While It Lasts (Sea Breeze #3)(23)

Rough fabric brushed my leg and I sat straight up ready to scream when my eyes locked on a very amused Cage. Reaching up I jerked my ear buds out and scowled at him. “You scared me! “

Cage tried to hold in his laughter but his eyes were twinkling with it. “Yeah, sorry about that. I tried talking to you but when you didn’t respond I figured you were either sleeping or that music was turned up real damn loud.”

“What are you doing here?” I snapped. I was irritated. Mostly at myself but he didn’t know that.

“Well, I was riding back here to take a swim because it’s hot and I come upon you laid out here in a tiny hot pink bikini. I’m a man, sugar and I couldn’t resist the view.”

I stared down at myself then back at him. He liked what he saw? I could not smile. I could not smile. I’d look like an idiot.

“Why don’t you go for a swim with me? I’ll even leave my boxers on.”

Swim with Cage. Um. This was probably a bad idea.

“I don’t know…”

Cage stood up and began lifting his shirt off over his head and all thought was lost. Was that a barbell in his nipple?

“What is that?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off the small silver bar that was definitely attached to his hard tanned pec.

“It’s a piercing, sweet Eva. Now get your sexy ass up and go swim with me. You gotta be hot.”

I shook my head still trying to figure out when he’d gotten a nipple piercing. “I’ve never seen it before,” I finally stated.

Cage let out a small sexy laugh, “Yeah, I know. I don’t figure your daddy would be real keen on me having a nipple piercing. I keep it out for the most part while I’m here. But I put it in last night and I just forgot to take it out this morning.”

Here I always thought a guy getting his nipple pierced was gross. This was so not gross.

Cage began unlacing his work boots and I watched as he slipped them off. When his hands went to his jeans I knew I should stand up and act like this wasn’t a striptease but tearing my eyes away from watching Cage York strip was just about impossible.

“You gonna get up and join me or am I gonna have to pick you up and throw you in?”

When Cage’s jeans slid down his hips and the dark blue of his boxers started to show I jumped up and swung my gaze away from Cage to look out at the water.

Cage found this funny. His low chuckle made me feel flush all over. I headed toward the water without looking back at his amused expression. Besides, I was pretty sure making eye contact with him would be difficult with that damn nipple piercing taunting me. One more reason to gawk at Cage’s chest.

“You gonna tell me why you’ve been avoiding me the past couple of days?”

I dipped my toes into the water testing the temperature. With the shade from the trees, our part of the lake remained cooler than other parts.

I tried to focus on the water and ignore his question. How was I supposed to answer that anyway? I didn’t want to tell him the truth: that I was embarrassed because I smelled horrible, slept in his bed and probably snored all night.

Shrugging, I stepped into the water and kept going until it reached my waist. Then I turned back to look at Cage. He was standing on the bank with his eyes focused on me. The dark blue boxers hung on his narrow hips and the dark hair that began just below his navel had me swallowing hard.

“You wouldn’t consider walking back out of the water and letting me stand here and watch, would ya?”

“What?” I asked and he just smiled and shook his head.

“Never mind.”

He held my gaze as he walked down into the cool water. I wanted to stare at his nipple again but I wouldn’t let myself. It would just give him one more thing to tease me about.

“Ah, sweet relief. My invisible fairy has left me high and dry the past two days. I’ve had to fend for myself with my water and all I’ve had to cool off with was the lake. Wonder what it was I did to piss her off?”

The laugh that bubbled up inside me surprised me. I hadn’t laughed in so long, until Cage. He always knew how to make me laugh. How to make me forget.

“The invisible fairy was embarrassed by her behavior,” I muttered and sank deeper into the water.

“Why? What did she do?” he asked, following me out deeper into the water.

“She drank a little too much,” I admitted.

Cage’s eyes went wide in surprise, “Really? Fairies drink? I’ll be damned. I had no idea. Would you mind letting her know I don’t hold it against her? I happen to have made some bad choices where tequila was involved.”

His acceptance of my stupidity made something in me melt. Had I ever known anyone like him before? He made mistakes and fessed up to them. He didn’t make excuses for the things he did wrong. He just dealt with it and went on. I wanted to be that strong. I wanted that kind of determination to just live.

“I wish I were more like you,” I said before I could think about it.

Cage’s eyes really did go wide with shock this time. “What?” he asked.

Shrugging, I dipped my head back to wet my hair and slick it back out of my face. “You heard me. You accept life and your mistakes and you go on. I don’t do that well.”

“Don’t say that Eva. You don’t want to be anything like me. I’ve done some f*cked—up stuff. Made some really bad decisions. If I hadn’t had Low there to keep me grounded, who knows? I’d probably be in jail by now.”