“I’m about to get out of this pool, yank that off of you, and toss you in myself.”
Take the cover-up off, quickly belly flop into the pool, and come up choking on water. Check.
“That was graceful. Tell me, were you a swan in a previous life?”
“Shut it, Reese.”
“Oooh, some sass. Looks good on you, Ember.”
We stayed in the pool for a while before Reese decided we should layout and work on our tans. We climbed out of the pool and I found myself feeling much more comfortable with the bathing suit. I guess she was right.
I must have fallen asleep in the lounge chair because I woke to the feeling of large arms wrapped around me, immediately followed by the sensation of falling before I plunged into cool water. I vaguely heard Reese screeching in the background.
When I surfaced, Reese was already up and she was spitting mad. She was yelling a string of curse words that could make any biker blush at a smirking Duke and a grinning Dash.
My eyes met Dash’s and I couldn’t help but admire him. The man was very handsome and even more so when he smiled. He glanced down and his eyes seemed to fixate on my chest before he cleared his throat and averted his eyes.
“Ember!” Reese whisper-shouted. “Ember! Your top…”
I looked down and right there for the world to see was my left boob, completely escaped from its triangle prison. Mortification the likes I have never experienced before coursed through me. I quickly turned away, tucked my boob back into the malfunctioning triangle, and fled.
Reese showed up in our shared room not long after my grand exit. “Are you okay?”
“Seriously? He saw my boob! Duke probably saw it, too!! I can never leave this room again. What if they tell Phoenix? My possible father will think I’m a hussy, especially after finding me in Dash’s bed this morning.” I fell back onto the bed with tears in my eyes.
“You do realize this is a biker compound, right? Your boob wasn’t the first they’ve seen today, and probably won't be the last.” I sat up staring at her with wide eyes. Surely, she was joking. “I know this is all new to you, but it was a boob. A nice one actually, but that’s not the point. Stuff like that happens to girls all the time, especially in a bikini. You have to learn how to not let things like that bother you.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“You acknowledge the situation, make a joke about it or apologize for it, something like that,” she explained.
“What would you have done?”
“I probably would have tucked it back in while saying, ‘You naughty little tit. I told you to stay put. No one wants a sunburned nipple, now stay in there and behave.’”
And just like that, Reese had me laughing and feeling better about everything.
She had just convinced me to go back to the pool with her when there was a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Reese sang out.
“It’s Dash. Is Ember in there?”
She looked at me and I nodded.
“Yes, she’ll be out in a minute. She had to put her naughty tit in time out.” I burst out laughing and smacked her lightly on her arm.
“Okay…” Dash sounded confused. “I’ll just meet you at the pool. Do you two want anything to eat?”
“Yes, please. I think we slept through lunch,” Reese answered.
“Okay. I’ll have a prospect bring something out for you.”
We spent the rest of the day with Duke and Dash at the pool. Dash even had a prospect bring dinner out for all of us. I had so much fun and just for a short time, I was able to forget about all of the things looming on the horizon.
CHAPTER 10
Ember
