What a tempting idea.
“Also,” he says while I’m still trying to run the pros and cons on his previous statement, “just so I can adjust my expectations for this afternoon, I assume slathering each other in sunscreen was aDecembertrope?”
I shudder. “Well, obv…” I stop. I think. I consider. My head tilts as I peer at Dominic’s body, attempting to take in the things his clothing hides. Do I want an excuse to touch him without a lascivious pretext? Would covering him in sunscreenbelascivious?
Yeah, probably. Definitely, rather. There’s no way it wouldn’t be.
And…yet…
I lift my finger and twirl it. “Turn around.”
He obliges, silently, and my breath catches as I behold hisback.
Broad, broad, broad.
It’s only going to be the two of us together at the lake today. No one else could possibly assist in our sun protection. We either swim in t-shirts…burn…or participate in improper acts of touchy-feely.
“What are you thinking, my sweet little lotus blossom?” he asks.
Blowing out a breath, I say, “Option A. T-shirts.”
Chapter 15
?
As August might say—BEACH EPISODE.
Alister
“You take pity upon me, and my puny self-control.” August scans me, from my swim cap down my t-shirt-clad body, to my trunks. “And here I thought you had plans of seduction.”
Seduction…here…on the crowded rocky bank of the expansive Azure Lake…seems like a public display I’m unwilling to elicit.Maybeif I did have a boat and could take us out to one of the quiet beach islands dotting the wide open blue. But since I don’t and can’t? Since I’m stuckhereinstead? No. Never. Yikes.
Children run by behind August, and I follow their splashing track into the water as their innocent laughter rises to meet the buzz of other chatting tourists.
August looks at the children, uses her burgeoning detective skills to deduce what I’m thinking, then folds her hands together and beholds the blazing blue sky. “I have been mercifully spared from seduction by the youth.”
The corner of my mouth tips up, and I navigate toward the quietest slice of ground that late afternoon in summer of this tourist spot can offer. “Must be your saintly blessing.”
“Indeed.” She floats after me, an angel if I’ve ever seen one, and descends once I’ve gotten our picnic blanket splayed. Skirt flared justso, she peers up at me past the brim of her hat, and I remind myself there are children literally everywhere to keep from murmuring a swear.
“None of the food has faces,” I say, sitting opposite her to protect another side of our blanket from the breeze—andassist in my restraint. I can’t, after all, participate in any inappropriate-for-children activities if she’s outside my reach, right?
Right.
“That’s okay,” she says, excited, wiggly. She bites her lip while I begin unpacking, and her eyes widen when I reveal the variety—dragon fruit pie, sandwiches, chips, veggie sticks, dip, fruit, a modest cheese board on a bed of ice. Her toes curl against her sandals. “You know something?” she says, reaching for a carrot stick. “Cooks for herwas actually one of my tropes on the list.”
“Was it now?” My chest warms, adding internal heat to the beat of the sun against my shirt. “What else was?”
“I wonder.” She snaps the carrot stick in half with her teeth and turns her gaze toward the water. “We should probably use this time to get to know each other better.”
Nerves prickle at the very idea of her wanting to get to knowme. I’m elated, and scared. “That makes sense.”
“We’re allowed to lie.”
“That makes less sense.”
“But if we choose to lie, we need to cross our fingers where the other person can see.” She lifts her free hand, finishes the carrot stick, and digs in her tote bag to procure a notebook. Deep brown eyes shining in the sunlight, she beams at me, a freckled and bespectacled angel. “Ready?”
