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“Are you suggesting that we break and enter into the school’s pool, and then skinny dip?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. All I know is, that’s a pretty conventional reaction for someone who’s supposedly this free-spirit artist.”
That hit her where she lived. She was trying to overcome her timidity, to live free, unfettered by convention and inhibitions. This was exactly the kind of thing she needed to do to push herself out of her comfort zone. Of course it felt scary. Being alive was scary! Life was risk, and it was about time she started taking some.
She nodded. “All right, Mr. Valentine. I accept your challenge. Let’s go do something fun.”
Donovan took her hand as he led her back behind the gymnasium, and her heart started to pound as if they’d already started the “dangerous” portion of the evening.
Well, in a way we have, if we’re talking about dangerous to my emotions. Every time he opens his mouth, and every time he touches my skin, I fall a little deeper, and my feelings spin a little further out of control. If that’s not dangerous, I don’t know what is.
When they reached the aquatic building, Donovan walked to a specific window out of the row of windows that lined the wall. He gave her a rakish smile. “Now, after all that big talk, I hope they haven’t fixed the window in the years since I’ve been back.”
Ella burst out laughing. “That’s your big spy move? The fact that you’re aware of a busted latch?”
Donovan adopted a comically injured tone. “Hey, now! Anyone can be aware of a busted latch. That would be too obvious. I, on the other hand, am aware of an unreliable latch, that has a very specific trick to it. Allow me to demonstrate.”
Donovan reached up and jiggled the latch back and forth, all the while placing pressure on the window at various points to provide leverage. After about thirty seconds, his lock-unfastening voodoo was successful and the window swung open.
Ella gave him a slow clap while he hammed it up with bows and mimed waves to an adoring crowd.
This felt so right, the way they were together. One of the things she’d always loved about spending time with Donovan was that it didn’t matter what they were doing, it felt like a grand adventure. Something as simple as ordering a pizza and watching a movie turned into the BEST. NIGHT. EVER! just because they were together.
She hadn’t even realized she’d been missing that until it was back, and now that it was, she was scared to lose it again…so completely freaking scared. But she wouldn’t let that ruin the time they did have together. She refused.
Zip it, lock it, throw away the key. That had to be her motto. If all they ever had together was these brief few days, she’d be damned if she was going to spend them stressed out of her mind.
Donovan gave her a boost, and she climbed through the open window, dropping softly to her feet on the other side. The smell of chlorine hung heavy in the air.
She looked at the window and saw his fingers curl around the ledge. She knew that, in a matter of seconds, he would’ve hoisted himself over the ledge. A wicked idea occurred to her, and she knew she had only seconds to execute it.
She scrambled, whipping off her clothes and tossing them on the bleachers. She had just enough time to get completely naked and then arrange herself in a sassy pose next to the edge of the pool, hip cocked and hand on her waist, by the time Donovan dropped down from the window and turned around to see her.
His eyes widened as he laid eyes on her bare skin, and he licked his lips as his gaze traveled hungrily from her head to her toes and then slowly back up again.
When she thought she’d given him enough time to appreciate what was waiting for him, she winked and said, “Catch me if you can, athlete legend,” and then in one smooth motion, turned and dove into the water.
