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I’m hanging upside down over his shoulder as he high steps into the lake. The water gets closer and closer to my head, the deeper he goes.
His hands grip my hips. “Maybe I should just toss you in?”
“Oh, no you don’t!” I wiggle and squirm, trying to free myself, but all I end up doing is sliding down his front. Abandoning my first idea, I go with the next best option. I cling to him like a spider monkey. With my legs wrapped around his waist, and my arms wrapped around his neck, I say, “If I’m going in, so are you.”
He thinks for a moment before replying, “I’m okay with that.” Suddenly, he hurls his body into the lake. Both of us hit the water with an enormous splash as the lake swallows us up. After a few seconds, we resurface, streams of water running down both of our faces. With one arm still wrapped around him, my other hand swipes down my face.
I giggle. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“It was worth it.” He brushes away a stray lock of hair from my temple. His steel-gray eyes search mine for a moment before he presses his lips to mine.
TWENTY-TWO
TATTOOS AND BROKEN HEARTS
Olivia
We get out of the water, and he wraps the blanket around us as we sit in a grassy area next to the beach. He wraps an arm around my shoulder while I snuggle into the crook of his arm, basking in his warmth. Slowly, I trace the outline of one of the tattoos on his forearm.
“When did you get your first tattoo?”
He glances up at the sky as he thinks. “I was seventeen. I had a fake ID and wanted to see what I could get away with.”
“And it worked?”
He holds out his other arm. “It did. I got this.”
He points to a tattoo of a cluster of various sized gears all linked to each other. Ledger continues telling me stories about his tattoos. Some holding more significance than others, like the ones that were dares from friends. When he purposely avoids talking about one in particular, it has me curious.
“What about this one?” I trace the padlock tattoo that covers his chest directly over his heart.
He blows out a humorless laugh. Based on the look on his face, I know it’s the one that holds the most significance to him.
“I got this one when I was twenty-five, during one of the lowest points in my life.” He bows his head as if thinking about it causing him pain.
Suspicion tells me he got his heart broken, but I want him to be the one to tell me. I reach up, cupping his cheek. The stubble on his face scratches my hand as I turn him to look at me. “I may talk a lot, but I’m a great listener, too.”
His mouth tips up in a barely there smile. “Oh, I remember. I had to kiss you to shut you up. Now look where it’s gotten me.”
“Hey!” I playfully shove his chest, but he grips my wrists, hauling me closer.
“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” He presses his lips to my knuckles then intertwines our fingers, something he’s never done before. His gaze never wavers from our connected hands. “For the first time in my life, I thought I was on the right path. I had my house, my shop, and a girl who I thought I was going to marry.” He brushes his thumb over my knuckles. “After seven years together, she didn’t want that life, and she left.”
“I’m so sorry. You must have been devastated.” My heart aches for him. Losing love is never easy. Not that I know from experience, but so I’ve heard.
“After that, I went out and got the tattoo. Locking up a piece of me since.”
“She’s an idiot. She didn’t know what an amazing man she had. But, if I could, I’d tell her thank you.” He tilts his face toward me, eyebrows scrunched together. “Because if she didn’t leave, I would have never had my chance with you.”
His eyes crinkle in the corners before he exhales a laugh. “Only you could find the good in that.”
My gaze meets his. “It’s true. What do you say we get out of here? Perhaps, I can show you exactly how excited I am to have my chance with you. Without all the prying eyes from the wildlife. I’m pretty sure I heard a squirrel laughing at me.”
“He was just jealous you’re mine and not his.” He wraps an arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his chest and pressing his lips to my forehead.
We both stand and collect our clothing that’s scattered all along the shore. Wordlessly, we get dressed, but I can’t help sneaking glances in his direction. How can putting on a shirt be so sexy? It makes me want to rip it off his body again.
We climb up the hill to the bike. Our conversation from earlier flits through my mind. Ledger goes off into the woods to inspect a fallen tree. While he’s away, I pull out my heels from the saddlebags and slip them on my feet. When he returns, I’m leaning against his bike, heels on display. We lock gazes and he freezes. A slow smile spreads across his face as he prowls toward me like a hunter stalking their prey.
