It takes massive effort not to roll my eyes. “Hardly.”
Sienna waves her phone around in the air. “Ready?”
“Let me put on some more lotion first,” I tell her. Though it’s nearing the end of the day, I can feel my skin burning. Grabbing the sunscreen off the floor, I apply it to the body parts I can reach and then glance at my friends. “Can one of you do my back?”
“Our hands are all wet,” says Sienna, too quickly. “Maybe Landon can do it?”
My entire body grows hot, and I widen my eyes at her. Okay, now I’mreallygoing to kill her, and it’s going to be exceptionally violent and extremely painful.
“I can do it,” says the deep voice behind me.
I swallow and slowly turn to face him. Surprised to see that his response is genuine, I force myself to remain totally and completely calm. Nonchalant, even. “Oh. Thanks.”
Without overthinking it, I pass him the sunscreen, and he scoots back on the lounge chair, patting the space between his legs. “Sit.”
I oblige, perching on the edge, and pull my hair over my shoulder to give him full access. Without warning, he runs his hands along the skin of my upper back. His hands are stronger than I anticipated, and they dig into the muscle as they rub in the lotion. It feels so good that my eyes flutter closed, and I can’t help but lean back into his touch, fighting the urge to shiver. He’s very thorough, his hands slipping beneath the thin straps of my bathing suit, rubbing in slow, sensual circles.
Wait! Sensual?
And when they move down my skin, under the band of my bikini, my face grows hot.
“Can’t have you getting burnt,” he murmurs, his voice low enough so only I can hear, and the deep gravel of it makes my stomach flutter. I swallow, telling myself to get a grip, but as he continues down my body to my lower back, goosebumps break out across my skin.
“Cold?” he asks, with a hint of amusement.
“No,” I snap, and his hands smooth up over the edges of my shoulders and down the backs of my arms. “You have good hands, is all.”
“Good hands?” Now I really hear that smirk.
My cheeks grow hotter, and I’m grateful I’m facing away from him. “You know what I mean.”
“Not sure I do, actually. Can you elaborate?”
Annoyed, I turn to face him, only to find him closer than I anticipated. Way closer. My breath catches, our faces inches apart. His eyes are dark and slightly hooded, searching mine, and the air outside seems to change.
Am I crazy? Is he feeling this too? This…charge?
And then, without warning, he dabs a huge glob of lotion on the tip of my nose. “Missed a spot.”
“Hey!” I wipe it off my skin and attempt to smudge it across his face, but he grabs my wrist, holding my hand an arm’s length away from him.
“No, you don’t,” he says, snickering at my struggle to get him back.
“Landon!”
“Do I have to separate you two?” calls Sienna. “Daylight’s fading! Scones are disappearing! Ollie, don’t you dare eat that last one, I swear.”
My shoulders sag as I give up, and he releases my arm. “This isn’t over,” I tell him, wiping the excess lotion off my face and rubbing it into my stomach. I shoot him a dirty look, one he doesn’t seem the least bit concerned by, and walk past the pool toward my friend.
Sienna positions me in the most picturesque spot, one with a perfect view of the canal in the background. “That was interesting,” she whispers, her eyes widening in some all-knowing way.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whisper back. She laughs, and it takes everything in me not to glance over my shoulder at Landon. She passes me the two remaining scones and instructs me to do a few poses, snapping away with her iPhone.
“I think you missed your calling as a photographer,” I tell her as she brushes half my hair over my shoulder and adjusts my bathing suit strap.
“No offense, but you didn’t miss yours as a model,” she says. “Come on, Violet. Give mesomethingto work with.”
I try some alternate poses, but it’s hard. It’s one thing to do this in front of friends. It’s another to do it in front of Landon. I’m too conscious of his eyes watching me across the pool, and I can still feel his hands on my skin, his voice in my head, his breath in my ear-
