"But I still have that nasty taste in my mouth." Eden took a small swallow then looked at the bottle and shrugged. "I don't think I've ever had straight tomato juice before, but it's not bad." She took another couple swigs then filled her mouth. Her cheeks bulged first on one side then the other as she swished. She tipped her head back and gargled.
Rudy busted out laughing. He still had a lingering foul taste in his own mouth, but Eden seemed to be blowing this whole thing out of proportion.
Tomato juice suddenly hit his head and splashed onto his bare shoulders, dousing his laughter. "Geez, Mom, that's cold!" A shudder shook his body.
"Sometimes you need to learn a lesson the hard way for it to really sink in."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Figure it out," she said as she walked back into the house.
Rudy shook his head. It's not like he asked to get sprayed by the skunk.
Maybe Mom referred to the way he'd stared at Eden in her swimsuit. He hadn't meant to ogle her, at least not so overtly. But he couldn't help himself where she was concerned. He found her incredibly attractive.
Or maybe Mom meant the way he laughed at Eden. It wasn't like he intentionally mocked her. There was just something about her naiveté that was refreshing.
"You're right, that is cold." Eden's words pulled his mind away from his mom's confusing words.
He watched mesmerized as she slowly poured juice on her shoulder and let it run down her arm in tiny red rivulets before stopping to rub at her skin. He did the same, trying in vain to ignore the cold chills that rose on his skin. His gaze repeatedly darted to Eden as she poured one bottle after another over her body.
Would she want to talk about the kiss? Didn't women always need to define the relationship?
A twisting sensation tightened his stomach. They didn't have a relationship. Except the fake one they'd tried to sell her father. So he shouldn't have kissed her like that.
Would she demand to know what he was thinking? Technically, she'd kissed him first. Maybe he should insist on an explanation from her.
When she lifted her chin and angled the bottle against her collar bone, he realized she intended to pour it over her chest. He jerked his head in the other direction and angled his body away from her. Her swimsuit already exposed a fair amount of cleavage, he didn't need to see tomato juice pooling there.
"What happened?" Her quiet question came a split second before surprisingly warm fingers touched the scar on his shoulder.
Rudy froze.
He'd rather talk about their kiss than the accident that took his friend.
He rarely talked about the accident, just like Scott didn't talk about the one that killed his girlfriend. Of course, Scott didn't talk much at all. Grief was funny that way, though. Sometimes it helped to talk, but when guilt accompanied grief, talking rarely helped.
Eden continued to trace the scar from the back of his shoulder to the front, and he rotated his body toward her, allowing her to study the scar despite hating what it represented. A scar was a small price to pay for what he'd done though.
When he didn't answer, she changed tactics. "How long have you had this?"
Rudy poured a slow, steady stream of tomato juice from the last jar onto his palm. "Nine years."
"What caused it?" Her voice was gentle, encouraging.
He ground his teeth together. She'd shared with him the accident that took her mother, so why did he find it so hard to talk to her?
Because unlike her accident, mine really was my fault.
"Off road vehicle accident." His voice sounded as tight as his chest felt.
"Off road as in...?" She left the question hanging.
"As in a side-by-side, all-terrain vehicle."
"Like a dune buggy?"
"Yes, except we weren't driving it in the sand dunes."
