“Come on,” he laughs, “there’s one other thing I haven’t shown you yet.”
He sits up and crawls out from under the netting. I pull the sheet around me tighter and follow him out. He walks across the small room to a corner hidden in shadows.
“In here,” he says, and I can feel rather than see his smile.
At the end of one wall, hidden in the dim light of the room, is a small doorway. Crew lights a candle that sits on a shelf by the door, and we walk through.
It’s a little bathroom, built on the side of the treehouse. The walls are open except for a railing made of wood that wraps around three sides. We’re hidden in the canopy of the forest, completely obscured from view, but it still feels a little dangerous to be out here, almost naked. Or in Crew’s case, completely naked. I look over the side, in the direction of the sea. I can hear waves rolling and crashing onto the beach. A warm breeze blows the sheet against my skin and every now and again a few leaves rain down onto the roof above us.
“Feel like a shower?” Crew says into my ear. He pulls a chain and then suddenly water is gushing from the ceiling and out through the wooden slats at our feet. He walks behind me and reaches around to untuck the sheet.
“This is turning out to be the best day ever,” he whispers, and then the sheet is gone. He walks forward, nudging me towards the shower. The water is a torrent; it pours from the ceiling like a fire hose. I hold my breath and step under.
“Argh!” I yell and dance around a bit under the spray. It’s not what I was expecting. The water is cool, almost cold, and it hits my shoulders like bullets.
“What was that?” Crew laughs behind me. He has to shout to be heard over the gush of the water.
“What?” I shout back. My eyes are closed tight, but I can feel him, all of him, behind me.
“That little dance you did.”
I open an eye, and he’s moving a little way out of the water, openly laughing at me while he rubs a bar of soap over his chest. He continues for a while, happily rubbing the bubbles over his shoulders, biceps, his stomach, and legs. He’s completely oblivious to the way he looks right now, muscles contracting as he moves his body, his hair slick against his scalp. I look down at where the pressure of the water has made bright red marks on my breasts and stomach. Strands of hair are plastered to my cheeks. This should probably be one of the sexiest moments of my life. Despite the view, it’s not.
“You know, it would be considerate if you could give that a rest.”
“Give what a rest?” he smiles, his eyes traveling from the top of my head to my toes.
“You. Looking like that. I mean seriously, Crew, it’s all the time.”
The corner of his mouth twitches as he watches me push the hair out of my face and dodge left and right, recoiling from the pressure of the water.
“Come over this way,” he calls out, reaching out a hand for me to grasp. He pulls me to him, and I press my forehead to his chest.
“Ok, what kind of shower is that, and how can we make sure that I never have to experience it again.”
The muscles in my back feel like they’ve been whacked with a rolling pin, and my skin is tingling all over. Actually, maybe it’s not so bad.
“It’s a rain shower,” he says, trying not to laugh. “Well, actually it’s a waterfall shower. Soap?”
I nod, and he reaches down to where a bottle of body wash is sitting on the floor. He squeezes some into his palm and rubs his hands together.
“If you actually enjoy that shower then you must be some kind of masochist.”
He places a hand on each of my shoulders and rubs soap down over my arms, back up again, over my shoulders, around each breast.
“But how do you feel now?” he murmurs, spinning me around. He picks up my hair and places it over one shoulder and then rubs soap down my back in circles.
“Like my skin is vibrating.”
His hand is rough, calloused, I lean into it, enjoying the way it scratches my skin.
“That doesn’t sound so bad.” He leans forward and kisses my ear. “Time to rinse.”
“Uh uh,” I shake my head. “No way. I’m not going back in there.”
I can feel him laughing behind me.
“Relax, kid, I’ve got another plan.”
He leaves me standing there soapy and tingling and bends down to pull a bucket out from under the sink. He holds it under the shower for a moment and then turns the water off by pulling down hard on the chain.
“Stand over here.”
He leads me to the railing and gently nudges me so that I’m leaning against it. The wood is smooth against my back.
“How do you feel now?” he says, reaching into the bucket and pulling out a yellow sea sponge. Water dribbles over my shoulder and breast, and he wipes the bubbles softly away.
“Like I have no bones in my body,” I mumble and close my eyes.
“Relaxed, then?”
He steps forward and pulls the sponge down over my ribs, hip, thigh. He moves closer, dropping the sponge at his feet, and I let my head fall forward onto his chest. I lick a droplet of water off his skin. He smells like rain.
Hands move up, cradling the sides of my face; a thumb drags across my bottom lip. Fingertips, featherlike, down the side of my neck, under the curve of my breast, across my stomach and hip.
“Don’t guys usually need to sleep afterwards?” I smile as he pulls me close, pressing himself into my stomach.
“Babe, I've been sleeping for a year,” he says, bending down and kissing my hair. “Believe me, I'm wide awake.”
Chapter Twenty Nine
Crew
“You’re shivering.”
“A little bit.”
“Here, take this.”
I pass her a towel from the basket, and she wraps it around her shoulders. Her hair is sopping wet, soaking through the towel, so I pick up another one and wrap it around her hair as best I can. I’m not sure what to do with it, but I remember that Jessie used to scrub her hair dry after she’d gotten out of the surf. So that’s what I do.
