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Shivering, she wrapped her towel around herself and slid her feet into a pair of slippers.
Her hair, soapy and flat to her head, the strands dripping down her back, she rushed downstairs and out onto the front deck. Making her way to the side of the house, she stopped when Wes’s ladder came into view, propped against the side.
“Wes!” Damn, this was embarrassing. It might have been better to let him catch her in her pajamas, but she needed to finish her shower and hit the road as soon as possible. “Wes!” she called louder over the hammering.
He stopped and bent his head lower beneath the awning to see her. “Good morning.”
“Nope. Not even close,” she muttered. She gripped the towel tighter at the top of her breasts with one hand and tried to yank it lower with the other, suddenly aware of how small it was. A warm ocean breeze blew across her legs, reminding her of how long it had been since she’d shaved them.
Damn. Could he see how hairy they were from that distance?
His gaze drinking her in made her wish she’d braved the cold water a little longer. The hot sun beating down on her wasn’t to blame for the heat rushing through her core. It wasn’t lust or desire in Wes’s eyes scanning her, but a hint of amusement.
No doubt he was thinking that she hadn’t changed a bit since high school. So much for trying to rewrite the local perception.
“There’s no hot water,” she said.
“Oh shit, sorry. I thought you’d be done by now. The plumber arrived and needed to shut the hot water off to do some repairs. As promised in the quote, we’re replacing the hot water tank with a higher efficiency unit.”
She’d appreciate that once she was dressed and dried off and all the soap was out of her hair, perhaps. “Can he turn it back on just for a few minutes?” She hadn’t exactly been prepared for him to start the renovations that day, but she vaguely remembered agreeing to it after the second bottle of wine the evening before.
She’d been afraid she’d back out if she slept on the idea.
“Sorry, Sarah, no can do. He’s on the clock, and we need to come in on budget.” Wes grinned as he descended the ladder.
Nope. Go back up there.
She shielded herself as best she could as he walked toward her, then tugged at the top of the towel while trying to drag it lower on her thighs, but the fabric would only go one way or the other.
Why are these towels so small?
His amusement seemed to grow as he witnessed her struggle, his blue eyes even more intoxicating when his smile reached them. She’d always been a sucker for that smile. How many times had she falsely assumed that his smile meant something more? Hoped that maybe their friendship could develop into something deeper? She’d been so drawn to him years ago that she hadn’t even given a second glance to any other guy at school. But Wes had only ever been interested in her ability to help math make sense.
“The ocean’s warm. You could go for a dip,” he said casually.
She cocked her head to the side. “In my towel?”
“Or naked,” he said, putting his hammer in his tool belt. “It’s not like you haven’t done it before.”
Her mouth dropped; then she snapped it closed. “We were silly teenagers, and we were never supposed to speak of it again.” That night almost fifteen years ago had been filtered through her memory so many times over the years, she’d almost convinced herself it had never happened.
Unfortunately, the sting of humiliation lingered, assuring her that moment was real.
It was his last tutoring session before final exams. They’d been studying on a picnic bench on the beach in front of the inn, almost unaware that the sun had set until they couldn’t see the math book anymore. Wes had been teasing her about the fact that she’d insisted they study on a Friday night. Of course he was meeting friends after their session…while her big plans had consisted of studying for her chemistry final.
Somewhere along the way, he’d dared her to run into the ocean. Naked.
“I got two math problems in a row right…a third and you have to go skinny dipping,” he’d said.
“I’m not following your logic. Why would I have to do that?” she’d asked, her teenage hormones aflutter. Wes Sharrun wanted to see her naked?
Naked? Or humiliated? Or just whether or not she was brave enough to do it?
He’d shrugged. “A reward?”
He was still teasing her. And testing her. But just once, she wanted to prove that she wasn’t simply the bookworm, the clumsy nerd they all thought she was.
So she’d accepted the challenge. “Fine. But this is a tough one,” she said, sliding the practice problem his way.
