Chapter 21
Dom
It’s not the water I’m afraid of. It’s the fact that I can’t stay away from her.
I’m terrified of her, of being close to her and keeping my hands and my dick to myself. Riley is temptation on legs, with her sassy attitude and her carefree demeanor, almost impossible to resist.
Almost.
Because I have to.
I can’t go there. I came out here to tell her just that. That last night wasn’t about her, but about me and why we can’t happen. But today was hard, and she’s so perfect, but I can’t.
As much as I’d like to. As much as I like her.
She’s beautiful, sexy, and smart, so damn smart, but she’s also kind and funny, and her spirit is contagious. She makes me want to be a better person just by existing. She deserves someone just as light as her, not with a decade's worth of baggage and little to give her beyond a good time.
“Dominiiiiiic!” she teases.
“Shh! Someone’s gonna hear you.”
“And what? Freak out because I’m swimming? Please, I’ve done much worse, and again, nobody will come out here.” She splashes water my way. “Come on. The children will be here in less than two weeks, and we won’t be able to do this until they leave. Besides, I’m gonna be exhausted too.”
I scoff. “I don’t think there’s a timeline in which you’re exhausted.
” When Lainey said she acted as if she was battery powered, she meant it.
My head went straight to ways to tire her out, and I shook them out of my brain immediately, removing myself from the space I was sharing with her so I could think straight again.
I’m a thirty-six-year-old man, and this one woman is pushing all my buttons in all the right places. I feel young and careless again.
“You can come race me and find out.” I take a sip of my beer as she shouts, “Trust me, there are plenty of activities that can tire me out.” I choke on the same sip.
Fuck.
She gasps. “Oh, you don’t know how to swim. Is that it?”
What?
“Aww, you poor baby. I happen to be an excellent teacher.”
I scoff, but she continues, this time floating on her back, and I fight for my life not to look at her perfect body again.
“You can get that round ass of yours over here—” Round ass? “—and I’ll teach you how to swim. It’ll be a great time, I promise.”
This woman.
“Now, if you’re just being a big ol’ chicken, that’s fine too. I won’t tease you, but you have to come in.”
You know what? Fuck it.
She keeps running her mouth as if there’s a motor behind her words. She’s so lost in the conversation she’s having with herself, she misses when I jump into freezing cold water, splashing it everywhere until I’m next to her, pulling her flush against me.
“Let me show—” the words die in my throat when it hits me.
I thought she at least had some clothes on, but her round breasts are brushing against my chest right now, hard, tiny pebbled nipples pressing against my chest, and the heat of her pussy radiates against my thigh.
I realize how sorely mistaken I was, because Riley Banks is very much naked.
Naked and in my arms.
I tense, and she laughs. I’m glad someone finds her amusing. Me losing my job because of messing around with my boss’ little sister won’t be funny at all.
“What, cowboy? You’ve never had a naked woman against your body before?”
Brat.
Fucking brat.
Her sassy little mouth that I’m dying to taste, to kiss, to fuck.
I try to put space between us, trying to peel her off me as fast as I can, but she’s latching onto me like Velcro, wrapping her legs around my hips as she laces her fingers around my neck.
“So you do know how to swim, huh?”
“Riley.”
“Tell me, where did your words go, huh? Oh, that’s right—you only use those when you’re talking to anyone but me, or when you want to throw me off center.”
I shake my head, unable to form words. All I can think of, all I can feel, is Riley’s body against mine, how perfectly it molds to me.
All I want to do is kiss her lips and shut up her little spirals that hold no truth, because the last thing I want to do is throw her off center. What I want is for her to know that we, this, has no beginning, no way it can ever be anything more than an innocent crush.
“Riley.” Her name feels like a curse and a promise, both things I can’t handle right now, and it pains me to even mutter it like that.
I’m silently pleading for mercy, begging for clemency.
I’m praying she takes it easy on me and doesn’t take this as a rejection, because she didn't do anything wrong. The opposite. Because I’m greedy and can’t have enough.
“Live a little,” she whispers against my lips. I shut my eyes, pressing hard, willing her to go. Can’t she hear my silent plea?
She can’t, I don’t think so at all, since her lips brush against mine, ever so slightly. Tender, soft, careful.
But I don’t return the kiss.
I can’t.
I’m fighting it with everything I have, and then she’s gone.
Out of my arms. Like a fleeting dream.
If it weren’t for the splashing around me and the very naked Riley showing her perfect ass getting out of the river in front of me, I would think this is exactly what this was. A dream.
A nightmare.
The sky roars, as if screaming at me to open my mouth and tell this gorgeous, infuriating woman it’s nothing against her and everything to do with me.
That she’s young and I’m not.
That she has her whole life ahead of her, and I just want to live out my days doing good for this land and enjoying peace and calm.
