“Abso-freaking-lutely.”
We’ve been walking uphill for a while. I can see the summit clearly now. “You keep your composure in any and all situations? Stay polite?”
“Of course I do. I’m a Southern belle.”
“That right?”
“That’s so right.”
“Okay.” I smirk, and give her a look that lets her know something is coming. When we crest the top of the trailhead a minute later, looking over the steaming springs and the mountain behind them, I scoop Lucy up, toss her over my shoulder, and bolt down the path toward the water.
Lucy’s shrieking, banging on my back. I hold onto her tightly, taking her down into my arms when we reach the dock and swinging her around in a circle.
“Noooo,” she wails, clutching my shoulders. “You can’t throw me in!”
I chuckle. Then I toss her.
The springs feel great. I know they do. They’re always the same temperature, and we have them checked regularly for bacteria and things like that.
Lucy comes up with a gasp, then starts flailing on the side of the dock, shrieking like a girl and struggling to get up. I can tell she’s okay, so I start to strip my shirt and pants off.
I’m in my boxer-briefs by the time she gets onto the dock and lunges at me. I think about moving at the last second, so she falls back into the springs, but I can’t seem to make my feet obey, so she bulldozes into my abs, wrapping her arms around my lower back and pushing me as hard as she can.
I can’t help a chuckle.
“Go, you heavy motherfucker!” She pushes harder, and we both go into the water.
I let go of her as soon as we’re both submerged, then start feeling for her with my hands. She’s wearing clothes; I saw her swim on TV so I know she’s a strong swimmer, but… There.
I brush against her arm, blink, and see her treading water out in front of me, long strands of hair pasted to her cheeks and forehead, mouth in an “o” of pseudo-fury.
“Liam, you dirty bastard!”
Something about hearing her say “motherfucker” and “bastard” in that sweet, drawling voice makes me laugh my ass off.
“Are you laughing at me?”
She splashes my face.
I can’t help grinning.
“Tell me why! Because I’m wet—” she splashes me again— “and in my clothes?”
I chuckle. “Maybe.”
She treads closer to me, swatting at my hair; then her fingers catch a piece and she tugs.
“Ow!”
She splashes me again, then swims off in a huff. Then turns around and raises both eyebrows, giving me a look of mock fury. “This friendship is over.”
I know she’s just joking, but my chest tightens a little.
“Don’t say that, now.”
“Oh, it’s over. You ambushed me!”
“For a good cause.”
“And what’s that, pray tell?”
I smile slowly. “So I can see you when you get out.”
“I’m taking your dry clothes!”
“That’s why I took them off.”
She raises one brow.
“What? I’m a gentleman.”
She swims a little closer, splashes me again. “I won’t fall for that act again.”
And now it’s my turn: I tread closer to her, close enough so I can touch her; my fingers come down lightly on her collarbone. “Don’t say that, Lucille.”
“Am I hurting your feelings?” She shoots me a skeptical look.
“Maybe you are,” I tell her softly. But I’m smiling. Because being with her makes me fucking smile. I can’t control it.
Now it’s Lucy’s turn to come nearer. I feel her foot brush my calf, then her fingertip is dragging lightly down the bridge of my nose. “Don’t be sad.” She runs her finger over my nose once more. “Did you break it?”
“Yes.”
“How old were you?” She moves her finger; I can feel the echo of her touch after it’s gone.
“Not very.”
“Was it sports?”
I tread water a little harder. “Not exactly.”
“There’s a story here. I can tell.”
Fuck me, but I’m not quick enough to fabricate one. Not with Lucy throwing me off the way she does.
I realize that I’ve got my lips pressed shut, something the family PR people are constantly schooling me on, but which I’ve done so often, the media has learned to make a fuss over. It makes my dimples show.
“Oh, so not a fun story,” she says softly.
She’s right in front of me, not even two feet away. Little ripples from the fanning of her arms under the water crest over my pecs. And suddenly, I want to pull her closer. Close enough that she can’t see my face, but I can feel the softness of her breasts against my chest.
Instead, I back up just a little, and I try my best to give a little smirk.
“Wait—now you said you were little. It couldn’t be a funny sexcapade. Could it?”
My eyes shut briefly on their own. I pry them open, force my face to remain neutral. “Just an accident. Nothing exciting.”
“So what happened?”
That was what he said. I try to swallow and I find I can’t, so I turn around.
“Fuck, was that a fish?” I choke out.
“Oh God, are there fish in here? Big ones? Like Loch Ness monsters?”
There I have my save. I go under, swimming deep and blinking in the green water until I see her flailing feet. Then, of course, I grab one—grab a toe. I watch her body bob, as if she’s trying to jump out of the water. By the time I surface, laughing, that hot feeling in my head is gone.
Lucy smacks me in the shoulder, mimes slapping my cheek.
“I’m going to get you, Liam. I’m going to get you really good, when you’re not expecting it.”
“I’ll be expecting it.” I smirk.
Lucy splashes me. I’m grinning as I rub my wrist over my eyes.
“You get feisty.”
“Don’t you call me feisty, Mr. Prince Boy.”
That makes me laugh. I find myself closing the distance between us, reaching out for her and wrapping both my hands around her forearms.
“You have little arms.”
“Maybe you just have big hands,” she murmurs.
I can tell she wants me by the way her face relaxes—too much; I can almost see her eyes slip shut, her tongue slide out over her lips. I’m hard as hell and I just want to set her on the dock and fuck her brains out.
No.
I let her go. Lucy looks a little flustered for a minute, slightly awkward, like being close to me has made her nervous.
Good, says the part of me I need to silence.
I watch her as she treads water, moving in a circle so her back’s away from me and she can see the peak.
“So tell me more about making apps.” She turns back toward me. “Does it take a lot of time?”
I shake my head. “I do most of the coding and designing in the first phase by myself, with Todd helping at times. The development—the broader things to get something ready for distribution—that’s not my part. I don’t test or package anything. That’s all done by teams that Todd runs.”
“But that first phase, you enjoy it?”
“I like building things.”
“Is your cousin impressed?”
I shrug. “He always knew I liked that kind of shit.”
Lucy nods slowly, stretching out on her back. “So does he usually live at the castle, Heath I mean?”
“We both travel around a lot, but he’s there some.”
“Where is he right now, again?”