“Yeah. Why does that matter?”
He smiled. “Because I’m not getting busted for swimming naked with a minor.”
“It’s stupid, isn’t it? I mean it’s not like I magically changed from a kid to an adult on my last birthday.” I stupidly used hand motions and unwittingly gave Dylan a front row view of my breasts.
His eyes widened. “You haven’t been a kid for a while.”
“Yeah, you either.” I cringed. I really needed to filter.
He laughed. “No, no I haven’t.”
The way he stared unnerved me, and I needed to keep us talking. “What are you doing here? School starts in like two weeks. Isn’t this a weird time to come to the beach?”
“I’ve been working all summer. It’s the only break I’ve had.”
I really looked at him. To be honest, he did look tired, although it was hard to look at his face when I knew he wasn’t wearing anything.
He suddenly grinned. “You’re going to be such trouble.”
“Excuse me?”
“I figured you’d spend all of your time in the library, but now that I know about this side of you, I have a feeling you’re going to make things interesting.”
“You make it sound like we’re going to be hanging out.”
“We’re not?” He moved into the shallow water.
“Do you usually hang out with freshman girls?”
“Sometimes.” He leaned back against the wall. I didn’t need the show he was giving me. He definitely felt comfortable in his own skin.
“I’m not going to bite, Juliet. You can come over here. You can’t tread water all night.”
“Not all night, but for a while. I was on the swim team, and I’m a lifeguard.”
“Come on, don’t be a baby.”
I shouldn’t have let his words get to me, but they did. I let out a breath and swam over. “Who are you calling a baby?” Of course, I was on my knees to keep myself under the water.
“Not you. I’m definitely not calling you that.” He pulled on my hand, catapulting me through the water and against him. He slid down, so that I was practically on his lap. Oh my god. If being naked with him was scary, having the evidence of his arousal pressed against me was unreal.
I tried to move off him, but all that did was shift me closer.
“You’re gorgeous.”
I’m sure I blushed. “Oh, thanks.”
“I mean it. I’ve thought so for a while, but you always seemed so young.”
“Yeah? I thought that about you, too.”
“The gorgeous part or the young part?”
“Neither. I mean. I just mean I always thought you were attractive.”
He smiled. “I know.”
“You know?”
“I assumed that’s why you always put on the tiniest bikinis and lay out right in front of us. Unless that was for Kyle’s benefit…”
“No. It was for yours.” My wardrobe and schedule had always been strategically planned to result in the maximum amount of exposure to Dylan. I was pathetic. I’m not even going to try to deny it.
He grinned. “I knew it.”
He ran his hands up and down my arms. “You’ve got goose bumps.”
“That’s the problem with the shallow end. Not enough of you is under water.”
“Want me to fix that?”
“How?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he gripped my hand and swam back to the deep end, stopping to anchor himself on the ladder. “Is this better?” He never released me, but kept me tethered to him so I couldn’t swim away.
“Much.” I was proud of myself for not hyperventilating.
“Good.” He pulled me against him. “Maybe this will keep you warm, too.”
“Umm, yeah.”
“Am I making you nervous?”
“No,” I lied.
“Are you a virgin?” He suddenly got serious.
“No, of course not.”
“I figured you weren’t.”
“Because I look like a slut or something?”
“No. But you’re hot, and you’ve had boyfriends here with you before.”
“Okay, good.” For some reason, even though I was naked in a pool with him, I was still worried about Dylan’s opinion about the kind of girl I was.
“Would it be okay if I kissed you?”
We were currently naked together, with me on his lap, and now he was asking my permission to kiss me? I nodded.
“Good.” He leaned in, cradling the back of my head as his lips met mine. His lips moved, slowly for a moment, before he sped up and pushed his way into my mouth. He deepened the kiss while using his free hand to cup one of my breasts. I groaned. That seemed to turn him on more, and his kiss became frenzied. His hand left my breast and slipped between my legs. I’d wondered what those fingers would feel like, and they didn’t disappoint. His lips left mine and moved down to my neck. He stopped. “Touch me.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I reached out to grab him.
“My house or yours?”