How do I tell her I come with baggage and losses and a whole lot of drama and unhealed journeys that will only darken her days, as opposed to help her shine her light?
She deserves light.
The first drop of water lands on my cheek like a lonesome tear would if I had any way of releasing my frustration and anger.
Instead, the sky cries for me.
For her.
She’s rushing, picking up her clothes, and I think she’s going to leave without saying another word, but instead, she turns on her heels to face me.
Wet blonde hair around her full, rosy cheeks; even with just the sliver of moonlight barely passing through the cloud-filled sky, I can see the way red paints them, as if her face is an open canvas.
“Just stay away from me, okay? This is clearly one-sided,. Yesterday was humiliating enough, and this just put salt in the wound,” she says, anger filling her tone.
This is full of fury Riley, and she’s terrifying.
I hate myself for putting that doubt in her head.
“Just stop trying to save me, and being friends with me, and saying nice things, and looking at my lips. Just all of it. I will forget this whole thing ever happened, but please, I’m just asking for some mercy so I can clear my head.”
Her? Asking for mercy? One-sided?
No, she’s got it all wrong.
There’s no time to explain, because I’m frozen in this river with the cold rain picking up speed, beating strongly on my face, while the woman who has been driving me wild for the past couple of weeks is walking away, thinking I’m rejecting her because I’m not interested.
“You’re gonna get electrocuted if you don’t get out of the water!” she shouts, running away and disappearing into the darkness.
Even when she’s mad at me, feeling embarrassed, her heart of gold is worried about my well-being.
Then what in the actual fuck am I still doing here?
I run out, picking up my clothes and sliding the shirt back on. I’ll have to come back for the trash tomorrow. Right now, a very upset Riley is running back into her cabin thinking I don’t want her.
Rain falls over me as I fruitlessly try to catch up to her, but she’s fast, strong, and determined. The true definition of if there’s a will, there’s a way, even if it’s enraging.
I speed up, the wet grass under my bare feet, until the only thing between her and me is the wooden door to her cabin. The fact that she made it in, closed and locked the door, and is nowhere to be seen, even through the window, is truly incredible.
She’s incredible.
I pace, thinking about my next move. What do I do here? Do I tell her the truth? Do I try to seek some comfort, even if just for tonight? Do I trust her to have a piece of myself without offering my heart?
Thunder rumbles again. I take it as a sign and knock on her door loud enough for her to hear me if she decides to jump in the shower and warm up.
Time passe. It could be a century or a second, and I wouldn’t know. The only thing on my mind, as I pace back and forth, is that I hurt her, and I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t trying to.
“Go away!” she shouts.
“Open the door, Riley.” I pound on it four more times.
“I’m taking a shower. Go home!”
“Open the damn door!” I shout again. Fuck, I would scare myself if I didn’t know what was going through my head. I try again, toning it down this time. “Riley, open the door, please.”
Footsteps echo behind the door, frenetic at first, and then they stop.
“Please, open the door,” I whisper, hoping she’s on the other side.
She pulls it open, with her soaked hair, red-rimmed eyes, and a shirt that swallows her whole. “What?” she shouts. The perfect juxtaposition. She looks so fragile. So hurt. But she’s still full of fire on the inside, like a stunning, mighty firefly.
I stand there, dumbfounded by her and her beauty, losing my words yet again at the sight of her.
And what a sight she is.
She’s breathtaking.
“Are you just going to stand there and stare at me? You’re going to catch an ailment if you don’t dry off.”
I chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” she questions, arms crossing over her chest.
“You.”
“I’m glad you find this situation funny.” A million shades of red dance across her chest and face.
I play stupid, allowing my heart time to settle. “And what situation would that be?”
“Are you really going to make me say it again?”
“Enlighten me.” Tell me what you think I find funny. Spell out for me like I’m five.
I want to be one hundred percent sure, Riley. All things I want to say, but I don’t.
Come on, Firefly. Read between the lines.
“I just embarrassed myself over there, okay? Sorry I misread it all, again. Now, I would like to eat a pint of ice cream and never speak about this again, so please—” she points to my cabin, “go home and let me keep some dignity, yeah?”
“What did you misread?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you okay?”
“Very much so.” Lie. That’s a lie. I’m not.
“How much did you drink?”
“A beer.” Just one, because when I noticed she was drinking by herself on the riverbank, I felt an urge to meet her there.
“Do you have trouble understanding English?”
I smile as I say, “I did once upon a time, but not anymore.”
She shakes her head. “That was so dumb of me to say. I’m so sorry, that’s not what I meant. What I meant was—
She continues rambling, and I can’t help but smile wider, because I know, deep down, that for the second time tonight, I’m going to surprise us both and say the phrase I’ve been playing ping pong with in my head more and more since I met her.
Fuck it.