She gives a startled laugh. “Where are we going?”
Wrapping her thighs around my waist, I tap a kiss to her adorable nose. “Lake swim. Then we’re moving houses.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“We’re going out there naked?”I ask when he flips the latch on my sliding glass door and tugs it open.
“Exhibitionist that you are, you don’t approve?” He shoots me a cheeky grin.
“I’ve never skinny dipped with another person.” I scowl. “Hey, did you just call me an exhibitionist? It’s not true. I’m not trying to flash anyone.”
“You flashedme.”
My cheeks heat. “That was an accident.”
I’m expecting him to dish out something snarky, but instead, his eyes fill with so much kindness I have to look away.
“You want to tell me why, then?” he asks in a soft tone.
“It feels good. The water, I mean.” How can I explain it so he doesn’t think I’m nuts? After Russel, I craved reassurance, and to be comforted. It makes no sense that a body of water could provide such solace, but it has.
“It’s still plenty dark enough out there,” Linden says, pulling me back to the warmth of his embrace and his steady, calm focus. “But say the word, and I’ll get your suit.”
Renewed desire unfurls in my belly. Mixed with a craving for the cool water on my skin at the same time, it’s too good to pass up. “We’ll be sure to come in before the sun’s up.”
“Does this mean sex on the beach is out?”
Heat flashes up my chest and makes my still-sensitive pussy throb. I rock my hips closer, needing to feel him against me. “Sex on the beach is sandy.”
“Speaking from experience?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“No.”
“Plus, the beach doesn’t have condoms.” Just saying our plans aloud is adding a hitch to my breaths.
“Doesn’t mean I can’t get you warmed up.” He shoots me a cocky grin. After setting me down, he snatches two towels from the hooks just inside the door. After he wraps me up in one, he tugs me to him and our lips meet in a soft kiss. The outside air is bracingly cold, but his lips are warm and his body is like a brick of solid heat, radiating into mine.
Hand in hand, we sneak down my steps to the cool sand. At the water’s edge, he drops his towel and continues into the water, giving me a stolen moment to drink in his broad back and tight butt, his powerful leg muscles rippling.
The chill on my skin turns electric, and I shiver. Not minutes ago, he drew all my cravings to an intense and delicious release. I should be satisfied. My flesh is still sensitive, achy. But it only seems to make me more aware of how incredibly alive I’m feeling right now.
In the blink of an eye, we’ve gone from enemies to some sort of fake dating pact, only it’s not feeling very fake. Maybe it never was?
Linden disappears beneath the surface, and I hurry to join him. The cool, clear water shocks my skin, sending gooseflesh up my legs and belly and the hard sand crystalspricking my feet. I wade deeper, then gulp a breath and sink down.
Beneath the surface, all sound goes to a dull hum, the water a thick indigo at this time of day. When I kick away from shore, Linden follows, swimming next to me, bubbles trailing. I pop up and float to my back, the chill electrifying my skin as I stare up at the pale sky warming one shade at a time.
Linden starfishes on his back next to me, sculling with his arms to stay afloat.
“You’re right. It does feel good.” He slips below the surface again, then pops up, whipping his head to clear the water from his forehead. “Is that why you bought the A-frame? For the lake access?”
I consider keeping this to myself, but it slips out before I can overthink it. “Back when I was little, we couldn’t afford to go anywhere fancy, so my parents rented a house on Bear Lake for a week every June.”
Linden’s treading water next to me, his eyes fixed on the row of six A-frame cabins lined up like carbon copies along the shore. “These used to be rentals.”
“I know.”
