Chapter 42 Jake
Jade looks green the whole boat ride, which, thankfully, isn’t very long.
Even so, she still seems to handle it better than flying.
It took a minute to get her to walk around, and even longer still to convince her to get anywhere near the railing, but once she finally did, her face lit up seeing the water.
It’s beautiful, and while I wasn’t sure she would like it so soon after trying to face her fear of water, I have to hand it to Zander.
This will be something we will never forget.
The boat drops anchor near some large rocks, but this time, there isn’t a marina. We can’t even get to the beach. Zander doesn’t seem to be concerned with it, but I can see the unease on Jade’s face looking at the beach in the distance. Maybe I spoke too soon about him knowing what he was doing.
“Here you go, Doll,” Zander says, handing her a snorkeling mask and a pair of swim fins, and her face scrunches up in confusion as she looks at them.
“What’s this?” she asks, watching us as we all slide the stupid fins on before pulling off our shirts and adjusting our masks to our heads.
There’s no way to look cool with this shit on.
Not even Kratos can make them look good, yet somehow, he still looks just as scary as always. Maybe it’s because I know him.
“Swimming,” Zanders says with a smile as he climbs over the rail, sitting on it with his feet dangling over the edge before he pulls his mask down.
I see the unease in Jade’s eyes as she watches him, and I can almost hear her arguing with herself about going to him or not. She doesn’t get to make the choice. He shoots her a wink before leaning forward and diving into the water below.
Jade’s fear of the water is momentarily forgotten as she rushes to the side, leaning farther over the rail than I know she would if she wasn’t worried about Zander.
I walk over to join her, gently placing my hand on her back, not only as comfort but to keep her from accidentally following him over should she lean too far.
A moment later, Zander surfaces, his head turning back to the boat before he waves at us to join him. “Come on, the water’s fucking perfect.” He calls up, and that seems to be enough to get the others moving, and pretty soon, it’s only me and her left up here.
“Come on, Doll!” Zander shouts as the others surface and begin waving her down.
“I’ll grab you the second you hit the water, Killer,” Kratos calls, opening his arms for her to jump to him. The indecision is clear on her face as she looks down at him. I know she trusts him. I’ve seen it, but this is a lot to ask of her.
“Will you jump with me?” Jade asks, looking up at me in question, and I don’t even hesitate.
“Of course, Princess,” I answer without a second thought. Oh, the things I would do for this woman. Reaching out, I pull her supplies from her hands, where she grips them as if her life depends on them. “Let’s get you ready to go, huh?”
She nods but still doesn’t move, her eyes staring into mine, unseeing.
“Hey, Princess.” I pull her with me away from the railing, ignoring the guys when they call up in protest. “We won’t let anything happen to you, okay?
If you hate it, we can go chill on the beach or come back to the boat.
” I offer, and she nods slowly, determination hardening her beautiful green eyes.
“Okay, come on, let’s get you out of this cover and get your gear on.”
I reach out to help her, my fingers brushing against the soft, bare skin of her thigh as I bunch up the fabric, and I take a deep breath to steady myself.
I’ve been trying to push my doubts about being good enough for Jade aside over the last few weeks.
Touching her, reaching for her hand, holding her, dropping kisses on her head, and not overthinking it when she comes to me.
But this, it’s a little more than that, and as exciting as it might be, it’s still new, and I worry she’ll push me away.
She sucked your dick, moron.
I mentally scold myself, knowing she’s more than okay with my touch. She not only said as much, but she’s shown me on multiple occasions now.
The cover dress is thin and simple, and she lets me pull it up over her head without issue.
“Fucking hell,” I breathe, looking down at her as the material slips from between my fingers and falls to the deck.
Jade looks down at her body, her arms coming up to cross over her chest, her shoulders pulling down as if she’s trying to appear smaller.
“Is it bad?” she asks, her voice small. “I never should have worn it,” she says more to herself this time, shaking her head as she bends down to pick up the cover I just dropped. It takes me a second to understand what’s going on; my mind goes blank when I see her dressed like this.
