Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
THEO
“Special delivery,” Rupert says, coming into the shop, tote bags in hand.
“What are you doing here and what on earth do you have?” Renley asks as we both make our way from the bathroom, where we have just finished up cleaning for the night.
We stopped for a moment to have dinner, which was pizza—it was subpar. Then again, when you’ve had pizza in Italy, nothing quite compares. Afterward, we finished up chipping away at the glue and also peeled some siding off the bathroom wall that turned out to have wallpaper underneath.
We named the bathroom “The Onion” and then, during dinner, we found some fun onion wallpaper online that Renley could hang in there when all is said and done.
“I brought the bags that you requested,” Rupert says, holding out a bag to Renley.
“I didn’t request anything,” she says. She peeks into the bag and then lifts a questioning brow in my direction.
“Not what I heard,” Rupert says and then hands me a bag as well. “Have fun.” Then he snaps his fingers and says, “Kitty, on that horse. You’re galloping all the way home.”
“Yes, my liege,” Kitty says from the back of the shop, where we hear the distinct sound of horse hooves clopping across the pavement. How the hell is she making that sound?
“What is this about?” Renley asks as she looks up at me.
“A way to cool off after a long, hard day.”
She pulls out a bathing suit from her bag and stares me down.
“And maybe a shameless way to get to see you in a green polka-dot bikini?”
Hand on her hip, she nods toward my bag. “I’ll only go swimming if there is a Speedo in there. If I have to show skin, so do you.”
I smirk at her. “You’re in luck, it’s what I tend to wear.” I reach into my bag and pull out a pair of my favorite vintage-style trunks with giant red hearts on them.
They’re short.
They’re tight.
And they display my business.
“That’s not a Speedo.”
“No, but it’s close to it. Just you wait, you will get a full view of everything.”
“I don’t want a full view of everything.”
“Liar,” I say. “Now come on, you can change in ‘The Onion’ first and then I’ll change.”
“And then what?” she asks.
“Well, we take these towels, we walk down to the beach, and we get in the water.”
“I don’t swim in the ocean.”
“Don’t be like that. It’s late, the beach won’t be as crowded, and we’ll stay close to the shore so we don’t drift off and get stung by a jellyfish or have a toe eaten by a fish.”
“You’re not allowed to swim in the ocean at night,” she says.
“Says who?”
“The town.”
“What do they know?” I ask.
“A lot actually.”
Grumbling, I stuff my suit back into the bag. “Fine, but that just ruined my night. I wanted to show you my skimpy swimsuit.”
Her teeth pull on the corner of her lip.
“What?” I ask. “I can see you want to say something.”
“Just that…there’s a lake behind the house that I’ll swim in, maybe…Maybe you want to go swim in there.”
I blink a few times, because…is she serious?
“There is a secret lake you didn’t tell me about? Does it have a rope swing? Please tell me it has a rope swing.”
“It has a rope swing.”
“Well, Jesus fuck, what are we doing here?” I grab her hand and yank her toward the back door. “Come on, take me to the sacred lake.”
“It’s more like a pond.”
“I don’t care. It’s water and I want in it.”
Chuckling, she locks up, and then together we walk toward our street, and make our way toward the back of her house.
“I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me. Have you…have you been swimming in the pond while I’ve been here?”
“Yes.”
I pause and turn to her. “You know, Gossy, you’ve said some things to me that could be considered hurtful, but I’ve let them all roll off me, but this…this is inexcusable.”
“Please, the dramatics, not right now.”
Then she grabs my hand this time and guides me to the back of her woods, down a worn path, through some bushes, and then to a clearing where we find a peaceful pond. It’s untouched, and the water’s almost like glass, reflecting the moon off its shimmery surface.
It’s surrounded by trees, while a rope swing dangles off a thick branch to the right.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
She shakes her head. “Nope, this is all real.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this from me.”
“Because it’s my sacred spot. No one else goes here, so you better not ruin it for me.”
“Gossy, love, I’m only going to make it better.” I reach behind my head and pull my shirt off, then I bring my hands to my zipper, and she quickly turns around.
“Uh, what are you doing?”
“Getting undressed. What does it look like?”
“Find a bush and do it behind there.”
“Nah, I’ve got nothing to hide.” I undo my trousers and push them down along with my boxer briefs. For a moment I think about going commando, but then again, not sure letting my dick flop around while I fling into a pond off a rope swing is the first impression I want her to have of my cock.
Doesn’t scream sexy to me.
So I slip on my vintage-style trunks and adjust myself, making sure everything is in place.
