so my body is flush against his hard, wet front. “What are you doing?”
“Have you ever been swimming in the rain, Hollywood?” Preston asks, brushing the wet tendrils of hair out of my face. The low buzz of electricity between us is amplified now. It’s a pulsing sensation tethered between our bodies.
“No.” My chest heaves, touching Preston’s chest.
Before I have a chance to say anything else, Preston drops down and throws me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. I screech at the sudden movement. Preston runs for the dock, the sound of his wet feet pounding against the wood planks. Then for the second time since I’ve known him, I’m airborne.
This feels more playful than when we went snorkeling back at the resort. It could be his booming laugh as I sputter coming back up for air. It could be the change in our relationship. We were strangers at that point. Now, I feel like we know each other better. We are closer than we were. I guess that happens when you’re stuck with one person in a house without any distractions or anyone else around. You rely on each other and get to know them quicker.
Preston begins treading water as if knowing that I’m lost in my thoughts. How he always seems to know when I need space or when I am in my head, I have no idea. I’m more thankful for it than he could ever know.
People are always demanding my attention. If I space out for even one second, many interpret that as me being uncaring or standoffish. With Preston, he just waits. Always patient. Never prying. It’s refreshing. So many things about him are refreshing.
“I’m surprised you’ve never recreated a swimming in the rain scene after your whole rain scene lesson,” Preston says, bringing up our conversation by the pool our first week on the island. I love that he remembered it. That he was actually listening.
“I feel like there is a famous movie line about swimming in the rain.”
“Jessica Biel, Summer Catch.”
A laugh bubbles out of me not expecting such an immediate response from him. “Made an impact, huh?”
“It’s a baseball movie.” Preston shrugs as if to say that’s the only reason he knows it. When I quirk a brow at him, he adds, “Come on, it’s Jessica Biel. She was every guy’s crush in the early 2000s.”
“Fair enough.”
“Do you swim in the rain a lot?” I ask, not quite sure what else to say. My brain is frazzled and not firing on all cylinders with how closely we are treading water.
“I have a pool at my house in Tampa. What do you think?” Preston asks. He doesn’t have to clarify for me to know he is asking what I think about swimming in the rain.
“It’s oddly freeing.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know how to explain it…” He waits while I find the words. “It’s unrestricted. Normally, when it rains, everyone is running inside or ducking for cover. Like this, we’re already wet so the rain isn’t as bad. We can experience it differently.”
When Preston just stares deep into my eyes, his arms circling every few beats to keep him afloat, I continue. “It feels like we are more in touch with nature. We are surrounded by water. Beneath the surface, the water is warm because of the tropical climate. But, the fresh rainwater is a bit cooler so there is a temperature contrast that feels nice. It’s refreshing.”
I tip my head up to the sky, closing my eyes as the rain beats down on my face. It feels like a baptism of sorts. Like with this rainstorm I’m washing away who I am at home. Who Hollywood believes me to be. Like here, in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Belize, in the middle of a global pandemic, it’s possible to start over. It’s possible to let go of the expectations and the pressures waiting for me when I return to L.A. and be exactly who I am in this moment. And who I am in this moment is free. I am the woman only my closest friends know. I am Ives.
And as I bring my head back down and open my eyes to find Preston’s searing dark gaze, I am just a woman swimming with a man that has desire written all over his strong features.
Our legs graze under the water. I don’t know when we got so close we could touch. It’s like our bodies are magnets, always gravitating towards each other. The tips of our fingers brush when we both circle our arms at the same time. It feels like I’vebeen shocked. Like the water increased the electrical charge that was already present long before this moment. Our legs brush again and I realize one of my legs is now positioned between Preston’s legs. My thigh brushing against his. On the next circle of my arms, I bring myself closer to Preston. His arms dip below the water and I feel his palm brush against my hip.
Neither of us speak. We just stare. Lost in the depths of the other’s eyes. His typically vibrant blue eyes are dark. Water droplets collect on his eyelashes and one drips from his nose. We’re close enough I can see the way his jaw ticks and his brows furrow slightly, analyzing every piece of me. My palm brushes against his chest and I hear his breath hitch slightly. My fingers tingle from the contact. When my legs move further between Preston’s strong thick thighs, he grabs hold of my waist. His fingertips dip into the top of my bathing suit bottoms as his large hand wraps around my hipbone. My hand finds his arm below the surface grasping his corded forearm.
