I still don’t know why Connor has this pool. He rarely uses it. I suppose it’s one of those things that he thought he should have once he ‘made it’.
And I live in a loft with my brother.
“Hey, you guys coming in?” Becca looks up at me from the side of the pool, her head barely above the water.
I kick off my shoes and reach back, pulling my shirt over my head. “You don’t need to ask me twice,” I say, running to the edge of the pool, jumping over Becca’s head and splashing everyone in the vicinity with my flawlessly executed cannonball.
“Hey!” Becca laughs. “No splashing.”
“What?! No splashing? That’s a terrible rule. What is a pool for if not for splashing?” I push a small wave of water toward her. It’s barely even worthy of being called a splash.
“A pool is for this,” she says, before ducking down and launching herself up out of the water, coming down on me at an angle and pushing my head under the surface.
For an only child, she’s not so bad at this playing in the pool thing. Growing up, every trip to the pool for me was a fight for my life. With five girls versus two boys, Travis and I very rarely came out on top of those interactions. The only reason we finally started winning was because, as they got older, our sisters started being more interested in laying on beach towels and getting tans than in playing in the pool with their siblings.
It looks like Becca has no interest in tanning, though, and I’m currently having my ass handed to me. I’ve never loved nearly drowning more. She’s not the strongest swimmer, but what she lacks in skill she makes up for with enthusiasm.
“Okay, time out. Hold on,” I splutter, wiping water from my eyes. “Why are you so vicious?” I laugh as she splashes me again.
“I’m not vicious. You just need to know who’s in charge around here. Plus, it’s been so long since I’ve been in a pool that I can’t help myself. I love the water.”
“Hmm,” I say, swimming toward her. “Maybe you’re part mermaid. I’ll check.” I drop under the water directly in front of her and take a look at her legs. God, she looks good in this bikini. It’s black, with little boxer bottoms and a short top that’s not quite a string top, but almost. Sexy and functional. Made for fighting in the water, really. I pop up out of the water, splashing Becca as I do. “Nope, you still have human legs. I don’t think you’re part mermaid.”
I swim to the side of the pool and hoist myself out of the water. Becca swims up behind me and hoists herself up as well, following me to one of the lounge chairs set up under a big pergola with a sunshade. She picks up the sunscreen that she packed and hesitates before taking a deep breath and holding it out to me.
“Umm, can you do my back? I forgot to bring the applicator that I normally use.” She looks down, still holding the sunscreen out.
“Are you sure you want me to do it? I can get Alex for you if it makes you more comfortable.” I take the sunscreen from her hand and sit on a chair beside her.
She looks at me, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I haven’t told her about my accident. She still doesn’t know what the tattoos cover. I’m not ready yet.”
Shit, that’s right. She had said something about not having told anyone but me. I don’t understand why an accident would be so hard to tell someone about, especially your best friend. It must be a heavy burden for Becca to have to carry this all alone.
“Well then, I would love to help you. Let me slide in behind you and I’ll get you taken care of, okay?” I motion for her to move forward on the lounge chair, which gives me room to sit right behind her.
It was only this morning that I woke up with her in my arms, but what I wouldn’t give to have her lean against me right now so I could wrap my arms around her again. But we’ve broken enough of our rules already. We can’t just keep breaking them, or one of us is going to get hurt. And I think keeping our fake relationship secret from our friends is a good idea. It will be easier to go back to normal after this is all over if no one else knows about it.
“Let me know if you get too uncomfortable,” I say. I squeeze a generous amount of sunscreen into my hands and rub them together to warm it up. There’s nothing worse than the shock of cold sunscreen on sun-warmed skin. “You ready?”
Becca takes a deep, shuddering breath. “Yes,” she says. “Go ahead.”
I work the sunscreen over her back first, slowly rubbing it in, ensuring she’s fully covered. The texture of her skin under the tattoos is bumpy, and if I didn’t know she’d been burned as a child, I’d probably assume the scarring was from bad tattooing. But I don’t know if I would think that, because the tattooing is clearly good work.
I finally get a good look at her back tattoos. She has large cabbage roses stretching from her left shoulder to her right, and then all the way down her side, over her hip, extending down the back and outer edge of her right thigh. The pinks and greens are so vibrant, the tattoo looks almost fresh. Whoever did this does beautiful work.
“Do you want me to get your arms and shoulders too?” I know this is one of her least favourite spots to be touched, so I won’t be offended if she doesn’t want me to. “Or would you prefer to do that yourself?”
“You can… Can you do it? Please?”
“I would love to.”
I dispense more sunscreen into my hands, warming it again before I start rubbing it on her arms. While I’m working on her right arm, I look and see Alex and Connor both staring at us, mouths hanging open, eyes wide. I’m sure Alex is wondering how I am able to touch Becca like this without her freaking out about it. I’m curious myself.
I know we’ve had sex, and slept together, but allowing me to touch her like this, without the distraction of nudity and impending orgasms, shows how much trust she has in me. Now if I can just translate the trust she has in me touching her body, to trusting me with her heart, this fake relationship might not have to be so fake after all.
