“You know what would make it better?”
He smiled knowingly.
The iPod Nano had been our thing. Same scratched silver case, same twenty tracks we’d worn out every summer. We had played mostly Incubus, shared between one set of headphones.
“Tell me you brought it,” I said, watching the spark in his eyes.
“Safe in our room. Not sure it has much life left,” he nudgedme with his shoulder. “You have a phone now. Could have a million songs. We should create a Spotify playlist together.”
“Yeah, but it’s not the same. Just us and the little Nano that could…”
“And Brandon Boyd,” he added.
I laughed. “Always, Brandon. You can’t compete.”
“I’ve been trying for years,” he muttered. “Told you I could fix the Nano, though. It will be a pretty easy fix.”
I knew he could do it. He was so skilled with technology, it wasn’t even funny. Kind of creepy. He was way too smart.
But before I could answer, I looked up into the dark eyes of Jackson. He dropped his towel beside mine and sat, gaze fixed on Max’s hand still holding mine. His expression was unreadable, but his jaw was tight.
I slid my hand away. Max sat up beside me, but his knee brushed mine and stayed there. We always seemed to find each other, even subconsciously.
I turned from Jackson’s stare, then felt something crawl up my back. A jolt of pure panic ripped through me.
A spider.
“Oh my God!” I shrieked. “There’s something on me!”
Max was on his feet instantly. “Stop moving.”
I felt the tickle on my spine.
“It’s in my clothes! It’sin there!”
He caught my shoulders, trying to still me. “Hold still, I’ll…”
But I was already clawing at the back of my swimsuit cover-up.
“Take this off,” he ordered, voice sharp.
I froze. His hands brushed my hair aside, his body close enough that I felt the heat of him at my back. “Off, Trouble.”
“I can’t! What if it falls and crawls into my ear?!”
He laughed once, trying not to, then yanked the cover-up over my head in one quick motion. His hands were immediatelyon my bare back, warm and sure, sliding under the strap of my bikini top.
“Found it. It’s tiny. But fast as hell.”
My skin buzzed under his palms. Jackson’s stare burned into me, but Max didn’t notice. He chased the spider with his fingers, and suddenly his hand froze. We both looked down at the same time. I heard him inhale.
His hand was underneath the cup of my bikini top. He hadn’t realized where his hands had been going, but here they were.
Our eyes met. His throat bobbed. His jaw flexed.
“Yup,” he said, voice just a shade too high. “Saving your life. Totally normal. Nothing weird is happening here.”
But he wasn’t breathing, and he definitely wasn’t moving his hands away. I let out a raspy exhale, and he flicked the spider to the ground, scooped up my cover-up, and handed it over without meeting my gaze.
