“Princess? That’s cute,” Bodhi hissed behind my ear. By the time I spun around, he too had strolled up to the stage. Damn he looked good walking away.
A figure stepped right into my line of vision, Ali—and her menacing glare. Unsure of what to do, I offered her a smile. She didn’t return it; her lips pulled out into a thin line. I wasn’t trying to step on her toes or piss her off so I looked away.
Back at Ben’s, we all crashed around the kitchen table talking. I loved it here. The fun. The friendship. The freedom. I didn’t particularly care for the taste of the beer, but I found that if I gulped it rather than sipped, it was easier to get down.
This was my first real taste of college life, and I knew this would be the only time I would get to live like this. I truly wanted to experience it to the fullest. Yet the nagging thought that even the alcohol couldn’t mask—would I end up in Bodhi’s bed again tonight?
At 1:30 in the morning, I could barely keep my eyes open. I’d stopped drinking at midnight when Ty got there. We talked for an hour about the show, his voice and the work it takes to set up and tear down. The excitement in his eyes when talking about ‘somedays’ made me smile. Bodhi never showing up…didn’t.
After Elle and Ben disappeared, I asked Ty if I could crash over at his place again. Without reservation, he stood and we walked across the yard in silence. I was a little surprised when he led me straight to where I longed to be.
“Goodnight, Tess,” he whispered planting a soft kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes and tried to enjoy his touch.
“Night.”
After he flipped off the light and shut the door, I fell face first onto the sheets getting lost in the most manly smell ever…but wondered where the man was that the smell belonged to.
“Hey, Princess. Get up. We have plans today.”
I’d been drifting in and out of sleep for a while but the word Princess made my eyes pop wide. Bodhi in the room made my pulse race beyond healthy. I squinted, trying to block the annoying sun from my face and saw him flipping through a drawer.
“I’m sure you’re used to a life of luxury, but you’re going to miss the bon voyage if you don’t get up.”
“Are we leaving on a boat?” I asked through a scratchy voice.
“See, I knew you were a smart one.”
He threw a T-shirt at me and it literally landed across my face. I held it in front of me and looked at it.
“What is this?”
“What’s it look like? An old T-shirt. If you are going to keep sleeping over here you might as well have something more comfortable than a skimpy little sundress. We are setting sail in an hour.”
“What time is it?”
He shoved some clothes in a sling bag and for the first time really looked at me.
“It’s noon. We working class people have to get up a little earlier than royalty,” he teased, and this time his voice actually sounded playful rather than mean. His gorgeous smile didn’t hurt either.
“Whose boat?”
“My parent’s. We’re stealing it.”
Bodhi closed the door after he walked out, and I sat stunned at the interaction that had just taken place. I wished I could download an app that would give me a Bodhi alert…some sort of warning so I could prepare for the sighting.
I held up the T-shirt; his name was on the back. I bit down on my lip when I thought about what our conversation meant. He expected me to stay another night—or a lot of them. Though I’d been raised only around girls, I’d read enough books to learn a little about what guys liked and didn’t like, but Bodhi didn’t seem like a normal guy. His roller coaster mood swings, undecipherable looks and hisses behind my ear, didn’t seem to make any sense. No book or guide could prepare me this man.
Chapter 8—Bodhi~ Diving in
Mom and Dad were gone and this was the perfect time to hijack the boat. It had been a year since the last time we had taken it out. Sailing was a day-to-day—minute-to-minute decision. Wind and weather always played a factor. Today was perfect. Sunshine. Light wind.
The guys had loaded up the coolers and the girls were in charge of food, towels and sunscreen. Along with Tessa, Elle brought her other two besties. All four girls were beautiful but damn there was something about Tessa that absolutely wrecked me. I’d stood in my bedroom and watched her sleep like some pervert before I woke her this morning. Even now, I had a hard time keeping my eyes off of her. However, sailing would require my full attention, and, until we dropped anchor, I would have to ignore the russet haired beauty.
