Coldhearted Boss(63)
I realize I’m still standing in the cabin, dragging my hand through my hair and behaving like a perfect creep just staring down at her on the ground. With an inward groan, I snatch my toothbrush and some clothes for tomorrow and then I leave, wondering where she and I could possibly go from here.
Chapter 25
Taylor
“It looks AMAZING,” Isla exclaims, stepping back with wide eyes and a hand covering her mouth.
“No. Absolutely not. I’m not wearing this.”
“What? C’mon. It’s a one-piece. You’re practically fully clothed.”
Isla is totally out of her mind. The bathing suit she insisted I try on is a one-piece, but it’s a one-piece that looks like it belongs on the set of Baywatch. It’s bright red with a plunging scoop neck.
“It’s the same style as the one I have on!” she protests, waving down her body.
Maybe that’s true, but I am much more endowed than Isla, and what looks tasteful and demure on her looks wholly scandalous on me. My boobs and butt are too big. I need like four more bathing suits layered over this one if I’m ever going to leave this cabin.
Camille is wearing a white two-piece with a yellow sarong knotted at her hip, and yet again, it looks tasteful because she’s lithe and tall.
It’s like I’m the only one of us who’s gone through puberty.
“Camille, tell her she looks great.”
She scrunches her nose like a little chipmunk. “The red is very bright, but yeah, it does look really good.”
Camille’s decided to play nice this morning, which I appreciate considering I currently have very little patience for her. I had a terrible night of sleep. My neck is sore and my back aches and I woke up in the middle of the night hugging a random sweatshirt that smelled an awful lot like Ethan, which is disconcerting on so many levels. When I realized what I was doing, I flung it away, but only so far that I could still reach out and bring it right back since it was kind of nice to have the extra padding under my head, and well, the man smells divine. I can’t fault him there.
I think the scent actually rubbed off on me. Even now, I can still smell it. I’d jump straight in the shower but we’re about to go down to the lake and there’s no point in rinsing off beforehand.
“Just throw something on over it and let’s go,” Isla says, tossing me the sweatshirt. I have no idea how it came to be in my possession last night, but I’m definitely not wearing it out of the cabin. Can you imagine what Ethan would do if I showed up to breakfast in his clothes?
I don’t want to find out.
I fold it neatly, set it on the dresser, and then find the only set of clothing I have that make sense for a day at the lake: a white t-shirt and those denim cutoffs I was teasing Ethan with the other week. Who would have thought they’d actually come in handy? Isla lets me borrow a pair of her sandals so I don’t have to wear my work boots, and then we’re off.
The guys took pity on us this morning and went down to the lake for cleanup duty without us. I was still sleeping when Isla waltzed in with three coffees, letting the cabin door slam closed behind her.
“Good news, sleepyheads! The site is cleared, the volleyball net is being hung, and Brody’s already frying up bacon, so you two need to get up because I’m one of those people who gets really affected by FOMO, and even now, I wonder if everyone’s down there having fun without us.”
We walk toward the lake together, and I feel silly for the anxiety building up inside of me. This morning, again, I tried to tell Isla it was a bad idea for me to come along and spend the day with them. She saw the way Ethan treated me last night. There can be no confusion over the fact that he doesn’t want me hanging around. I’m just his employee. To which she replied, “Well, screw that! You’re my invited guest. How’s that?”
Even Camille nodded in agreement. “It’s going to be a pretty day. Don’t you want to swim?”
I think her opinion of me has cooled now that she knows I’m in no way competing for Ethan’s attention. She was at that table. She saw how he spoke to me, saw she has no reason to be jealous.
I’m grateful for that, at least, because I’d prefer to only have one enemy at the lake today. Especially because when we arrive at the spot where the trees give way to a sandy, pebbled beach, my gaze seeks him out right away. A sucker punch would be less painful than the reaction I have seeing him standing there in his swim trunks without his shirt. All the guys are dressed the same. It’s a warm morning and the sun is already high in the sky. They’re standing around a grill, laughing as they make breakfast. There’s sausage and bacon arranged on plates sitting on a cheap card table they must have hauled down from the mess hall.
Behind them, closer to the water, they’ve set up canvas chairs in a semi-circle. I count them quickly and realize there are only eight. Panic fills my veins. Maybe Ethan really didn’t want me here. I stop short, knowing they haven’t seen us yet. I could still turn around and avoid the inevitable embarrassment, but then Isla whistles and catches their attention, thereby announcing our presence to the whole damn forest.
Ethan’s gaze sweeps over to us. He didn’t shave this morning, and his slight stubble only makes his ruggedly chiseled features more seductive. I hold my breath, waiting for him to continue what we started last night and order me to leave, but what he does instead is somehow worse. He doesn’t smile or nod, but he also doesn’t glare angrily. In fact, his brown eyes are so sultry and warm, I could melt. That confused frown he’s wearing probably matches my own. It seems neither one of us knows how to proceed.