I glanced at her, and she seemed peaceful when she stared at the blue sky.
My lips tingled to taste her. However, I wasn’t exactly celibate, which made her nearness both sexier and more forbidden. “I wish my past was that simple with Ashley.”
She narrowed her gaze and turned in the water to swim instead of float. “Why?”
Lying wasn’t good, and I’d told her more than I should have. Something about Ali was different, but she needed to know I wasn’t exactly a perfect fairy-tale prince. “She often bargained with sex to get whatever she wanted. At first, it worked, but my desire for her lessened when I started to wonder what she’d ask for in the morning.”
“Wow.” She swam a lap.
I followed her to the deep end.
Then Ali grabbed the wall. “John promised to help me escape the pressing questions everyone had for me after my mom’s death. So I ran with him, and we ended up in Virgin Cove. But he was never happy that we weren’t intimate.”
I stayed next to her, treading water. “When my brother Evan died of cancer when I was a kid, I was convinced I’d be next. He was the good kid who didn’t get in trouble.”
She inhaled and pressed her hand to her heart. “I didn’t know that about your family.”
We both swam back to the shallow end. I wasn’t used to talking about Evan anymore.
When we stopped, I said, “None of us are perfect, Ali, but we got through that dark period with a lot of therapy.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sounds nice. Not all of us have money for that, but I’m a survivor.”
I hadn’t meant to upset her. I reached out and brushed against her arm. “Can I give you a hug?”
She cupped my face. “You’d be the first since your mom. Your mom broke the two-year spell of no one doing that to me.”
“Come here.” I stood in the water.
She wrapped her arms around me and held me tight. If she let me, I would protect her, and I hoped she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