As I steered through the typical Pacific waves, the boat effortlessly cut through the water making for a smooth ride. Tyler plugged in his iPhone and music blared through the speakers. As the tunes played and I monitored the navigation, my mind drifted back to the memory of Tessa curled up in my bed. I’d intentionally not come home last night. A morbidly curious part of me wanted to see what happened with her and Ty if they had time alone. So, after my midnight run on the beach, I sat watching tide come in. By the time I ventured home, she was nestled up in my bed—alone—which pleased me immensely.
“So what did you mean you were stealing your parent’s boat? It’s a great boat by the way.” Her voice had the sweetest accent. It reminded me of my Aunt Lisa from Boston.
Tessa stood next to me barely able to see over the ship’s wheel.
“You’re not allowed in the helm,” I commanded.
She took a gigantic step backward and grinned. A beautiful grin.
“I was thinking I could steeah maybe latah.”
I think she was asking to steer the boat—her accent lingered on the word later. I didn’t want to wait for later.
“Just get your ass in here now while there are no other watercraft near us.” I lifted my arm off the wheel and she ducked under it giggling.
This was the closest we’d been to each other, and her hair—that mane I’d dreamed of winding my fist in—was blowing into my face smelling of berries. A man’s ship wheel was similar to his cock…except more selection was involved in who could touch it. Never another man and only certain women. Tessa was the first to touch my ship’s wheel.
“I’m on a boat. I’m on boat,” she rapped. “Everybody look at me cause I’m sailin’ on a boat.” She tried to imitate The Lonely Island hip hop song.
Her laughter tugged at my lips, but I fought the smile when she looked at me and shot me a wannabe gang sign. Instead, I settled for an eye roll and shake of my head.
“Tess!” Tyler yelled and any hint of my smile faded.
“Yeah?” she shouted back.
Ty glanced at us, his expression darkening when he saw my hands gripping the ship’s wheel with her in between pretending to be steering.
“Man the ship,” she giggled. “I’ll be back.” She ducked once again beneath my arm and put distance between us.
“Don’t go,” I whispered beneath my breath after she was out of earshot.
Once we anchored down outside the cove near Catalina, everyone started jumping ship to cool off. I watched Tess in her turquoise bikini; her ass cheeks hung perfectly just below the elastic of her bottoms. Clearly, she was nervous to hurdle herself overboard as she paced along the side plotting her jump.
“Tess, beer me.” Collin held up his hand and Tess tossed him a beer out of the cooler.
“You want a life jacket?” I asked.
Her brows pulled together causing a little v between her eyes. “No. I’m fine.”
“Come on, Tess!” Someone shouted, and I didn’t look to see who it was.
“Can you swim?” I asked with concern in my voice.
“Yes!” She sounded defensive. “Just not with sharks and crap.” When her voice cracked, I couldn’t fight the smile. She was so fucking cute.
“Listen.” I pulled my shirt off and tossed it. I noticed her not-so-subtle once over of my body and that made me happy…especially the little bite of her lip. “I’m going in first, jump right after me, right next to me. Got it?�
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After a long exhale and a nod if you could call it one, she stepped up to the side.
“You got this, Slick.” When I jumped, I rotated to keep my eyes on her. Before I submerged I felt her splash next to me and grinned under water. Thata girl.
The refreshing water must have taken her breath away because when she came up, she gasped. Reaching out for her, my hand circled her wrist and I pulled her toward me.
“You OK?”
“Yes.” She wiped water from her eyes. “Aren’t you scared out here?”
“I was raised out here.”
We were deeper than I realized, so I released her wrist allowing her to tread water. I wound my arm around her abdomen and guided her toward the bank. For a girl who had a great ass, she had a super tiny waist. She shuddered when my hand rested against her bare skin, and I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
“Cold?”
“No,” she said breathless.
When I glanced up in the direction of the bank, I noticed Ty studying our every move.
