Daring the Bad Boy (Endless Summer)(41)

Annie let go of me completely, pushing away and smiling at whoever it was. Some pain-in-the-ass girl from her cabin, no doubt. “I know, right? I can’t believe it, either!”

“You don’t even want to see that drop in the daylight,” the girl continued. “You’d probably throw up.”

Annie laughed nervously. “What’s done is done, right?”

I said nothing as I watched her wade through the water with her friend, seemingly at ease as she eventually found her footing. I stayed rooted to the spot, knowing I should get out of the water and grab one of the towels that had been brought just for the occasion. But I didn’t. I watched her go, my gaze lingering, my heart hammering, my mind already reliving the moment when Annie wrapped herself around me like she never wanted to let me go.

She glanced over her shoulder as she climbed out of the water, the grateful smile on her face sending a pang straight to my heart.

And I knew, without a doubt, I’d done more than just fall into the water.

I’d fallen for the girl.





Chapter Fourteen


ANNIE

It was almost eight fifteen at night when I finally pushed the gate open and ran inside the pool area. I stopped, out of breath as I looked around. Worried Jake had already left, but there he was, sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water, a giant smile curving his lips when he spotted me, his brown eyes sparkling.

Oh crap. He looked…way too good.

Meaning I was in big trouble.

“I didn’t think you were going to make it,” he said as I approached him. He leaned back and planted his hands flat on the concrete, his biceps becoming more defined with his new position.

I swallowed hard, tearing my gaze away from the perfection known as his arms and stared into his eyes. “It was kind of difficult to sneak away without anyone noticing me.” Every single girl in my cabin seemed particularly interested in my whereabouts the entire day, thanks to what happened last night at the waterfall. Oh, and yesterday afternoon, when Bobbee, Hailey, and Kaycee told everyone about Jake coming to talk to me in the arts and crafts building.

They bombarded me with questions throughout the day, most of them just curious, a few of them with malicious undertones. I knew they were curious about what happened during the hike, but I wasn’t telling them anything. I knew my silence drove them nuts, but I sort of didn’t care.

Okay, I really didn’t care.

“I left when we all headed for the bonfire pit,” I told him.

“Ah, yeah, camp songs around the fire.” He swung his legs out of the water and pushed himself to his full height, coming to stand just in front of me. I tilted my head back so I could look into his eyes, and he smiled at me. He was just so dang tall. “Sure you don’t want to go back and sing a few rounds of ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’? We could do this another night.”

“I think I could miss a night of singing.” I wrinkled my nose. “I really don’t like singing, anyway. I have a terrible voice.”

“Really?” He seemed surprised.

I nodded. “I can’t carry a tune. I sound awful when I sing. It’s really horrible.”

He tilted his head to the side, his gaze locked on my face, his expression so serious. “You’re the only girl I’ve ever met who points out her own flaws.”

I reared my head back, shocked by his statement. “Really? We all tend to think we’re pretty flawed most of the time. Even in ways that we’re not.” I had about a bazillion insecurities, and so did my friends.

“Yeah, but no girl I’ve ever known actually points out her flaws to me. You’re always the first to say what you can’t do or what you’re not good at.”

“Oh.” I winced. “Is that a bad thing?”

“I don’t think so.”

He said nothing else, and I didn’t know how to react, what to say next. I was tempted to tackle-hug him for being kind of sweet, but that would be ridiculous. He was letting me know that I was dumb enough to point out my flaws. He wasn’t saying that he thought I was amazing or anything like that.

Because I’m sure he didn’t feel that way. He couldn’t. Just because he wrote me a sweet note and folded it into a paper airplane didn’t mean anything. Or that he was so supportive last night, how he held my hand when we jumped off the ledge. He never let go, even when we plunged into the water. At one point, I’m pretty sure he was going to kiss me.

But he didn’t. Which meant I was probably reading too much into what was really nothing.

“So you ready for your swim lesson? Though I gotta say, you were pretty impressive last night, Annie. I still can’t believe you did that.” His words pulled me from my thoughts and I nodded, eager to get this going yet already sad that it would eventually end. After tonight’s lesson, we only had one left.

I didn’t even want to think about that last lesson.

Jake smiled. “Then let’s do this. We’ll start in the shallow end.”

I followed after him, settling on the edge beside him, both of us dunking our feet into the water. I sat closer to him this time, our arms brushing, and he looked over at me, his gaze dropping to my chest. “You should take off your shirt.” He literally said this to my boobs.

My cheeks went instantly hot and I socked him in the upper arm, shocked at how hard it was. His biceps were nothing but solid muscle. And what he just said could be taken so many ways. What did it mean that my brain filled with dirty thoughts?