‘Beautiful,’ he shouts back.
He’s still facing away from me as that was our deal, but I don’t tell him when I’m ready as I’d rather be fully immersed in the water before he sees me. That plan goes out the window as soon as a wave crashes over my legs and I let out an ear-splitting scream.
‘It’s freezing!’
He looks over his shoulder, laughing. ‘You should try wild swimming in Wales. This is balmy in comparison.’
He turns around and sinks beneath the water, eyeing me as I wade in deeper.
I flinch as waves crash over my thighs, too consumed with how cold it is to worry about what I look like. He’s out past breaking point, so his body is rising and falling with the swell.
Taking a deep breath, I slip under an incoming wave, forcing myself to stay in up to my neck. My teeth are chattering as I swim out to Ash, glad to find that my feet can still touch the sand.
He’s been watching me, a small smile on his face. I’m waving my hands and arms rapidly under the water, trying to warm myself up, while his movements are languid and unhurried.We’re both moving in a slow circle, facing each other. Right now, the sun is at my back and shining on his skin. He’s golden in this light. My eyes trace the contours of his broad shoulders, the shadows under his collarbone. Even if I wasn’t gasping at the cold water, I suspect he’d take my breath away.
‘Now you’re reminding me of Ariel fromThe Little Mermaid,’ he says in a low voice as I take my turn facing the sun.
‘Oh, I’m a cartoon character now, am I?’ I ask with a laugh.
Before, it was a comic-book character.
I let my hair down before I came in and I can feel it floating around my body, caressing my chest, back and upper arms. My bikini is a dark forest green and there’s not an awful lot of it. I was feeling brave when I packed it.
Ash smiles and shrugs and sinks further beneath the water so his mouth and nose are submerged. We’ve changed positions again and the sunlight is bouncing off the dazzling water onto his eyes, making them seem an even clearer, lighter brown than ever.
I mimic him. We’re a few feet apart and we’re still looking at each other, rising and falling with the waves. My body has grown used to the temperature now.
Ash comes up to breathe, but he’s still staring at me.
‘I can’t work you out,’ he says out of the blue.
‘In what way?’ I ask as I also surface for air.
‘You come across as super confident sometimes, but …’
‘The rest of the time I’m a needy people pleaser,’ I finish for him.
He frowns. ‘I’m not sure I’d put it that way.’
I like that he wants to make sense of me. ‘As you’veprobably gathered, my parents are kind of domineering. They don’t let a lot stand in their way if they want something, not even me. I’m different when I’m around them. More insecure, I guess. With Stella and my grandparents, I could be myself. They brought out the best in me.’
‘Would you say that this is the real you?’ Ash asks, lifting his chin at me.
‘This is the me I wish I was all the time.’
‘I like that,’ he says with a smile.
‘I guess you bring out the best in me too.’
We keep our eyes on each other as we start another slow circle.
‘Taran brought out the best in me,’ he admits. ‘I used to wish I’d grown up at his place, with his family. I felt so at home there.’
‘What was Taran like?’
‘Soweird,’ he says with a grin, making me laugh. ‘Seriously, he was quirky and funny, and he didn’t give a shit what anyone thought of him.’
‘He sounds like Stella.’
