Freaking soaked and with my nose and eyes burning, I shivered and crossed my arms over my chest. “I was going to make you give me a piggyback ride,” I tried to explain, still blinking the water out of my eyes so I could see better.
“I could’ve if you’d given me a warning,” he said, laughing easily as he swiped a hand down his face, so much like my Aaron I couldn’t find it in me to regret what had just happened. “My forehead hit the floor and my stomach scraped bottom.”
I shivered again. “I’m sorry. This was a stupid idea. If that’s not a sign I should get out before I get eaten alive, I don’t know what would be.”
Aaron’s hand landed on my forearm before I could take a step toward the shore, and the next thing I knew, that smooth, muscular expanse of his back, with its two little dimples at the bottom, was in my vision. “We’re already wet. Come on.”
I hesitated and Aaron scooted back just a little more so that if I leaned forward just an inch, he’d be right there, pressed up against me.
I could see his profile under the moonlight as he glanced at me over his shoulder. “I can carry you in my arms if you want.”
Aaron carrying me into his arms? Heck yes.
Realistically though, and for the sake of my sanity and feelings, no. Heck no. That was an awful idea.
“No, no, it’s all right,” I said, probably a little too quickly. “Are you ready this time?”
“I would’ve been ready last time if I’d known—”
I didn’t wait after I put my hands on his shoulders and just jumped, again, knees going to the sides of his hips, my forearms locked around his neck so tightly I might have been choking him. Then his own hands were on my butt, and I squeaked as he gave me a boost just a little higher up him.
“Ru, I need to breath before I pass out and we both become shark bait.”
I tried wiggling one of my legs out from around where they were wrapped at his waist, but his palm slapped high up on my thigh.
“Stop. We’ll just go in a little deeper,” he assured me with a snicker.
“Fine,” I mumbled behind him. “But I swear, if we become a shark attack statistic, and it bites me in the face, and the surgeon can’t repair the damage, you’re marrying me so you can look at my face the rest of your life and remember it was your fault.”
He chuckled so quietly as he moved deeper into the water I almost couldn’t hear him. It didn’t take long before we were chest deep in the gulf. The water was hitting me right at my breasts from how high up I was on his back. I could feel him breathing, and I was sure he could feel me breathing and feel my heart beating so fast it almost seemed at capacity.
But I ignored it all. I ignored it all except for the lights coming from the houses on shore when Aaron turned us in a circle. Except for the bright, nearly full moon in the sky illuminating the surface of the glassy water. Except for the feel of Aaron’s solid build in front of me, his hands coming to rest on my calves.
“Nice, hmm?” he asked in a whisper like he was stuck in a trance too.
“Very nice,” I agreed, my mouth just to the side of his ear. “I could get used to this.”
“You’d come in the water by yourself next time?”
I snorted. “Heck no. But if you gave me a piggyback, I’d do it again,” I said, letting my clutch of death go just enough so I could pinch his lean cheek. “Have I told you thank you today for inviting me?”
He made a thoughtful noise. “Not today.”
With my arm back around his neck, I gave him another squeeze and whispered, “In that case, thank you for inviting me.”
And Aaron squeezed my calves as he said right back, “Thank you for coming with me.” And then, “And thank you for writing me for so long.”
This man owned me entirely, and he had no idea. “Don’t thank me for that.”
He turned his head just a little, like he could see me out of the corner of his eye. “Why?”
“Because. Trust me, you helped me out a lot more than I helped you out.”
“Nah.”
“It’s true.”
“No, it’s not,” he argued. “You don’t even know how much I needed your e-mails, Ruby.” There was a pause. “I didn’t even know how much I needed your e-mails.”
I almost gushed sugar out of my mouth, and I definitely had to ignore the warm sensation in my stomach reminding me I was in love with him. I had no business thinking that, especially not when there were so many things he couldn’t tell me. “You had like two other families, too. Don’t give me all the credit. I know how it is.”
Fingertips grazed my calves and I felt him sigh beneath me. “No, you don’t, and I hope you never do,” he said in a voice that sounded resigned or sad, or maybe both. “There are so many things you see and hear that you can never forget or get out of your head, no matter how much you try. It wasn’t until you that I heard myself laugh, Ruby.” That perfect profile tipped to the side and I saw the corner of his eye peeking at me. “You don’t know what that means to me.”
I sniffed, touched by his words, and so freaking in love with this guy I wanted to make a potion that would make him fall in love with me so I could keep him forever. I’d keep spiking him for the rest of my life if I could. All so I could have him.
But that wasn’t the way these things worked, unfortunately.
Instead, I hoped he could tell the difference in the way I had my arms around him and that he could notice I was trying to hug him instead of cling to him for dear life, and I said with my mouth real close to his ear, “You’re the best, Aaron not an asswipe.”
I was pretty sure that if anyone had been standing out on their deck that night, they could have heard us both laughing.
Chapter 20
It was stupid to think it, but I woke up feeling different the next morning.
Maybe different wasn’t the correct word to use, but I felt…
I don’t know how the heck I felt exactly. After spending a lot more than two minutes out in the water, clinging onto Aaron like a spider monkey, something in me seemed changed. Maybe that was the thing about doing things you hadn’t thought you could do, you realized that maybe you weren’t who you’d always thought you were. There was more to me than even I’d thought there was. Despite everything I thought I’d learned the day before, I felt happier, more at peace, just… better, even though I was really tired after only sleeping five hours.
Dragging myself to the bathroom that morning, I showered quickly and headed upstairs, yawning nonstop. With my usual bottle of water in hand, I made my way to the balcony and tried to clear my mind as much as possible. I tried to think of the things that made me happy and the way the air smelled. I tried to think of anything but Aaron.
But like a high school girl with my first crush, almost every thought just went back to him in some way. How I was worried about him. How I was disappointed that he didn’t trust me enough. How I shouldn’t like him as much as I did, but I did. When I wasn’t thinking about him, I thought about what I was going to do when I got back home after visiting my dad.
The door of the deck slid open and there Aaron was, with his tray. There was some coloring beneath his eyes like there had been every other day, but he smiled at me warmer than he ever had before, and that was saying something in a language I didn’t know.
“Morning,” he said.
“Good morning,” I called back to him, watching as he made his way toward where I sat.
He held out a plate toward me as he lowered himself into his same chair. On the white plate were two pancakes with what looked like chocolate chips in them. And they were shaped like Mickey Mouse’s head.
I glanced up at him to see him smiling at me almost expectantly.
“You like?” he asked, pulling out two forks from the pocket of his swim trunks and handing one over.
I couldn’t stop the stupid smile on my face. “How did you make these?”
“Skills.”
I rolled my eyes even as I kept smiling. “No, really.”
He winked. “There’s a mold in the cupboard. I thought you’d get a kick out of it.”