Boys Like You(27)

His grin was as annoying as ever. “I don’t have a bathing suit with me, so I’m gonna go in with my boxers.” He paused, his hands tucked inside his boxers. “Unless you want me to— ”

“No, boxers are fine.” I tried not to stare when he stepped out of his shorts, but it was hard. The guy was ripped. He was ripped and hot and sexy and he was standing a foot away in a pair of black athletic boxers that didn’t hide anything. And holy hell but Nathan Everets had a lot to hide.

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Juliana Ston e

I swallowed hard and turned away, easing out a long breath, when I heard a splash and knew he was in the water.

“Damn, but this feels great. Get your ass in here, Blackwell!”

I turned and spied him halfway across the pond, floating on his back for a few seconds before he whooped and disappeared beneath the surface once more.

The sun made the surface of the water shimmer like diamonds, and seconds later, his head popped up closer to shore— closer to me. He grinned and I couldn’t help but do the same as I watched him. He was like a little kid, and there was something adorable about that.

“Come on. Get your clothes off or I’ll come out and get you.”

Alarmed, I took a step back. “I told you I wasn’t sure if I was going in or not.” I wasn’t normally shy or anything, but the thought of Nate seeing me in my bikini made me nervous. Or excited. Or both.

But the thought of being so close to him when we were prac-tically naked was way worse. That made me feel all kinds of things I hadn’t felt since…

Heck, who was I kidding? I hadn’t felt any of those things before. Not even back then. And it had been so long since I’d had any kind of fun. Since I’d felt like having any kind of fun that, for a moment, I don’t even think I realized what it was I was feeling.

Anticipation.

“Okay, I’m coming to get you.”

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My head whipped up and I squealed, hands on my shorts.

“No, I’m coming in.”

But he didn’t listen, and I’d barely gotten out of my clothes when he was there, inches from me. His tall body, wet and shiny and incredible.

My eyes dropped.

His boxers were wet and…


My breath caught as I slowly slid my eyes back up over all that skin. Over the razor-thin line of hair that disappeared beneath his boxers. Over the washboard stomach and rippled abs. Higher to the tattoo on his shoulder and arm that said danger. And sex. And danger.

Sex.

Up past his defined chest and broad shoulders.

Until I met eyes that jump-started something in me that was foreign. Something that was hot and exotic and scary.

Something that was so incredibly alive, it made me weak.

I’d been half dead for so long, the sensation was almost over-whelming, and I bit my lip as tears stung the corners of my eyes.

Quickly I glanced away, ashamed at my reaction and feeling like a total dork. What was I doing here? I couldn’t play this game with Nate because I had no idea how to play it. I’d been locked in a cocoon of pain for so long that I didn’t even know how to communicate and act normal with a regular boy, let alone someone like Nathan Everets— a guy who was so far above me I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to reach him.

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But the way he looked at me sometimes…

Suddenly aware of how revealing my pink bikini was, I crossed my arms over my chest and shivered.

My eyes squeezed shut, and I wished I was home with Gram, curled up on the front porch with a book I pretended to read while she flipped through her gardening magazines.

“Hey,” Nate said, a touch of rasp in his voice, and I thought that maybe a tremor rippled just beneath. “Are you all right?”

I nodded, afraid to say anything because I didn’t trust that I wouldn’t make a complete ass out of myself.

“Good.”

And then two strong arms were around my waist and a shriek fell out of me— one that would have made my mother proud— as Nate lifted me over his shoulder and carried me to the edge.

I didn’t get a chance to say anything because at the moment, my brain was focused on how hard he felt. There were no soft curves— there was no soft anything. He was all hard, lean, and muscled lines, and his skin burned into mine.

And God, he smelled so good.

I shook my head, suddenly aware that my butt was near his face and that his hand was on the small of my back, holding me in place. When I finally got my shit together and opened my mouth to say something, it was too late.

There was the feeling of air on my exposed skin. Sun in my eyes. And then there was the shock of cold water.

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I went deep and began to kick my legs, grateful for the silence that fell over me and the darkness in which I could hide, however briefly. My legs kicked and kicked, my arms joining in, and when I finally surfaced and cleared the water from my eyes, I was surprised to see that I’d swum halfway across the large pond.

I glanced down. Good. Bikini still in place, nothing exposed that shouldn’t be.