Her body is beauty and sin wrapped into one.
Her deep eyes peer over her shoulder at me, a teasing smirk dancing over her features. “Are you just going to stare all day, or are you going to join me?”
The teasing brings me back to my senses. Shaking my head, I begin stripping out my clothes, and unlike Tally, I fold them and place them in a neat pile before striding over to the pool.
By the time I make it to the edge, Tally’s already up to her hips in the water. Covering those dangerous hills and valleys, and fiddling with the braid that's currently constricting her hair. When she manages to undo it, the tresses fall down the expanse of her back and drift along the top of the water.
My breath falters and a pulse of heat floods lowin my belly.
Gulping down a lungful of air, I step into the water, the cold a jolt to my system. But a welcomed one.
I need the cold to chase away this unbridled heat that's growing within me.
Then she turns around, giving me the perfect view of her breasts. Small and perky, just enough to be a handful. Her dark nipples are pebbled from the cool air and my gaze.
Quickly I push myself further into the water until I can fully submerge myself and let my emotions of the day free.
Chapter Four
TALLY
The water is cool against my skin, taming the undeniable heat flooding through me.
Cyrus’s dark skin shimmers with light reflected from the water as she rushes to descend into it. When she emerges she’s something from a deep fantasy, flicking her head back to get her hair off her face. A stream of water floating in an arc behind her. Scarred fingers pushing through the strands.
She starts to wash the blood from her skin. Not once looking my way, as if an invisible force was stopping her from doing so.
It gives me the perfect opportunity to watch her.
With only her head and shoulders sticking out the water, I settle on her face. The deep blue of her eyes. The sharp point of her chin with an equally sharp jaw. The gentle curve of her nose and luscious plump lips that would be devastating to kiss.
To feel anywhere.
Her eyes are rimmed red and it's obvious to tell she’s using the water to hide her silent tears.
She’s a tough cookie to crack, one that doesn’t allowherself to break in public. Yet she’s allowing herself to crack in front of me– even if she’s disguising it.
I can’t make a big deal of it, this moment must be incredibly rare for her.
Distracting myself, I begin to scrub the blood off my own body. The dry thickness itching the skin beneath it.
We settle into the silence. Taking the time we both need to get things straight in our own heads. Until she breaks the silence.
“How do you know of this place?”
I sigh wistfully, remembering the days my Father would bring me here when we would walk the land. With him ill and me taking over the island, it’s not something we do anymore. “There’s not an inch of this Island I don’t know. Me and my Father would walk the land together. Often ending here to clean up before heading back to Mama for supper.”
She nods, shadows crossing over her eyes. “It’s beautiful,” she stops to let out a sigh. “I wish I had memories like that.”
Her words break me slightly.
Especially as the shadows across her face grow stronger.
“It’s never too late to make memories.” I whisper, letting the words carry on the breeze.
She shakes her head and dunks herself again, waiting a few seconds before reemerging. Water pouring over her skin, sun streaks glittering off her wet flesh. Looking like a four course meal.
She’s delicious and I have the feeling she has no idea.
