“Be adventurous, Mila. Let’s skinny-dip.”
“Ah, yeah, no.” I shook my head again and laughed, though my heart was racing. Should I do it? Should I go skinny-dipping with him? Why would he even ask me to go skinny-dipping if he wasn’t interested in me? Was he just trying to shock me? There was no way he was being serious, was he?
“That’s what I thought.” He laughed as he stood there staring at me with a huge grin. “All talk and no actual game.”
“Um, I never talked about going skinny-dipping,” I said with a frown. “So that’s not exactly true.”
“Five years ago you said that you secretly wanted to go skinny-dipping, but you were scared that people would see you, so you’d only go late at night. However, the caveat was that there would have to be one person there with you, so that you wouldn’t feel alone and you’d have someone to cover you if someone else happened to come out while you were in the lake.”
“How do you remember that?” I asked, looking at him in surprise. “I barely remember saying that.”
“Ha.” He winked at me. “I never forget when a girl tells me she wants to go skinny-dipping.”
“You’re a pervert.”
“Not quite.” He stared at me for a few seconds and my heart stilled as his face turned serious. He opened his mouth and I waited to hear what he was going to say next. It looked like it was something important. “We should go to bed,” he said finally and reached out for my hands to pull me up.
“I’m not ready for bed.” I shook my head, disappointed. Unless you want me in your bed. Of course I didn’t say that out loud, even though I wanted to.
“Mila Kunis, it’s time for bed.” He grinned at me and I punched him in the arm.
“You’re a jerk,” I said as I jumped up and then yawned. I ignored the knowing look on his face as he stared at my mouth. “And that Barbie isn’t the brightest bulb in the shed, either.”
“Now now, Miley, no need to be rude.”
“You love it, don’t you?” I glared at him. “You won’t be loving it if she screams out ‘Brad Pitt’ or ‘Ashton Kutcher’ in bed.”
“Why would she scream out either of those names?” he said as we walked back towards the cabin.
“Well, she is apparently obsessed with Mila Kunis, so maybe she wishes you were Ashton Kutcher?”
“I think I’m a bit better than him, don’t you think?”
“What would I and my big hips know?” I said lightly and he burst out laughing. “It’s not funny, TJ.” I shook my head at him. “She’s horrible.”
“I will neither agree nor disagree with your statement,” he said softly and I wanted to punch him again. How could he not call her out for being the big bitch that she was? “However, I will say that a girl with a brain and some meat on her bones is worth ten girls with no brains.”
“Thanks,” I said and I gave him a quick hug as we walked into the cabin. “Night, TJ.”
“Night, Mila,” he said and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Sweet dreams.”
I walked towards my room with a smile on my face before I realized that TJ hadn’t exactly said what I thought he’d said. He said a girl with a brain and some meat on her bones was worth more than ten girls with no brains, but he hadn’t said ten skinny girls with no brains. Did that mean he preferred super-skinny girls with no brains to average girls with brains, or a few-extra-pounds girls with brains or, who am I kidding, more-than-a-few-extra-pounds girls with no brains? I paused at my door and turned around to go back to talk to him and find out. However, I stopped still as I saw that TJ was standing in the same place I’d left him, just staring at me with a weird expression on his face. He hadn’t moved since I’d walked away. He’d watched me walking to my room and he was still there.
I could feel my face blushing, and all thoughts of going up to him to ask him if he preferred skinny girls or not went out of my mind. I felt flustered just standing there looking back at him. I didn’t know what he was thinking, and part of me was scared to find out. I took a deep breath, trying to build up the courage to go over to him. I wanted to grab his shirt, push him against the wall and kiss him hard. I wanted to press myself into him and tell him that he wasn’t going to be sleeping with Barbie tonight, he was going to be sleeping with me.
I stared at his lips as he stood there and watched his chest rising and falling, and my whole body was on high alert with want and need. I wanted so badly to go over to him and take charge. But because I’m all talk and no action, I let my shyness overtake me. I lifted my hand and waved and said, “Night, TJ—sweet dreams of me.” I groaned under my breath as I realized what I’d said, and he laughed.
“All night long, Mila. All night long,” he said softly and gave me a small wave back. I turned around abruptly and hurried into my room, my skin tingling in happiness. I had no idea what had just happened, but I knew I was going to bed with a smile on my face.
Chapter Seven