Chapter 9
NINE
Kai
Istretch my arms over my head and groan.
Ugh, I don’t want to move. I’ll stay in bed a few more minutes.
Turning my head from side to side, it’s smooth, no kinks.
The hot tub was well worth every cent. My eyes drift open when I smell coffee, remembering that Ava crashed on the couch.
I tried waking her, but she was passed out.
When I finally sit up, the smell of bacon invades my nostrils. Is she cooking in my kitchen?
I hop out of bed and slip on a pair of grey sweatpants and rush to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I don’t miss the opportunity to glance in the mirror. Once I’m done, my feet thunder down the stairs, following the smell of breakfast and coffee.
When I walk into the kitchen, her back is to me, sipping on her coffee, and cooking at the stove. With her hair up on her head in one of those messy buns, barefoot, and in my clothes, I could really get used to this.
“Good morning, sweetheart.” It spills out of my mouth before I can stop it.
She whips around, coffee in one hand and a spatula in the other, practically jumping out of her skin and spilling her coffee. “Oh shit. You scared me.”
“I didn’t mean to. I figured if I kept staring at you any longer, it would be borderline creepy.”
She laughs and turns to finish cooking. I stalk over to her and use my fingers to swipe those rogue strands of hair off her neck and kiss right under her ear, whispering, “Thank you for the coffee and breakfast. I could have cooked for you.”
“Next time, handsome.” She taps my chest and giggles. “And I figured since you let me come over for hot tub time, it’s the least I can do.”
I pick up a coffee mug and fill it up. “You didn’t have to do any of it.”
“Well, I love to cook and this stove…” She moans and continues. “It’s to die for. You’re going to need to give me a tour. I decided not to snoop and cook instead. This kitchen,” she says, looking over her shoulder, and gives me a chef kiss.
“Go big, right?!” I shrug at her and sip my coffee.
She finishes cooking, and we bring it out to the deck to eat. The sun glistens on the water, and a slight breeze sways the trees. It’s warmer than usual this time of the morning. A perfect day to take the boat out.
“Thank you for this.” I gesture to the food and coffee.
“You’re very welcome,” she says as she takes a forkful of food into her mouth.
“Do you have any plans today?” I ask, wishing she had zero plans and could spend all day here with me.
“I was hoping to be lakeside and enjoying a sunny, hot summer day.” She grins at me.
With her comment, I can’t help but smirk back at her. It’s exactly what I was hoping for.
She changes back into her hot-pink bikini, and it really shows off her deep olive skin, highlighting all her beautiful curves.
As we head onto the lake, she lies on a towel at the back of the boat.
It’s like we’ve done this before. Comfortable.
Easy. Simple. Things I’m not used to with women.
I’ve had hard, conflict, and misaligned feelings. With Ava, there’s none of that.
I drive us to the middle of the lake. It’s still fairly early, so no skiers out yet. The water is calm, like glass, reflecting the light. I drop the anchor and sit down next to Ava. Her belly button is yelling for me to touch it, so I drag my fingers over her stomach and then to her belly button.
She jumps up so fast and yells, “Gah, don’t touch it.” Rubbing her stomach, she shivers.
“You don’t like your belly button touched?” Staring at her with my head slightly tilted, I hadn’t thought she wouldn’t like it.
“Ah, yeah, no thank you.” She’s shaking her head profusely, pushing on my chest.
“Okay, I won’t do it again…today.” I tease and jump toward her. She screams and scrambles away, practically falling off the boat. I’m so close. I can smell her suntan lotion—coconuts and beach.
She points her finger at me and leans forward to jab it into my chest. “Not ever.”
She can’t help herself; she laughs. “You…” Her hand is back on my chest as she gazes up at me with a half-amused, half-serious look on her face. “Now, that’s settled. What do you have in mind as we’re all the way out in the middle of the lake?”
I move over to the other bench seat and open it up. The floats need to be blown up, so I pull them out and lay them on the floor. Then I dig around for the portable air pump and start pumping up the floats.
We toss them into the water and hop on. I’ve tied us to the boat so we can relax and soak up the rays. I can’t help myself, so I reach over and intertwine our fingers as we float around the water. Our feet dip in and out of the water to cool ourselves off.
The ripples of small wakes move us around, but I like having her hand in mine. The warmth of them together is pulsing through me. At every turn, I’m trying really hard to convince myself this is a bad idea, but I see her. She’s relaxed, under no pressure, and it seems easy to be herself.
It feels right she’s here with me, hanging out on the boat. It’s one of my favorite things to do, living on the lake.
She never once lets my hand go, even when she pulls water up with her other hand to cool herself off. Watching her drip the cool water over her sun-kissed skin was hot as hell. This woman has me dialed in, and she turns me on without trying.
“Are you heading back to the courthouse this upcoming week?” I turn my head to look at her.
“Yes! I assumed I’d only be selling food and coffee, but I’m surprised at how many books I sold last week. I suspect I’ll need to replenish my stock by the end of next week.”
“Great news. I’m happy things are working out for you here.” I swallow before saying what I want to next with slight hesitation. I’ve scared off women before when I open up too soon. “Selfishly, it gives me a bit of hope that maybe you’ll stick around longer.”
Her head turns toward me, and she smirks. “Kai, are you asking me to stay?”
Man, she has a way with words. I shake my head yes and say, “Ava, will you consider staying longer?” I’m not shy, I’ll ask for what I want.
“The more time I spend with you, the more I want to stay longer so I can see what this is all about.” She gestures between the two of us. “But, I’m not very good at it.”
“Apparently, neither am I,” I say, mirroring her. I switch up the conversation. “You enjoying yourself?”
“I could be on this lake every weekend.” She squeezes my hand, which spurs me to rub my thumb over the top of hers a few times. And we fall into a comfortable silence. Leaving both of us to our own thoughts.
My stomach growls—loudly.
“You’re starving over there.” She giggles and glances over.
My watch says it’s already close to one o’clock in the afternoon. “Yeah, you ready for some lunch?”
“For sure.” And she rolls off her float.