“Hey, Slick?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you and Ty…”
“It’s about time, bitches.” Elle splashed us as we approached, and I let Tessa go, feeling her absence immediately. But she did turn and look at me with questions in her eyes.
Honestly, I didn’t understand it. The draw. The pull. I’d felt it since the first night. At first I resisted the urge to be near her. Content with her sleeping in my bed. Elle was with Ben almost every night because of the issues with her mother so that meant Tessa would spend her nights there as well. But now, I wanted to share my days with her too.
Once she found her footing in the sand, a slow smile pulled across her face and in turn, mine as well. For a girl who came from money, there was nothing fake or snooty about her.
A few hours later I went back to the boat alone; I checked the weather and wind. Everything still looked clear.
“Anyone need a drink?” I shouted and ended up tossing five beers out into the water. Tessa was on her third—yes, I was counting. When I picked up a towel to dry my wet hands, a baggie half-full of white powder fell out. A mix of anger and aggravation boiled through me. As much as I wanted to throw it overboard, I resisted the urge and slid it back into Elle’s bag.
Poised to jump back in the water, I saw Tessa swimming toward the boat, her sunglasses aiming up at me. Though anchored, the boat had drifted a little further out. I smiled to myself. She had found her courage.
“What’s wrong?” I shouted down.
“I have to pee.” She was breathless but smiling.
“You can come aboard. Or, you can pee right there in the water.” I winked as my mood changed on the dime.
She crinkled up her nose. “Eww.” Then instantly her face transformed into a panicked grimace.
“Bodhi!” Her bone-chilling scream pierced the air. Without thinking I dove in, nearly landing on her, circling around her waist with my arm as I yanked her under the water with me. My legs flailed around her trying to make contact with whatever lurked near.
She gasped when we broke the surface, and I pushed her quickly toward the boat.
“Tess!” Elle shouted. “Are you OK?”
Once we got to the ladder, I shoved her up on the deck.
“What happened?” I asked, still breathing hard.
She shrugged silently but her face was still a mask of disgust.
“Something touched me,” she shuddered and her chin quivered a bit.
We’d swam in this area since I was born and never had there been a shark sighting. I felt pretty confident it wasn’t a shark. But calming her down right then was my main focus.
I climbed aboard and instinctively pulled her into my chest, wrapping my arms tightly around her shivering body.
“Tessa,” I breathed out her name in a rush. “I’m sure it was a fish or something. It could have been seaweed too.”
“Bodhi?” Ty yelled, and I released her, annoyed by the rude interruption. He and Elle were halfway to the boat.
“She’s OK. Something brushed up against her leg.”
I gently lifted her tiny foot, her hot pink toenails screaming at me to kiss them, and ran my hand the length of her leg touching the softest skin ever. I saw nothing wrong with her leg. But, when her entire body trembled at my touch, my eyes darted up to hers. My hand had stopped mid-thigh and my pulse cussed in my god-damn ears for stopping there.
Ty and Elle were climbing up the ladder, and a breathless Tess quickly jerked her leg away.
“What’s the verdict?” Ty asked, dripping all over the boat. Getting the inside of the boat wet was typical, but today for some reason it pissed me off.
“The verdict,” I said with narrowed eyes, pausing as I lifted her foot back up to act as if I was just examining it for the first time. I tilted my head so they couldn’t see and brushed a light kiss over her ankle. “The verdict…well…it’s official, Tessa is a pussy,” I teased, smirking down at her.
I pivoted around and shrugged at Ty and Elle, who both started laughing. A sudden shove in my back sent me careening into the ocean behind the boat. Tessa had shoved me! Well fucking played.
Underwater, I smiled bigger than life but came up with a strained expression. Her hand covered her mouth masking her smile while Ty and Elle stood with jaws dropped. Elle spun around and held up her hand to be high fived, and Tessa smacked it. She bit her bottom lip between her teeth, and in that moment, looking at the sweet innocence that exuded from that sexy body, I decided I wanted all of this girl. Every. Single. Inch. There would be no turning back.
