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His eyes had lightened from brown to a gold color, and he felt angry.
“I’m sorry,” she said again as he took the drink from her hand.
“You said sorry twice, but you haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Okay, thank you. Have a good time.” Oh my gosh, shut…up!
He just stared at her like she had lost her mind, so she gave him a little wave and made her way into the water to drown herself and disappear forever.
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, she chanted in her head as the others around her talked and swam in twos and threes. Why did she have to be so weird? She’d done so well to be all smooth when she had put her bikini on, and all she had to do was saunter away into the sunset, but no. She had to trip and then word-vomit everywhere.
Jenna closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. No matter how much she practiced in social situations, she would never change.
“You good?” came a deep voice from behind her.
She startled hard and splashed defensively, dumping a wave toward Lucas, who stood there with his eyes closed, his lips pursed, and two beers in his hands—the one she’d handed him, and one of her fruity ones.
“I am awkward,” she blurted out. Sometimes it was just easier to say things out loud and get them into the open instead of trying to camouflage it.
When his eyes opened, they were the bright glowing gold of his animal, but he didn’t feel heavy with anger anymore. Now, a grin cracked his face. “So freaking awkward.”
The mortification lessened and she huffed a laugh. “I’m…” She waved her hand at the bank full of people. “Still not a cool kid.”
“Mmm,” he said noncommittally as he handed her the fruity beer, which had actually been shielded from her splish-splash by the teal umbrella he’d put in the open tab. “Did you ever wonder what it was that separated you from the cool kids?”
She puffed out a breath of air and shook her head. “Good social skills, a big vocabulary, any kind of fashion sense, the ability to contour cheekbones with makeup, and a general enjoyment of basic conversations with other living beings?”
His grin had lingered the entire time she rambled. “Social skills are overrated, your vocabulary is fine, and if you look around at the others and then look at yourself in a mirror, your fashion sense is spot-on. You’re the hottest one out here.”
“W-what?” she stammered.
Lucas cleared his throat and said it again in a bell-tone, truth-filled statement. “You’re the hottest one out here.”
She looked from Cadence, with her bright red hot-as-fire bikini and rocking body, to Darah and Jazz and Tris, and all the other shifters gathering on the banks of the river. They were all drop-dead gorgeous.
She looked down at her boobs in her sequined triangle top. She looked…normal.
“But I fall and splash your beers,” she uttered, confused.
“Being clumsy has nothing to do with the way you present yourself.”
Lucas wore navy-colored swim trunks that sat low enough on his hips that the two strips of muscle called the Adonis belt showed. The water she’d splashed on him had beaded up across his chest and abs, and some of the drops raced each other down his tan, smooth skin. He had to be six foot four, perhaps six foot five, but felt even bigger. It was as if she were standing next to a bus. She squinted up at him—at his perfectly-chiseled jawline, high cheekbones, glowing gold eyes, perfectly mussed hair, and the curve of his sexy smile. He thought she was the most attractive one here? “Are you messing with me?”
He cocked his head and studied her, but she didn’t know what he was looking for, so she puffed her cheeks up with air and crossed her eyes. “Am I hot when I do this?”
His chuckle reverberated through the air and settled right into her chest. He had a great laugh. Lucas twisted and his gaze seemed to go in the direction of where Cadence was hanging out with Kru and Nox.
A little flicker of something uncomfortable lit up her chest for just a moment before he turned back to her.
“You can go hang out with Cadence if you want. I don’t mind at all.”
“And what will you do while I hang out with Cadence?” he asked carefully.
“What I always do.” Sit on the outside, or get sucked into a conversation she never quite gets comfortable enough to contribute to, or trip and fall on a tree root… “Just hang back.”
“That sounds terrible.”
“Okay, cool. Cool, cool, cool.” Well then, what were they supposed to do? Just stand here in the water half-naked and make small talk? “Want to chug our beers and pretend we are mermaids and race to the waterfall?” she asked, pointing across the river to the waterfall that cascaded off the cliff.