“Ummm,” she laughs as I gather the towel around her hair and start rubbing it hard between my hands.
“Is that not right?”
She’s really laughing now.
“There’s a certain way to treat curly hair, especially in this humidity. You have to respect it. If you keep that up, I promise you, you’ll regret looking at me in the morning.”
My hands freeze and when I open the towel, I see what she means. I think I already ruined it.
“I have a feeling I’m going to like looking at you in the morning,” I smile. “Do you want to sleep here or at your treehouse?”
“Hmm,” she says, leaning back into my chest. “Let’s stay here. But tomorrow night, we’re trying out that four poster bed.”
I could say a few smart things in response to that, but I keep my mouth shut instead.
I follow her back into the bedroom and close the sliding door behind me. The candle has burned low so that the room is dark with shadows. Hartley crawls under the netting and carefully tucks it under the mattress, and I follow her under, pulling a light cotton blanket from the end of the bed up and over us.
“I kind of wish I had a t-shirt to wear or something,” she mumbles, as she takes off her towel and quickly pushes it out under the netting onto the floor.
“Why?”
“I don’t know; I’ve never slept naked before.”
She sits up and reaches her hands around her to try to gather up her hair. When she feels it, her eyes go wide, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing.
“You’ve never slept without clothes on?” I say. “Why not?”
“What if I had to get up in the night, like if there was an emergency?”
“What kind of emergency?”
“Burglars or a fire.”
“I always sleep naked,” I yawn, stretching my arms above my head.
She looks down at me an
d narrows her eyes.
“Of course you do.”
“Well, kid, you don’t have any clothes here, except that dress. So you can either wear the dress; take a little night time trip down the tree and across the forest floor with all of the spiders and snakes; or you can stay right where you are and sleep naked. With me.”
“Can’t you lend me a t-shirt?” she says, lying down next to me and nuzzling into my chest.
“No way.”
“Fine,” she sighs. “But it feels weird.”
“You’ll get used to it. There are certain advantages to it that you might enjoy.”
“The thing is,” she says, ignoring me, “David had an issue with it. He wasn’t even that keen on me being completely naked during, let alone afterwards.”
“What?” I say, moving back so that I can look at her face. “Why?”
“He has a thing about germs. He said it made him feel unclean.”
“Right,” I say quietly, and the rest of the words are sitting there, waiting on my lips. “I think –“
“What?” she murmurs into my chest.
“I think we should talk a bit before we do anything again.”
She lifts her head off my chest and props herself up on her elbow.
“What do you mean?”
“Hartley, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m getting the feeling that you haven’t had much experience.”
She looks at me blankly, and I smile to reassure her.
“With sex.”
“Oh! Oh. Well,” she looks away, and then back to meet my eyes. “I’m no virgin or anything, Crew.”
“I know babe,” I say, pulling her back, so she’s lying down facing me. “I just don’t want to move too fast for you or do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
“That’s very considerate of you,” she smiles, “but I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t think you know what you’re in for. So I still want to talk about it. We should have some guidelines.”
“Guidelines? Do we need those?”
She’s looking at me like she might burst out laughing at any moment. I place a hand on her cheek, so she knows I’m serious.
“I’ve lived a pretty crazy life over the last eight years and to be honest, it wasn’t that stable before then either. I’ve gone from having a lot of sex, with a lot of women, to nothing. And now there’s you. I don’t want to ruin it. Babe, the guidelines are for me.”
“Oh,” she whispers, “then let’s talk.”
I brush a few wayward curls off her forehead and pull the blanket up over her shoulders.
“Ok, this is just a hunch, but if David didn’t like you to be naked, which, by the way, is insane, then I’m guessing he didn’t want to use his mouth on you, either.”
Her eyes widen, and she moves back on the pillow, pulling away.
“Hey, it’s ok,” I laugh softly, “we can talk about this.”
She looks at me boldly and shakes her head.
“Good. See? It’s better I know that now.”
“He didn’t mind me doing it, though,” she says quietly, and her face is suddenly cold.
“Well, he’s a selfish asshole.”
She smiles a little at that but doesn’t say anything.
“Is there anything you definitely don’t want?”
She looks down and squirms a little, and her cheeks start to go pink. This conversation is killing her.
“I don’t really know,” she says and shrugs one shoulder. “I don’t think so.”
“Great!” I say brightly, “so that’s a green light for nipple clamps, dog collars, and anal sex then?”
Her mouth drops open and all color drains from her face.
“Ah, well....”
“Babe, I’m joking,” I laugh as I pull her close for a kiss. “We’ll go slow, ok? If there’s anything you’re not comfortable with, tell me.”
She nods against my mouth.
“I missed you today when you left me in my treehouse.”
I kiss her slowly and reach a hand under the blanket to her back.
“I miss you when you’re in the next room.” I murmur, moving my lips lower, to the side of her neck, the ball of her shoulder, the birthmark the shape of Alaska on her upper arm. “So I win.”
She laughs softly, and I pull her suddenly, rolling her onto her back. She goes still.
“I’m going to try to be more patient this time,” I say into her belly button, and she laughs again, trying to move away from where my breath tickles her skin.