Ty jumped off the boat doing a front flip in the air and Elle did some sort of weird dolphin dive. My eyes never left Tessa, who I knew damn good and well didn’t want to get back in the water but jumped right at me with a mile-wide-grin. I hoped she was diving in…in the same way I was.
Chapter 9—Tessa~ whackadoodle
His cotton T-shirt swallowed me when I slid it on after my shower and the smell…oh God, the smell. Bordering on hyperventilation, I had to sit down on the toilet seat to make the dizzies go away.
“Tess.” Ty knocked. “I brought home some pizza.”
“Ok. I’ll be right out.”
Taking in one more long breath, I towel dried my wet hair and opened the door.
The house was pretty dark and truth be told this was weird to me. Ben and Elle had gotten in a fight and were off talking, so I rode home with Ty. Bodhi stayed to clean and wipe down the boat.
“Feel better?”
Ty was still shirtless from the boat ride and his skin was tinged red from the sun. As always, his ribs were clearly visible.
“I do feel better. You are skinny, mister,” I teased.
“That is the story of my life. No matter how much I eat it doesn’t get any better.” He shoved a slice of pizza in his mouth and bit off a good portion.
“How about a friendly little game of 20 questions?”
Eagerly, I nodded. “You go first!”
Without hesitation, he asked, “Does you wearing that T-shirt mean something?”
The bite of pepperoni pizza I swallowed lodged mid way down my esophagus. I cleared my throat and looked at my hands in my lap.
“Tess. It’s OK. I was just wondering.”
“There’s nothing going on. I mean nothing’s happened. I think he was just being nice.”
A rush of air popped up his throat in a sarcastic huff and he mumbled something beneath his breath. I didn’t understand what he’d said.
“Seriously. Bodhi saw me sleeping in my dress and offered it to me this morning. That’s all. ”
Ty finished his beer. And how was I supposed to answer that? All in one day—the guy who ‘didn’t want me’—touched my side when he didn’t need to and kissed my freaking ankle! No one had ever kissed any part of my body.
“Ty. This is all so crazy. When I met you on that plane, I had no idea I’d be sleeping under your roof. My…father…would c
ome unglued if he found out about this. Why do you think I go to an all-girls private school?” Not sure my father would care at all…unless people knew and it would look bad on him.
Ty rubbed the top of my head like I was a dog and irritation crept through me.
Hell. Now, he was as difficult to read as Bodhi was.
After the pizza, Ty grabbed a mason jar of cinnamon gummy bears out of the fridge.
“Dessert.”
My brows rose in question.
He opened the lid, dipped his fingers in and tossed one in his mouth.
“Soaked in cinnamon schnapps.”
I grabbed one and tried it. “Yum.” They were a little more chewy than normal but cinnamony. I grabbed another.
“Have you ever been drunk?”
“Is that one of your questions?” I asked. “Because you’re at number 12.”
His fedora sat on the counter and he put it on his head. “The name 20 questions is a guideline not a directive.”
“That’s 12 and no. The closest I’ve gotten was my first night here.”
He nodded. “I didn’t think so. And it’s 11.” The way he walked toward me made my pulse pick up its pace. In a quick movement, he flipped the fedora off his head and onto mine.
“Wow. That was cool.”
“Yeah, pretty slick.”
Just him saying “slick” made me think of Bodhi, and every part of me clenched. My body…my thoughts…had never been more alive and full of longing. Even at an all girls’ school we weren’t that out of touch. We had our phones on the weekend and we Googled the hell out of stuff. But rooming with three girls left little room to explore my body and I’d only tried masturbating once…unsuccessfully. Elle and I had picked up a vibrator at some sex store but I’d been too afraid to use it! Besides, now I wanted Bodhi’s hands all over me, not some piece of battery operated rubbery plastic thing.
“Slick, huh?” I repeated.
“And that was your question 16. Now. Let’s get you a buzz going. Here,” he said, handing me a shot glass. My stomach went from tightening with excitement for Bodhi to constricting with anxiety.
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