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Make that a twelve-pack kind of day.Chapter TenOne thing Shelby didn’t forget was her white bikini. We all stood at the bank of the river mesmerized by the blonde goddess ready for some tubing, minus mommy-to-be Jenna, who would be reading a book about natural childbirth. I kept tilting my head wondering how her boobs stayed in that tiny top and what kind of torture you had to endure to get those perfect lines and curves. I guaranteed it meant not drinking Dr. Pepper. Totally not worth it, I kept telling myself as I yanked down my swim shorts to cover my cellulite thighs and sucked in my gut under my slimming-paneled black tankini top. Newsflash, it wasn’t all that slimming.
I was acutely aware of how Sawyer’s eyes lingered on her as he explained tubing to her. Seriously, what world did this chick come from? Who had never heard of tubing? While Sawyer was explaining how to stay in the current and avoid giant boulders, I was more concerned with how the cold water was going to really perk her girls up, perhaps enough to bust through her life jacket, and what kind of a show we were all in for. By the way Kellan and Ashton were ogling her, it looked as if they were praying for the cold water to do its thing.
Jenna was tsking and snarling under her breath, debating with her eyes whether she should shove the Southern Belle into the river, while Aspen was holding my hand as if I needed comforting. Maybe I did, but I was trying to act unaffected. I was used to the friend zone, even if this time it felt different as I had never fallen in love with a friend before. In case there was any doubt, it made the friend zone a hundred times suckier.
“Oh, Mylanta! This water is cold, boys,” Shelby squealed after dipping her toe in. “Back home the water can be as warm as a bath.”
I tried not roll my eyes. “Excuse me. I forgot my sunscreen in the Jeep. I’ll be right back.” I couldn’t take it anymore.
“I’ll poke a small hole in her tube,” Jenna whispered.
“She’d only end up in someone’s lap,” Aspen responded.
Or worse, she would actually put in motion my plan of getting hypothermia and we all knew whose sleeping bag she would end up in, skin to skin. With that depressing thought, I jogged back to my Jeep. I swore I heard my mom’s voice in the light breeze say, “Don’t give up, you could totally take her.” Physically, I could take the little waif down, but there was no way I could compete with goddess divine.
“Hey,” Sawyer called out to me, “where are you going?”
I was irritated with him, so I only mumbled something about getting sunscreen. I wanted to full-out ignore him, but I heard him approaching on the dirt road, so I knew blowing him off wasn’t an option. Better to avoid awkward questions like, what’s wrong? Oh, I don’t know, only that I love you and it kills me to see you with another woman. It also didn’t help that he hadn’t prepared Shelby for the kind of trip we were taking. Now goddess was sleeping in my tent.
I reached my Jeep and opened the door. The sunscreen was in the door panel. I turned around with it to find Sawyer invading my personal space. That in and of itself was always cause for some heart palpitations, but somewhere along the way he’d ditched his shirt. Holy crap, I needed warning before he did that. I knew it was coming off since we were going in the river, but I needed the cues first, like raising his arms, a little lift of the shirt, etc. He couldn’t just come at me all at once half-naked.
I stared at his defined body. He wasn’t six-pack ripped, but he was sculpted, as in his nicely carved pecks were begging to be touched. The dark hair his chest boasted called for my head to nestle into it. I couldn’t help but wonder why it was evenly tanned. Where was he going without his shirt and why wasn’t I invited? I probably didn’t want to know.
While I eyed him, his sights were set on the sunscreen. “Do you want some help with that?”
Did I want his hands on my body? That was a big fat yes. “No, thanks.” I knew my limits.
He didn’t listen and plucked the sunscreen bottle out of my hands. “How will you get your back?”
“I’m more limber than I look.”
His eyebrow popped. “Is that so?”
I realized how that comment could be taken. I cleared my throat. “I meant . . . um . . . it’s just, I don’t need help.” I couldn’t think around his bare skin.
