“You’re okay.” I rub her back, not really sure what else to do. “Uh… let’s get you dry.”
She whimpers, nodding against my chest, and I curl my arm around her.
A few people have finally noticed what happened and are asking if we’re okay.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” I assure them, figuring this girl doesn’t want the attention. I definitely don’t.
I weave us through the crowd and up the stairs. We leave wet footprints and big drips in our wake, but no one seems to care. I’ll come back and clean it up later. The girl beside me is starting to shiver.
I need to get her dry and warm ASAP. She’s got no fat to insulate her. She really is the skinniest little thing.
When her legs buckle going up the stairs, I lift her off her feet and carry her up to my room.
“Thank you,” she murmurs against my neck, and a flood of heat rushes through me. Her breath on my exposed skin feels nice, and I’m not sure what to do about that.
I’m kind of annoyed with this girl for being so reckless—getting drunk and walking so close to the water when she can’t even swim. But my body is reacting to her proximity, to the feel of her wet skin pressed against mine. Her right breast is squishing into my chest. I’ve never felt a woman’s breasts before. Goose bumps ripple over my body. I try to tell myself it’s because I’m feeling the cold too, but that would be a lie.
It’s her.
She’s making my stomach do weird things. Foreign things. Or maybe not so foreign, just sensations that I never really allow myself to have.
“Here we go.” I place her down in my room and check that she’s steady on her feet before running to grab two towels.
By the time I get back, she’s stripped off her wet dress, and I jolt to a stop in my doorway.
Oh wow, she’s… I can she her nipples through her wet bra… which she’s reaching back to unclip.
“Um… uh… just…” I flick the door shut behind me to protect her privacy and lose the ability to breathe when her bra drops to the floor.
I’ve never seen naked breasts before.
My body responds immediately.
I didn’t ask it to.
I’m not even sure I want it to, but hot liquid is firing through my veins, making me feel lightheaded. The blood is rushing to all the wrong places, and when I glance down, I’m mortified to see the tent in my wet shorts.
Covering myself with one of the towels, I throw the other one at her.
“Get warm.” It’s all I can manage. The words come out as two rasping syllables as I turn to dig a sweatshirt out of my bag.
I find my Nolan U Cougars hoodie and hold it out for her.
“Thanks.” Her voice is so soft.
Something ripples just beneath my skin.
Is this what desire feels like?
I have no experience with women. If a girl comes on to me, I’m usually running in the opposite direction as fast as I can. I don’t even know why. It’s not that I don’t like them, I just… I don’t like things that make me feel stupid. And girls seem to turn me into an incoherent, bumbling idiot without even trying.
“You should take your wet clothes off too.”
“Huh?” I spin to bulge my eyes at her.
Her pale eyes start to sparkle as she takes me in, her lips twitching when she moves toward me. “You should get warm and dry too.”
She’s wearing my hoodie now. It swamps her, but all I can think about is the fact that’s she basically naked under it.
