“You worry too much.”
“No, I don’t. This isn’t a joke, Bailey.”
“You can put some on me later,” he said as he casually trod water. The sea was so clear I could practically see his feet from here.
“Fine, but if you burn, I’m not letting you bitch about it. I’ll just say I told you so.” I jumped off the edge of the boat, neatly dropping into the water. It was refreshingly cool, the salty spray landing on my face and coating my lips.
Bailey was only a couple of meters away from me, the drops of water on his skin sparkling like diamonds under the sun. I shouldn’t have been thinking about the fact he looked beautiful, but I was. The temptation to lean in and kiss him was right there, needling away at me under my skin like an itch I couldn’t scratch.
I’d been so good at resisting since December, but our last hookup with Aiden had blown open the lock of the box I’d tried to shove my feelings into. There wasn’t even a fucking box left. Just me still trying to pretend I didn’t want to kiss Bailey until my mouth went numb.
“You still haven’t caught me,” Bailey said, a wicked grin on his lips as he began to propel himself backwards away from me.
“I thought you said I could put some on you later?”
“True. But you also said you’d tackle me. And you haven’t done it.” He was still grinning as he flicked some water towards me. He was in a weird-as-fuck mood today, but I couldn’t say I felt any different.
“Really? Are we really doing this?”
He didn’t answer me. He just flicked more water at me then turned and began to swim away, cutting through the watertowards the front of the boat in a swift front crawl. Just before he turned out of view, he glanced over his shoulder to see if I was following him. “Come on!”
I wanted to tell him I wasn’t doing this. But there was no way I could resist.
Bailey laughed as I swam after him, kicking my way through the cool, clear water as the boat bobbed next to us. The couple of members of crew on board would probably think we were complete twats. They wouldn’t be far wrong. But I doubted we were the strangest thing they’d ever dealt with. And unless they happened to be huge fans of English rugby—which was unlikely—then we weren’t the most interesting people they’d deal with this summer either. It didn’t seem like they’d recognised us, and anyway, they’d signed non-disclosure agreements.
Not that they’d have anything interesting to share.
It wasn’t like Bailey and I were doing anything other than dicking around.
Bailey was still ahead of me, but it didn’t seem like he was swimming very fast. He wanted me to catch him. But I couldn’t help thinking it was a trap… like as soon as I did he’d splash water in my face or try and dunk me under.
“Got you,” I said, grabbing his ankle and tugging it gently as I reached him. “Dickhead.”
Bailey laughed and wrapped his legs around my waist, his arms sweeping the water gently, keeping his chest from pressing against mine. He was pretty much sitting in my lap, and I tried not to think about the fact I’d been able to see his dick through his trunks.
“You didn’t exactly try very hard,” I continued, flicking a tiny bit of water at him. It was the only thing I could think of to distract myself.
“I’m on holiday. I’m not making an effort unless I have to.”
“Then why the fuck did you make me try and catch you?”
“Because it’s fun.”
There was a long moment of quiet between us, where the only sounds hanging in the air were the slap of water on the hull and the distant rumble of another boat engine.
“Bailey, I…”
“Yeah?” He floated a little closer, tightening his legs around my waist to anchor himself to me.
“What did you want to do for dinner tonight?” It was a coward’s question but the only one I could bring myself to ask. Fuck, I really was sinking low if I was asking about food. It was normally the last question I ever asked and something I never thought about unless someone brought it up first.
“Oh, er, dunno. Did you wanna try that restaurant on the marina? See if we can get a table there?”
“Which one?”
“The one on the end. Where there’s, like, water on all three sides. And it’s got the bar with the sofas. A lot of the tables look pretty private, and they have a lot of seafood. I checked the menu last time we walked past.”
“Oh yeah, that looks nice,” I said, grateful Bailey wasn’t pointing out my strange choice of conversation. “Do we need to book?”
