Reckless Abandon(36)
Cold Mediterranean water cools my warm skin. My body is submerged under and I break away, diving further down before swimming up to the surface.
My arms rise to push my hair smooth against my scalp. Looking up, I see the sun shining above me, beating down in approval. My body spreads out onto of the water, my arms and legs out like I’m making a snow angel. Instead, today, I’m an ocean angel looking up at the heavens.
This is for you, little brother.
Weightless, I bob and weave with the waves, a spatter of water covering my face but I’m not concerned. I don’t have any real cares at the moment. Everything feels so buoyant and it feels wonderful.
A splash awakens me from my date with the sun. Asher saddles up beside me and takes a place with me. We’re like two starfish in the middle of the ocean.
If anyone passes us they’ll think we’re out of control.
Because we are.
Wrapped in a large towel, I swaddle myself and settle onto the sun pad at the bow of the boat. With the sun at its peak, our clothes will be dry in no time.
Asher’s may dry faster than mine. His shirt will, at least, because it is hanging from the railing of the boat, drying in the breeze and sunshine. In return he is wearing his shorts and nothing else.
Well-defined pecks with the perfect sprinkle of chest hair . . . Yeah.
A lean, taut stomach with two, four . . . Yeah.
Gorgeous thighs whose definition are made out by the wet shorts currently sticking to him. Oh yeah.
A loud sound from deep inside Asher’s throat catches my attention and I immediately avert my eyes north of the border. When I look back at him, he shakes his head and smiles, liking that he caught me gawking.
He kneels down to the sun pad, then lays his body next to mine, facing me. “Its ninety degrees out here. Lose the towel.” His hand grabs the lining and pulls the towel away from my body,
I grab hold of it. “No way. I’m wet and cold and have all kinds of lady parts that aren’t acting very ladylike.” Not only is my shirt getting increasingly tight but when I put on white shorts this morning I wasn’t planning on taking a swim in them.
He rolls his beautiful blond head back and laughs out loud. “It’s okay for you to check out my man parts but I can’t see yours?”
My lips purse. “My parts are more . . . sacred.”
“That they are. But you’ll dry off faster without the towel.” He peels the towel off my shoulder and lets it fall to the side. “I promise. I won’t check out your—okay, I lied. I just checked them out.”
My arms jerks up and hit him in the arm. “You’re such a fool.”
“Watch it, woman. You have a serious hook. Nice to see that hand of yours is still useful for something.”
I look down at my hand and notice it didn’t hurt. That doesn’t mean it will ever heal. It just means it may not be as fragile as I have been treating it.
Asher leans down and grabs my injured hand in his, rubbing his fingers along the scar. “I’d like to know more about the accident.”
“I’d like to know more about your grandfather,” I counter. So far, Asher hasn’t told me anything worth sharing my secrets for.
Asher’s brows curve in. “There isn’t much to tell. He’s dead.”
“When did he die?”
“Last summer. He had a massive heart attack. Died before I made it to the hospital.”
His eyes stay down, his voice void of the emotion one would expect to bear when losing a loved one. Even though he seems to have no feeling toward the man, it still seems important to share my condolences.
“I’m very sorry for your loss.”
The jaw on his chiseled face tightens as he works out a thought in his head. Asher closes his eyes tight and holds it for a few beats. A heavy sigh releases and when those eyes open, they’re honey.
“Are you for real, Emma Paige? Can I trust you? I’ve searched for a reason to believe otherwise. I’ve done my research and I can’t find anything that leads me to believe you aren’t anything but perfect.”
A red flag goes up in my head. He did research on me? What kind of research? I know in the age of Facebook and Google, you can pretty much find out anything about anyone but I’ve never done that. Never needed to. And in this case, I didn’t even have an urge to.
But with the red flag is a white flag waiving so dramatically my body does a double take as I try to contain my excitement.
This man thinks I’m perfect. Yes, me. The broken mess with a broken hand and a broken dream and a broken soul.
I lean up on my knees and gain some space from Asher. “If you knew the half of it you wouldn’t think I’m perfect. You want to know if I’m real? Well, I need you to tell me something real. And don’t say that you’re impulsive and you’re drawn to me. Because right now I can’t believe how someone as amazing as you is here with me. It doesn’t make sense and it makes me feel so insecure you won’t believe.”
Asher rises to his knees as well and meets me eye to eye. “I make you feel insecure?”
I nod my head slowly. He looks to the side, clenching his jaw. I think he’s going to tell me he wants to head back but he opens his mouth and says, “My mother’s name was Juliette Asher and my father was Alejandro Gutierrez. I haven’t said those names out loud in twenty-two years.”