Chapter 16
16
[Judd]
I ’d been raging with anger.
Then Genie revealed that sweet body of hers and teased me about pickup lines and it’s like someone released a filled balloon. The pressure squeaks out of me.
Genie shrieks as I hop off the dock and drop us into the lake. The sudden blast of frigid water is a shock to my system. One I relish.
Instantly, I calm, awash in the numbing relief of the crisp lake.
Just what the fuck was that with her mother?
Her mother’s tone and the damning words reminded me so much of my father. His cutting comments. His malicious intentions. Only a weak man keeps his children down, but it took me years to accept that truth. And I realize it doesn’t matter if you’re a pillar of the community or the town drunk; an asshole is an asshole.
I don’t want to let Genie out of my arms. As I’ve promised, I’ll never let anything happen to her. If we need to live in a cocoon of just one another and my home as a bubble to protect us, that’s what I’ll do for her. However, I don’t think Genie wants that kind of seclusion in her life.
I also don’t want to weigh her down beneath the water, so I release her.
She pushes herself upward, breaching through the surface, and I follow, hearing her laughing before she shoves water at me.
“It’s freezing,” she shrieks again, the tension from her mother’s words instantly washed away, as I’d hoped.
“It’s refreshing.” So are you . Her laugh. Her smile. The tease in her eyes.
She continues to shove water in my direction before I lunge forward and capture her wrist. Tugging her to me, our bodies collide. My bare chest against her covered breasts. Her bathing suit leaves nothing to the imagination, other than if her nipples are dusty rose or cinnamon brown. Does she taste like sweetness or is she spicy? She’s all subtle curves and soft edges, and I want to outline every dip and curl with my hands, and my mouth, and my teeth.
However, our swim is about distraction, not attraction. I want her out of her head and away from that bullshit her mother spewed on the phone.
Genie wraps an arm loosely around my neck. Our bodies continue to tap. Legs brush beneath the water. Hips knock together. Despite the cold, I’m hard as the planks on the dock, and any second Genie is going to discover how deeply my body craves hers.
“I don’t think I can stand here.” She giggles, skimming her other arm across the surface of the water.
“Try.” With my hands at her hips, I hold onto her as she lowers her body, feet reaching for the lake bottom.
When her head dips underneath the water, she quickly pops back up and spits. “Nope.”
“No worries. I’ve got you.” I’ll keep her safe. From her mother and any other person who wants to speak to her in such a condescending manner.
Genie glances around, taking in the budding greenery, and the silver glow of the lake water, rippling beneath the vibrant sunshine.
“I don’t see other docks. Where are the other houses?” She squints into the distance as if focusing will reveal hidden homes that don’t exist.
“There aren’t any. This is private property. The house. The woods. The pond. It’s all mine.”
“Pond?” she chuckles. “This is a lake.”
“It’s technically a pond,” I clarify of the spring-fed body of water.
“And all of this is yours?” She turns her head.
Our faces are so close, I could rub my nose against hers, or better yet, I could run it along her chin and down her neck. Inhale the perfume she wears that’s a strange combination of floral and spice, and completely intoxicating.
“All of it.” I hum, attempting to keep my arm loose around her lower back. My other hand is on her hip, keeping her lower half distant from mine.
“Are you rich?” The question is asked with curiosity.
“I’m good at investing.”
Genie twists her lips, questioning my non-answer. The poor kid inside me, the boy who was once hungry and wearing clothes that didn’t fit him as he grew, wonders if money matters.
“What happened first, investing or accounting?”
“Definitely accounting.”
“Because you like money,” she teases.
“Because I never wanted to be poor again.” My sharp answer wipes the smile off her face. Shit .
Her mom’s call still lingers in my head. Her words a trigger for the voice of my father’s in mine.
What a fucking runt. You weakling. Pathetic coward .
“Sorry,” I mutter, brushing back a clump of wet hair plastered to the side of Genie’s face.
Genie nods once, accepting my apology.
“Tell me more about the special dates you put on your calendars. Tell me more quirky ones.” I need to shift this lingering anger to something that makes Genie happy.
Genie is thoughtful for a moment. I can touch the bottom of the lake where we are but Genie drifts beside me. My hand is still on her hip, but she slips away from me, so she’s only holding onto my shoulder, anchoring her from floating away.
“Let’s see. There’s World Kiss Day, on July six.”
My gaze instantly drops to her mouth, and I roll my lips inward, as if the motion will quell the instant desire to kiss her.
“And as Sebastian pointed out yesterday, National Sex Toy Day is in early November.”
Internally, I groan. Is she telling me these dates on purpose?
“Might not want to talk about that date around here.” I snort. “The Sterlets will make you their newest member and demand a festival.”
“The Sterlets?” Genie tips her head. “Vale told me something about them. It’s a book club that meets on Thursdays.”
I chuckle. “If that’s what they’re calling it.”