“Is your skin still vibrating?” I rub the stubble of my cheek against the soft skin of her stomach and smile when I hear her breathing change.
“Yes,” she whispers, and her hand comes down to the top of my head. “Come up here, Crew. Kiss me.”
I shake my head against her stomach.
“Try to relax. And don’t think. I know it’s just about impossible,” I say, following the ridge of her hipbone with my lips, “but try to switch that enormous brain of yours off for a while.”
“Crew…” she says quietly, and her hand stills in my hair.
“Don’t think.”
Outside, it’s started to rain. Fat drops of water hit the roof sporadically at first, a beat that’s slightly out of time. Soon it gathers momentum, falling louder and faster until the sky is roaring and strings of water drip from the awnings over the windows.
I move downwards, slowly dragging my cheek along the inside of her leg. Under my hand her stomach dips and falls wildly, her breathing has no rhythm.
Anticipation. She jumps every time I move.
“Stop thinking,” I whisper against her and above me I hear her gasp.
“Wait, wait…”
“No.”
The rainstorm suddenly closes in, surging forward through the forest, so that the tin roof above us sounds like it’s pelted with marbles. I’m lost in it. I let it dictate everything, following its intensity as it rises and falls, slowing and speeding up. There is a lull, and then it reaches its limit, the rain deafening and the treehouse rocking from side to side. I steady myself, matching the frenzy and the force of it until when she screams neither of us can hear it, her voice is lost, hidden amid the lashing of the rain and the sound of my rapidly beating heart.
Chapter Thirty
Crew
Eight years earlier
“I hate this; it’s stupid. Nothing fits!”
I lie back on Jessie’s bed, the cushions and blankets all blue and white and silver. The colors of the sea. She’s standing in front of the mirror scowling at her reflection. She reaches for the tape on the zipper and gives it one last furious tug. It doesn’t move.
“I look ridiculous!” she cries, stamping one foot angrily on the floor then spinning around to face me. “And that horrible ugly thing, I hate that too!”
I follow her with my eyes as she advances on the blue prom dress hanging on the back of the door and pulls it furiously from its hanger. When she finally looks in my direction her face is red, and her eyes are full of tears.
“Don’t you dare laugh Crew Sullivan,” she warns, but I can never help myself when Jessie lets her temper get the better of her, she looks too adorable all hot and angry and puffing like she’s breathing fire. Today is no different.
“Stop it,” she sniffs and laughs through her tears. “Stop.”
But the last word comes out as a sob and soon she’s crying hard, her shoulders heaving and her hand over her mouth.
“Hey, hey, Jessie,” I say, standing up and pulling her to me. “It’s going to be fine.” I kneel down in front of her and pull the sides of her wetsuit apart at the middle, placing a hand on either side of her waist. She sighs under my touch and her breathing slows. I lean forward, resting my face on the tight, hard swell of her belly and under my cheek I feel something dart across her skin, like a fish caught on a line.
“I can’t surf anymore,” she whispers above my head, and I hear the devastation in her voice. I pr
ess my lips to her stomach.
“Yes, you can, for a couple of months, anyway. We just need to get you a bigger wetsuit.”
“I’m scared, Crew.”
“I know.”
“Aren’t you scared?”
“Not at all. This is everything I ever wanted.”
“But it was a mistake.”
“It’s not a mistake Jessie-Girl. It was just earlier than we planned.”
“Tell me the story again.”
She reaches down and puts her hands in my hair, pulling me against her belly.
“Once we get the Prom out of the way we’re going to hand in our last assignments and head over to Giovanni’s for a celebratory dinner.”
“My mom still isn’t that happy about us graduating early,” she says quietly. “She thinks I should stay for as long as I can.”
“What do you think?”
“I think I’d walk out of high school tomorrow, as long as you were with me.”
“See? As long as we’re together it will all be ok.”
“But everything is changing.”
“The important things are staying the same. I love you. I’ve loved you from the first time I saw you. You love me.”
She sighs heavily and strokes my hair.
“Is it really that simple?”
“We’re going to fly over and check out the couple’s housing at college,” I continue, “and we’ll sort out your classes and buy everything we need to set up our home.”
“Crew,” she says, putting a finger under my chin, forcing me to look up at her. “Are you sure you’re ok with deferring your studies for a year? It’s a big sacrifice. I don’t want you to end up resenting it.”
“Honey, I know what I want. I’ve always known it. I want you and me to be a family. I want to make a home for us. This is my chance. I can make a home for my family that’s totally different from the one I grew up in. You watch, while you’re slaving away over your lecture notes, I’m going to be cooking you dinner and taking care of the baby. I’m going to be the best house husband in the whole wide world.”
“House husband huh?” she smiles, and I stand to my feet.
“How about just a husband?”
My heart hammers in my chest, because even though I’ve known I’d marry Jessica O’Reilly ever since the day I saw her punch a kid in the nose for stealing Jake’s lunch in First Grade, there’s always a small part of that me thinks she’s far too good for someone like me. I reach up and run my hand down her honey blonde hair, thick and knotted from the sea.
Still Waters Page 15
