Off the Record (Record #1)(49)

He cracked an eye open and smiled. “Come here,” he said, patting the bed next to him.

She complied, rolling onto her side and snuggling into his shoulder. She breathed in and out, slowly matching her breaths to the rise and fall of his chest. His heartbeat was music in her ears, and she heard it roll down a gradual slope back to a resting beat.

“I’m going to fall back asleep if we stay here,” she murmured softly.

“It’s still early. You should rest,” he said, kissing her hair. “I’m not done with you yet.”

She smirked into his chest, liking the sound of that. Gradually her breathing slowed and she drifted off once more, wrapped in his strong, capable arms.

They spent the day out on the lake, playing in the water, riding around on his speedboat, and racing on the Jet Skis. He was more skilled at riding, but she managed to unseat him once. That was victory enough.

Liz sped up next to where he bobbed in the water and smiled. She kicked her foot out and splashed him.

“You’re going to get it,” he said, swimming two powerful strokes toward her.

“You have to catch me first,” she said, swinging around on the Jet Ski as he lunged for her.

She watched him swim to his Jet Ski faster than really should have been possible and swing his leg over the other side, and then she took off. The Jet Ski underneath her hummed loudly as she cut across the even water. She could hear him closing the distance between them and laughed out loud at the adrenaline coursing through her.

Liz flew out into open water, veering for the cove that afforded them all the privacy in the world. She felt young and carefree, as if she was finally living. The world was spinning by in a blur and there was only here and now. There was only Brady, and how she felt when she was with him.

She chanced a glance over her shoulder and saw him racing toward her, getting closer and closer by the second. Abruptly she cut to the right, and when he followed her, she darted back to the left. He was so near her that she could see him beginning to pull up alongside her. Taking a drastic turn into the cove, she lost control of the Jet Ski and was thrown off the seat. She landed hard in the water, falling below the surface.

Her hands clawed through the water as she tried to resurface. Her head broke through and she came up gasping. She hadn’t been expecting that to happen, and she was more in shock than anything. Air filled her lungs and she treaded water to keep afloat.

Brady pulled up alongside her, laughing boisterously.

“Don’t laugh at me, you ass!” she yelled, splashing him again.

“I can’t help it if you wipe out so extravagantly,” he said, cutting the engine on his Jet Ski. He dove off the Jet Ski into the water and swam the remaining few feet to her.

“I can’t believe you laughed at me.” She pushed his shoulder lightly.

He grabbed her arm and yanked her into him. His arms circled her waist, pulling their wet bodies together. Liz smiled, instantly forgetting what she had been saying. She wrapped her legs around his waist and slid her hands up around his neck.

Brady held them effortlessly above the water as his lips found hers. She would never tire of kissing him. They tasted like a mixture of sweat and sunscreen, and she couldn’t get enough. She pressed her body into him and forgot that they were in the middle of the lake, where other people could see them.

He pulled back before she was ready, and she captured his lips once more. He chuckled. “We should get back to the house. I had dinner delivered. Nothing special, but it’s good deck food.”

“Sounds perfect,” she said, leaning forward and kissing him again.

They docked the Jet Skis back in their ports and toweled off. Plates of food were sitting on the deck table when they returned. Brady peeled back the covering to show her a cheese and bread plate, a fruit plate loaded down with fresh strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, and melon, and another tray with finger food that they picked at as the afternoon sun faded into evening.

Liz sat down next to Brady on the outdoor bench with her feet tucked underneath her and her head on his shoulder. She yawned, the rush of the day and overexposure to the sun catching up with her, but she wouldn’t dare slip away when she had so little time left with him.

“So, what else do you have planned for the summer?” Liz asked. It was nice knowing that she was asking not for work, but for personal benefit. Though she worried it might come across that way. “I mean when can I see you again?”

“Those are two very different questions.” At least he didn’t tense.

“I meant them the same,” she said.

“Well, to the first one, I try to take each day at a time and let my staff plan the rest out. I have to win the primary in August, and that’s where I’m looking. And in answer to the second, as soon as I can next get away.”

She hoped that meant sooner rather than later. She didn’t know how much she could handle this waiting game. She would wait for him. She knew that she would, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to go weeks without him in her life. In fact, she wanted to spend all of her time with him. And that was a scary thought.

“What about you? What are your big summer plans?” he asked.

Liz smiled. She liked this. It felt comfortable, sitting watching the sunset, discussing the future. She had never been a big one to talk about the future with guys…not that this was that kind of talk.