Chapter 13 You In A Swimsuit
YOU IN A SWIMSUIT
Walking out of school on the last day of exams is like walking into freedom.
Feeling the sun blasting down on my face and seeing Holt standing there against his blue truck, arms folded, one ankle crossed over the other in a lazy stance that looks killer good on him—it’s a stage for the set of teenage dreams.
Holt’s lips slide into a grin that has my heart dancing happily in my chest as my own grin responds.
Then it falters, just a little, as my eyes drift down the length of his body.
He’s halfway to seventeen now, and it’s beginning to show.
All the time he spends with the guys in the gym and on the ice is beginning to show in the lines of his muscular arms. He’s stacking muscle on muscle, his shoulders broadening, his jaw hardening.
I don’t know how someone can just keep getting more and more attractive.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to looking at Holt. I can’t imagine I’ll ever not appreciate how perfectly beautiful he is, in a manly way, of course. Holt would hate to be called anything but manly.
I snicker at the thought, and his grin hitches up at the corner. “What’s so funny?”
“I was just thinking that you’re the most beautiful boy I’ve ever seen.”
His head rears back just a bit. “I’m not beautiful. I’m ruggedly handsome. And I’m a not a boy.” He reaches for my hips when I’m close enough, tugging me forcefully into his body as he drops his head to growl against my ear. “I’m a man.”
“Oh, my mistake,” I tease, but I’m breathless now. My heart is a mess in my chest, every beat unsteady. Wobbly.
His voice drops in pitch to something deliciously dark. “If you knew the things I want to do to you, you wouldn’t be making mistakes like that anymore.”
My breath catches, want spilling into my core as tingles of awareness encased in fire spill across my flesh. Bravely, I run my finger down the length of his chest, watching heat fill his dark eyes. “What kinds of things?”
He lets out another low rumble, before he releases me with a groan. He peers down at me with slightly narrowed eyes, accusing, “You’re a devious little thing today, aren’t you, peach?”
“I don’t know.” I ask sweetly, “Am I?”
He swipes a hand over his jaw. “Jeez.” Throwing open the passenger door, he commands, “Get in, demoness.”
“Demoness?” I throw my head back on a laugh. My nose scrunches. “For real?”
“Fits, don’t it?”
I tsk at him as I climb into the seat, letting out a little shriek when his palm lands sharply against the swell of my butt. “Holt!”
“That’s for teasing me.” He closes the door, but I can see through the glass, he’s laughing.
“I thought we were spending the day together.” I can’t fully keep the disappointment from my voice as I stare at my house through the window.
Holt shifts the truck in park, swinging an arm up over the seat behind me as he angles to me. “We are.”
The scent of him hits me at his movement, like it always does. Now that I sit so close to him in his truck, it’s impossible not to smell the earthy, warm scent of Holt, now mixed with the spicy cologne he wears.
Cologne. He’s growing up.
I need to get something other than the vanilla and peach body mist Mom shoves into my stocking every year for Christmas. Something more grown up. Something older.
“Then what are we doing here?” I ask. He knows I’m not allowed to spend time with him at the house alone. Mom and Dad are working at Dad’s store, so he knows we can’t chill here.
I mean, we could, I gnaw my lip at the thought. But it would suck, a lot, if we got caught.
Holt throws me a smirk. “Get your swimsuit.”
I perk up. “We’re going swimming?”
“We’re going to the beach.” His eyes drop to my lips, before dragging reluctantly back up to mine. His voice has deepened in pitch. “I have everything packed. Towels. Lunch. Just need you in a swimsuit.”
“Okay.” My own voice sounds breathy in the small space between us.
I can’t help but recall the last time we were in the water together.
The way I felt in his arms. The way his arousal had pressed between my legs through our clothes, igniting me in feelings I’d yet to experience, and have dreamed about every night since.
“Hurry.” Holt gives me a little push and a wink. “We’ll get ice cream on the way.”