“It isn’t a book club?” Genie’s brows lift. Her eyes flicker from the sunshine reflected in them.
“I think I’ll leave it up to Vale to explain the details.” I do not want to discuss how the book club has a secret side that involves self-pleasing toys.
“Well, Vale invited me to attend on Thursday, and it’s not even National Book Lovers Day, which takes place in August.”
I laugh. “I think you’re making some of these dates up.”
“I’m not,” Genie says emphatically, dragging her body closer to mine beneath the water and then drifting away from me. “That’s the beauty of calendar design. A calendar practically fills itself. The world is full of diverse traditions, various cultures, different nations, and tons of religions. Plus, there are themed calendars, like library-related ones. Or teacher ones.”
“Is there an accountant calendar?”
“I don’t know.” Genie’s head pops upright and her eyes widen. “But there is World Savings Day, strangely on Halloween. National Dollar Day in August. And of course, Tax Day, April fifteenth.”
“Of course.” I arch a brow.
Genie snaps her wet fingers and a bit of water sprays toward me. “Oh, and there’s National Lucky Penny Day at the end of May, not to be confused with National Lost Penny Day, which happens on February twelfth. Ironic how the lost penny day is the day after Make a New Friend Day.”
The mention reminds me once again that I turned her down to be her friend when we were both children, and how I’m enjoying becoming her friend on a new level as an adult. At least, I hope we’re becoming friends.
I’m struggling to have friendly thoughts with my hands on her hips and her body gently swaying closer to mine underneath the surface.
“There should be a National Judd Day,” I state.
Genie tilts her head, smiling at the inventiveness. “And what would National Judd Day involve?”
“Doing whatever Judd says.”
“Like the game Simon Says?”
I hum. “Something like that.”
“And what is it Judd would demand on National Judd Day?”
I dig my teeth into my lower lip and roam my gaze over her face. Then I lower my eyes to take in the column of her throat and the curve of her shoulders.
“I’ll come up with a list of bylaws and get back to you.”
“You do that.” She swallows, as her gaze drops to my lips, then along my neck and to my shoulders. “And I’ll come up with a National Genie Day.”
“You mean there isn’t one already?”
“That’s National Make a Wish Day on April twenty-ninth, but that celebrates the beginning of the Make-a-Wish foundation. So nope. No official Genie Day, and if you get a day, I want a day.”
“Deal.” I hold up my hand to high-five her in agreement. Genie’s gaze catches on my forearm a moment before she slaps my hand in response, but then I capture her fingers. Without thinking, I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her palm.
Genie’s eyes widen. The water on her eyelashes glitters. Her lips are wet.
Damn, I want to kiss her. Instead, I ask, “Tell me how you get Genie out of Virginia.”
“My dad gave me the nickname. He said he’d made a wish for a beautiful daughter and there I was.” Genie wiggles her head and smiles wide, batting her eyelashes, like she was the answer to such a request. “We even had this golden lamp looking thing, that my mother later told me was just a gold-colored gravy boat, and my dad would rub the side of it to show me how he wished for me.”
Genie’s expression slowly sobers, and she squints toward the distant trees to the side of us. “He said I was his wish-granter.”
“Huh. Your dad might have been onto something.” It feels too soon to tell her how many wishes I’d had pertaining to her, and how getting this second chance feels like one come true.
If a genie only grants three wishes, though, I’ve already used one and I better be cautious what I ask for next.
“Of course, my dad used to warn me to be careful what I wished for. Sometimes you can have negative wishes, and those might come true as well. Or you might wish for something that doesn’t quite turn out as you’d hoped.”
I understand that one. I’d wished not to be alone any longer and stumbled into a relationship that wasn’t quite how I’d envisioned ending my solitude.
“What would you wish for, Judd?” Her gaze falls to my mouth again and her body drifts closer to me.
I risk bending my arms and allowing her body to fill the distance I’d been carefully keeping between us. Her pelvis taps mine and Genie’s breath hitches.
“Do you mean right now or just in general?” My voice drops, my focus falling to her mouth as well.
“Either one you want to share.”
“Hmm.” I don’t want to lose a wish.
Genie wraps both arms around my shoulders. Her gaze is still aimed at my lips. I slide my hands from her hips to her lower back, pressing her to me. Her mouth opens and I lean in.
“Wait.” Her hands slip to my shoulders and her body tenses against mine.
Fuck . “What?” I whisper choke.
“I . . . This probably . . .” Genie swallows and pushes back from me, and I let her go. “I’m cold.” She moves further away from me, and I spin only to watch her swim to the ladder on the side of the dock. Then she’s scrambling up the metal rungs like the water has caught fire.
I should call after her, but I can’t seem to find my voice. What the hell just happened?
Too quickly, Genie has picked up her coverup and a towel, and she’s thundering down the dock, like kissing me is the last thing she’d wish to happen.