“No.” I reach out, covering her hand with my own before pushing her hand away. “It’s not bad, and you definitely should be wearing it. You look…” I trail off as I try to find the right word. So many fit, but none of them feel like enough.
“Like you walked out of a dream,” I say, then cringe when I realize how that sounds. Great job; make it sound creepy.
“Sorry that came out wr—”
Her lips press to mine, cutting me off as she leaps into my arms. I scramble to catch her, my hands landing on the bare skin of her ass. This fucking bathing suit will be the death of us all today, and I have no doubt Zander did that on purpose.
Pulling back, Jade looks up at me with a soft smile.
“You like it?” she asks, sounding hopeful, and I can’t help but laugh. How she questions that is crazy. Not only is she beautiful, but she’s currently pressed up against my very hard cock as it strains at the thin material of my swim trunks, desperate to get to her.
Jade adjusts slightly in my arms, and I can feel the heat of her as she slides down slightly. There’s no way she doesn’t feel the way my cock throbs for her.
A sly smile curves her lips before she does it again, and I suck in a sharp breath, my grip on her ass tightening. I don’t know if I’m trying to get her to stop or begging her not to, but the plush feel of her ass under my fingertips is enough to pull a strangled groan from my lips.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Jade chuckles before leaning into me and pressing her lips to my neck.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
We were supposed to be doing something, but I can’t recall what it is with her like this.
“Stop hogging her!” Zander’s whine pulls me back to the present.
Oh, right, swimming.
“How long do you think it would take before he scaled the side of the boat?” Jade asks with a laugh as she unhooks her legs from around my waist. Her body slides down the front of me, and judging by the spark of mischief in her eyes, I’m willing to bet she did it on purpose.
“We probably have about thirty seconds if he’s not already on his way up.” I joke, making her laugh harder.
“Alright, let’s do this,” she says, holding out her gear to me for help with a smile.
It only takes us a minute to get everything on and make our way back to the side of the boat.
I climb over, sitting on the top rail with my legs dangling over the side, before I reach out a hand to help Jade do the same.
She hesitates for a moment, but looking at her, I find I was wrong earlier.
Jade can pull off anything, it would seem.
Even with swim fins and a snorkeling mask, she’s a fucking vision.
Just wait till the rest of them see what Zander put her in.
“Fuck Zander, I thought we were supposed to be swimming. How do you expect any of us to do that with her looking like that?” Trent calls, looking up at Jade as she climbs over the guardrail, and I see the hint of pink that colors her cheeks.
“I could have put her in a fucking wetsuit, and we would’ve had the same problem, asshole. At least now we get to look at more than fish,” Zander says with a husky laugh, and nobody argues with him.
“Ready?” I ask her, squeezing her hand that still grips mine, holding onto me like a lifeline.
She takes a deep breath before she looks over at me and nods.
“On three. One, two, three.”
We push off the rail together, and it would have been a lot easier to let go of her and grab her once we hit the water, but I don’t. I don’t want to. I don’t want to give her any reason to freak out.
The water moves toward us impossibly quickly, and I hear her shriek a moment before we hit the surface, but it almost sounds more excited than scared.
I don’t get the chance to look at her to see before we plunge into the deep water.
The second our bodies stop moving down, I pull Jade to me.
Her eyes are wide, but not with fear, as she looks around at the water that surrounds us.
Fish swim not far away, and the water is so clear you can see all the way to the bottom and in every direction.
Thankfully, the snorkel masks are the fancy ones that stop water from coming in when submerged, and I don’t have to worry about her drowning from the beauty surrounding us.
All the same, we still only have a limited amount of oxygen.
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pull her back to me and begin kicking us back up toward the surface.
I feel her join me after a minute, and the guys come into view a moment later.
Kratos is the first to reach us, holding his hand out to Jade, and I push her toward him.
The second he has her hand, they shoot off.
Fuck, is there anything he isn’t good at?
I push up toward the surface.
“This is amazing!” I hear Jade gush the moment I break the surface. Her voice is full of the wonder she’s obviously feeling, and I can’t say I disagree.