Say You Still Love Me(76)

“What about you?” he asks with a yawn and a stretch, as if the topic is of little interest to him.

“Brown, probably. It’s the Calloway way,” I add in a mocking manner.

“Huh . . .” He frowns thoughtfully. “I probably shouldn’t follow the Miller way.” A wry smile curls his lips as he runs a hand through his Fauxhawk, sending it into disarray. He shifts his focus back to the cliff. “You coming in or what?”

I guess that’s the end of any serious talk with Kyle.

“Of course.” I shrug my clothes off, stripping down to the teal string bikini I threw on earlier. “So is there anything to do in town?”

“There’s a great burger place on Main Street. And sometimes you can catch a good . . .” Kyle’s words fall off the moment he turns, his eyes dragging over my bare skin feeling like fingertips. “Is that a new one?”

“No, but I haven’t worn it here yet.” I adjust the narrow triangles over my chest and test the string ties on my hips, to make sure they’re secure. I packed the bikini knowing it’s far too skimpy for anything besides tanning in private. And enticing Kyle, apparently. My stomach stirs with butterflies as I stand there, allowing him to look. I’ve never felt confident being ogled by boys, but with Kyle, I feel a pleasing shiver run through my body. “What were you saying? Something about catching a good . . .”

“Movie,” he answers after a long pause, his voice a touch huskier than normal. “At the drive-in.”

“A drive-in? Really? I’ve never been. What’s it like?”

“It’s fun. Maybe we can check it out tonight.” I catch the smile curling his lips before he turns back to the lake, and the rise of his shoulders with a deep breath.

And the way he covertly tugs at his board shorts, trying to adjust himself.

Heat rushes through my core.

Just the two of us, away from here, tucked into his car under the cover of night? Something tells me we wouldn’t be paying much attention to whatever’s on the screen.

“Nervous?”

My cheeks flush. “Huh?”

He nods toward the edge. “About jumping again.”

Oh. “No.” Actually, now that I consider the thirty-foot free fall into the lake, I realize that I am nervous. More so than the first time, when I had little time to think, when I had no experience to recall.

He looks over his shoulder at me and smirks, like he knows I’m lying, his gaze skating over my body a second time.

And then, with a boyish grin, he takes a running leap off the cliff.

Exhilaration swells in my chest as I rush to the edge to watch him resurface.

He wades to the side, his strokes strong and practiced. “Am I going to have to talk you into it again?” he hollers, and I hear the challenge in his voice.

Taking a deep breath, I step back and then charge forward, gripped by a sensation that’s both paralyzing and exhilarating as I plummet through the air. By the time my body emerges from the crisp water, a hysterical laugh—of accomplishment and ecstasy—takes over.

Until I realize the rush of water has forced my bikini top clean off me.

I yelp and cover my bare chest with one arm, while using the other to tread water. “Shit . . . my top!”

Kyle swims toward where I plunged in and dives under, only to pop up a few moments later, long enough to curse about murky water. He gathers a deep breath and then he’s gone again, swimming deeper into the abyss.

Treading water with one arm is difficult and I finally have to relent, releasing my hold of my chest to stay afloat, wondering just how murky the water is, how much Kyle can see from beneath. I have yet to strut around nude in front of him—or any guy, for that matter.

He bursts through the water’s surface with a gasp for air. “Sorry, it’s gone. It’s too deep here and I can’t see shit.”

“Well, this is going to be fun,” I mutter, eyeing the steep and rocky slope that I get to try to maneuver up, topless.

Kyle swims toward me, doing a poor job of hiding a secretive smile.

“Don’t look too upset.”

“Sorry. It’s just . . .” The small smile morphs into a wide grin. “I was wondering if that would happen.”

“And you didn’t think to warn me?”

“I did think about it.” He edges in closer, until our knees are bumping together. “And then I thought better of it.”

“You jerk.” I smack his chest playfully, before scanning the cliff top. “Where’s Eric?” Kyle seeing me topless is one thing. I’m not putting on a show for the other counselors.

“The last I saw, he was heading somewhere with Avery.” There’s a hint of bitterness in his voice.

“Is he into her?”

Kyle rolls his eyes. “Who the hell knows with him. They messed around last week.”

They must have done it in secret, because nothing stays quiet long in the counselor circle. So far, Colin’s been spotted making out behind the canteen with Jenny and, though no one can confirm they saw Marie and Carlos hooking up, the fact that they both developed a poison ivy rash all over their backs on the same day last week is highly suspicious.

I hesitate. “Is that weird for you?” If one of my close friends started dating Trevor after we broke up, that would probably bother me.