AllFreeNovel
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“Are you serious?” Lucy sat on the edge of one of the logs near the next hole. The baby was quietening down now, but the family still hadn’t got their balls in the hole. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I haven’t seen him since Mum took me back to the lodge. Why did you meet me if he said that?”
“Don’t you believe me?” Chris’s brows furrowed.
“No, I do. But I mean, why would you risk seeing me? It could ruin your holiday.”
He shrugged. “I dunno. I like hanging out with you. You make me laugh, and you say some random things and…”
“And?” Was he going to say he fancied her?
“And I can be myself. Like, I don’t need to do anything crazy, and you’ll still smile and listen to me. We’re both a bit different.”
He didn’t fancy her then. She was like a friend to him. She hid her face in case he read her thoughts. “True. You don’t need to impress me. I know it’s not how I seem, but I don’t care if away from here you’re a bad boy or Mr. Perfect.”
“Seriously? You don’t care if I’m popular or anything? Like I can be whoever I want?”
“Sure,” she replied. How did she sound like the confident one all of a sudden? “It’s not like we’ll see each other again after this weekend. I’m surprised you came today.”
If he was disappointed by what she said, there were no signs of it. Lucie fixed her smile to hide the sadness.
“I didn’t think you’d be here either. I laughed when I saw you on the beach. You were so calm compared to when you were standing up to your dad.”
“I barely stood up to him,” she said dismissively.
He shrugged. “More than you have before.”
“Yeah,” she conceded quickly with a smile. “I guess I’ve got to start somewhere.”
He grinned back at her. “Totally.”
A gruff voice caught her attention. “Kathleen, I don’t want to play this. My head hurts, and it’s a game for children.”
“Shit, that’s my dad,” she whispered, dragging Chris behind a tree.
“This isn’t how you stand up to him,” he replied softly as they stood close but not quite touching. He took a deep breath as Lucie looked up into his eyes. His face was a little red. The scent of Lynx was making her dizzy, and her heart beat faster. “But maybe you can do that another time.”
Lucie’s head was swimming, and as she wobbled, Chris grabbed her by the waist. “Just to steady you if that’s okay?”
“Yeah, thanks,” she replied. His hand was hot through her T-shirt. “How long should we stay here?”
Her dad’s voice was louder now. Chris leaned down and whispered in her ear, “A little longer.” Goose pimples appeared on her arms, but she wasn’t cold. Instead, her whole body was burning up.
His green eyes lingered on her lips, and she licked them. Should she be wearing lip gloss like the girls at school did? She’d swiped a bit of Vaseline on her lips that morning as she left, butthat was to stop them from cracking in the heat. Vaseline wasn’t sexy, and it had worn off anyway.
Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. They were so close now that Chris’s heartbeat thudded against her chest.
“I was thinking—”
“Excuse me, you can’t take the putters away,” a pimply-faced teenager in a green T-shirt bearing the holiday park’s logo said, suddenly beside them. “If you want to finish the game, then you need to finish the round.”
Chris jumped away from her and rubbed the back of his neck as Lucie stepped as far away as possible while still hiding from her parents. She peeked behind the tree. Her dad was closer now and still moaning about his head and the heat. “I think we’ve finished.”
Chris’s brow furrowed, but he shrugged and grabbed Lucie’s putter, quickly handing them back to the guy.
“Where are your balls?” he said as he puffed up his chest, which drew their attention to his slight frame.
“No idea, mate. I can’t seem to find them either,” Chris said with a sigh.
“Let’s go this way, or Dad will see us,” Lucie whispered as she grabbed his hand, and they legged it through the trees.