“Are you just going to stand there or are you going to get dressed?” I ask.
“Are you dressed?”
“I am,” I say as I head toward the rope swing. I give it a bit of a tug, then hold on to it, testing my weight on the branch. “Can this thing hold me?”
She looks over her shoulder and says, “Yeah, it’ll be fine.”
“If I find myself face-first in the muddy bank of the pond, I’m coming for you.” Then I grip the rope, lift up, and jump, letting it swing me toward the water, and right when I hit the apex of the swing, I let go and fly into the chilly water. “Blimey, that’s cold,” I say when I pop my head up.
“Because it’s shaded almost the whole day,” she says as she moves behind a bush and starts to change.
I attempt to give her privacy, but my eyes keep slipping over there while I wade in the water.
Small pieces of her smooth skin flash between the branches, but with her back toward me, I really can’t see anything.
When she’s done, she moves out from behind the bush and I feel my heart seize in my chest.
Holy.
Shit.
She’s so goddamn hot that it’s actually painful.
Her breasts are full, just the right size for my palms, and they’re pressed into her chest from the triangles of her swimming costume, making them spill out on the sides and in the middle.
Her bottoms ride high on her hips, showing off her curves that I want to grab ahold of and take a goddamn bite from.
Her skin is smooth, tan, and practically tempting my mouth to be all over it.
I want to mar her with my scruff.
I want to kiss her, touch her, play with her to the point that she’s gasping for air and begging for release.
I want to work my hands over her delicious tits, down her stomach, and between her legs where I’d live. I’d play with her over and over and over again, listening to her pleas.
I want to fucking worship her.
“You’re staring,” she says as she walks toward the rope.
“Do you blame me?”
She smiles over her shoulder and says, “Nope.” Then she grips onto the rope, pulls back, and leaps on, swinging herself up into the sky and over the pond, where she releases and flips right into the water. Her splash hits me in the face, but that’s not what is making me blink my eyes.
It’s the sheer athleticism she just displayed.
When her head pops out of the water, her beautiful eyes finding mine, she smiles brightly. “You look shocked.”
“Uh, because you just did a flip into the water. Where the hell did that come from?”
“I’ve been coming to this pond for a long time.”
“Yeah, but…Jesus, I wasn’t expecting that at all.”
“Want me to teach you?”
“So I can break my pretty face?” I hold my hand up. “I’m good.”
“Scared.”
“Uh yeah, that’s what it means when I say I don’t want to break my face.”
“It’s a lot of fun; you really should try it.”
“Listen, lady,” I say as I swim on my back. “I do not bend to peer pressure, so don’t even try.”
“You do truth or dare though, don’t you?”
My ears perk up.
“You don’t want to play truth or dare with me. I’m brutal and you wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
“Brutal how?” she asks, swimming around as well, both of us circling each other.
“If you picked truth, I’d ask you deeply personal questions, I’d ask sexual questions, I’d dive so deep that your cheeks would redden. And if you picked dare…love, that suit would be off and you’d be swimming around this pond naked.”
“Not like I haven’t done it before,” she says in a teasing tone.
“Yeah, but you haven’t done it with me.”
“What if we do truth or dare but keep it on the medium side?”
“What the hell does that mean?” The pond isn’t that deep, but I pull my legs up so I have to swim to keep my head above water.
“It means all truth questions and dares have to be PG.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“There could be fun in PG things.”
I shake my head. “Not when you’re with a sexy girl who is wearing a tiny bathing suit and swimming around me.”
“Fine, how about PG-13? Meaning nothing really X-rated, but we could still have some fun.”
I mull it over, because PG-13 does bump it up a bit. There could be some things I ask her, or things I dare her to do…
“Okay, but I’m not doing a flip off the rope, as I’m legitimately scared that I’d crack my face open.”
She smiles. “Fine, but we are in agreement that the person has to do the truth or dare.”
“It’s the only way to play; you can’t chicken out.”
“Good.”
What the hell does she have up her sleeve?
Whatever it is, I’m about to find out.
“Do you want to go first?” I ask.
She nods.
“Okay, truth or dare?”
“Let’s start with a truth.”
“Smart choice. Ease yourself in, that’s what I like to do.” I float on my back, and I can feel her eyes scanning my chest as I think of a truth. “How many guys have you been with…intimately?”
“Why did I know you were going to ask that?”
“Predictable and curious.”
“Clearly.” She sighs. “One. There aren’t many options in a tourist town and I live with my aunt, so…there you have it.”