It took me a moment to pull out of my fog and realize what he was asking.
His hand stilled. “I mean we could do it here, but I figure you want to use protection.”
“Oh, yeah. Of course. Yours.” There was no way I was doing it in my grandparents’ house. But oh my god, I was about to have sex with Dylan.
“Great.” He didn’t waste a minute. He got us out of the pool, picked up his jeans, and towed me to his house. He moved so quickly I didn’t have time to worry about how naked I was. He pulled out his keys and hurriedly unlocked his back door.
“Aren’t we going to get everything wet?”
“Oh, we’re going to get things wet.”
“I meant the house. Because of the pool.”
“I know what you meant.” He pushed open the door to his room and backed me up to the bed. He leaned over me until I lay down.
I looked up at him, wondering if this was actually happening.
“I’m really glad I came down to the beach.” He hovered over me, kissing my neck while his hand moved between my legs again. “Are you ready for me, Juliet?”
“Yes,” I managed to squeak.
“Don’t move.” He got off the bed.
I sat up. What the hell was happening?
He returned a minute later. I couldn’t help gawking at his naked body. He was all muscle—but not in the overly built-up way.
“I told you not to move.”
“Where’d you go?”
“I knew Kyle kept a stash here. I think he was waiting for a chance to use one with you.” With that charming statement, Dylan opened a condom. “It looks like he’s out of luck.” He moved above me with a grin on his face. “I got to you first.”
I don’t know what I expected, but this wasn’t it. I winced when he entered me. It had been a while. I waited for the fireworks to start, but none did, and I mean none. There was absolutely nothing special or noteworthy about it—it was just sex—and incredibly unsatisfying sex at that.
What felt like thirty seconds later, he rolled off of me. “Fucking amazing.”
Amazing? Did we experience the same thing? But this was Dylan Bradley. Clearly, the problem was with me. “Yeah, definitely.”
“I’m so glad you’re going to Harrison. This is going to be a fun year.”
Was he implying this was more than a one-time thing? Did he want to actually date me? Of course, that was something I should have thought about before hooking up, but I was willing to break my no random sex rule for Dylan.
“No one’s expecting you home, right?”
“No. I already called my parents tonight.”
“Good.” He pulled me close.
“Do you want me to stay?”
“Of course.” He didn’t say anything else, and less than a minute later, he was sleeping.
What the hell?
I pushed against his arm. The last thing I was ready to do was sleep. After a couple of at
tempts, I was able to move his arm enough to slip out. I looked down at the ground, remembering I had one slight problem—no clothes. I decided to escape to the bathroom. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust once I turned on the light. I stared at my reflection in the mirror—my hair was a wet mess, and my neck and cheeks were red from his stubble.
I opened the closet and thankfully found a towel. It was plush and blue and suited my purposes perfectly. I stopped by the bed to look at Dylan for a second before heading out the back door. I wondered what he’d think when he woke up, and I wasn’t there. Most likely, he wouldn’t care. I walked back to our house still wearing just the towel and poured myself a glass of water. I took a shower and pulled on my favorite light green pajamas before finally collapsing into bed.
I stared at the ceiling for a while. It wasn’t Dylan’s fault it had been so disappointing. It had probably been because I’d inflated him so much. He was just a guy. Hopefully, it would be better next time—if there was a next time. I was almost positive this wasn’t what Amy had in mind, but skinny dipping before college may have been a good thing—or so I thought.
The Hazards of Skinny Dipping is available now!
Acknowledgements
As always, this book would not have been possible without the support of my family. Grant, I can’t imagine taking this journey without you.
Thank you to Jessica Watterson and Katy Austin for your superb beta reading, and to Jennifer Snyder for being the amazing writing partner that you are. Thanks to Holly Westring for your editing, and to Kristina Scheid for the proofreading. Thanks to Stephanie Nelson of Once Upon a Time Covers for bringing my cover vision to life. Thanks also to Kelly Simmon of Inkslinger PR for your continued support.
Thanks to all the bloggers who have continued to help me spread the word about my books, and to my readers for giving me the opportunity to share another story with you.
Shaken Not Stirred (Mixology) Page 22
