Chapter Twelve
Thank fuck I won that bet last night. Not only do I despise clothes shopping, but now Ellie will be joining me out here at the pool any minute.
It’s really warm today. Muggy too. It’s a good day to spend outside, except for one minor drawback. Despite the original forecast of clear skies, it looks like a thunderstorm is on the horizon. Dark clouds are rolling in, blocking out the sun at the moment, and they certainly look threatening.
I wish Ellie would hurry up and get out here. It’s going to suck if the rain arrives before she does. Our day at the pool will be over before it even begins.
I don’t want that.
Huffing, I sit up a little and shift in the pool lounger, adjusting my navy blue swim trunks before I lean back once again.
When I hear the sliding glass doors leading from the kitchen opening, I turn and…
Holy fuck!
Good thing I have on sunglasses. Otherwise, Ellie would surely see my eyes bulging out of my head. As it is, I have to quickly close my mouth.
“Hey,” she says all calmly as she strides over wearing the hottest, sexiest, fucking skimpiest hot pink bikini I think I’ve ever seen.
“Hi.” I give her a little wave as I swallow hard and try not to blatantly ogle her supple, beautiful breasts, flat stomach, and long legs.
As she sits down in the lounger next to me, I’m successful at keeping my eyes diverted. That is, until she asks me to pass the sunscreen.
Fuck.
“Yeah, sure,” I mutter as I hand the bottle to her.
I’m thankful once again for the dark glasses I have on, as I’m able to surreptitiously watch her smooth the lotion up and down her legs, on her stomach, and—kill me now—all over her luscious chest and cleavage.
I’m tempted to ask if she needs me to help her rub it in.
Okay, that’s my cock talking.
I have to turn away.
He likes looking at her a little too much, and if I continue, that fucker is going to get hard and give me away.
“Here you go. Thanks. I’m glad you had some down here.” She hands me the sunscreen bottle and lowers the sunglasses I didn’t even notice she had up on her head. “I forgot to put any on upstairs. And even though it’s cloudy, those rays still get through.”
“They do,” I agree huskily as I place the sunscreen back on the ground.
I’m still a little worked up, so I just lean back and close my eyes, enjoying the warmth and just the right amount of breeze.
“It really is nice out today,” Ellie says. “I think I like it better a little overcast. No glaring sun is great, you know?”
I open my eyes long enough to glance at her. Just her face, though. “It is nice,” I agree, closing my eyes again. “Good thing I won that bet, huh?”
“Yeah, but…” She sighs as she slides the sunglasses back up on her head. “Can I be honest?”
Now I don’t just open my eyes and peer over at her, but I lower my glasses as well.
“Of course,” I say.
Meeting my gaze with those damn stunning turquoise blues, she says, “I would have hung out at the pool today with you anyway, Nils. All you had to do was ask.”
Chuckling, I say, “Now you tell me. So, I could have chosen something else for our wager?”
“You could have, for sure,” she confirms, lowering her sunglasses to the bridge of her nose. “And for the record, I have one more confession.”
I’m dying to know what this one could be, so I ask, “What’s that?”
She pauses, and then, trying to suppress a grin as she doesn’t look over at me, she says, “I hate shopping.”
“No way!” I blurt out. “You do?”
She nods once as she finally looks back over. “I do. I despise having to go to stores. I’d much rather shop online.”
“Shit, man, me too.” I throw my hands up in the air for dramatic emphasis. “That’s why I fucking had to win. Though now you tell me I didn’t really need to.”
Soothingly, she says, “You did win, though. Fair and square.”
Something doesn’t add up, so I ask, “Why did you choose clothes shopping if you hate it so much?”
A definite blush creeps over her cheeks, and it’s not from the sun, as she shrugs and says, “I don’t know. I just couldn’t think of anything else.”
Hmm, I call bullshit. Her blushing tells me something different from what she’s saying. But what could she have been thinking of as a bet that would make her this embarrassed?
Fuck, I wish I knew.
It had to be something good.
I could ask, but I won’t.
She’ll tell me if she wants to.
But she doesn’t. Instead, she starts talking about hockey, which is always a go-to for me.
“When’s your next game?” she asks.
“Tomorrow night,” I say excitedly. “If you want to go, just let me know. I can make it happen.”
I’m sure Arden could as well. But I’d rather be the one to get her a ticket.
“Aw, man.” She blows out a breath. “I’d love to, but I have to work.”
I’m disappointed but still throw out, “What about Tuesday night? We have another home game then.”
After thinking it over, she says, “Yeah, I can make it to that one. I’m off Tuesday. I’m having lunch with Willow and Arden that day, but my evening is wide open.”
“Perfect.” I smile at her. “I’ll line up a ticket for you. Do you want to sit up in a luxury box? Or down in the players’ family section?”
I’m careful not to call it the wives and girlfriends section, like most of us do.
“Put me up close,” she tells me. “I like being near the action.”
Damn, this girl is awesome.
“Okay, I’ll get you a real close seat,” I promise. “How about one that’s right up along the glass?”
“Oooh.” She nods excitedly. “I’d love that.”
“Consider it done.” I nod once. “I’ll text you the QR code and the details once I get everything in order.”
“Great. Thanks, Nils.”
I’m happy that I can do something for her, and I’m beyond pumped that she’ll be coming to one of our games.
We talk a little more about hockey, then just switch over to some random chitchat. Like always, there’s such an amazing level of comfort with us. We can talk about anything or nothing at all, and it’s still interesting.
Crazy, huh?
I feel like I’ve known Ellie forever.
She’s that easy to talk with.
In fact, we’re so immersed in conversation that neither of us pays barely any heed to how the skies are darkening and looking ominous.
But we sure take notice when the first big, fat, ice-cold raindrops fall on us.
“Eeek!” Ellie cries out as she scrambles to sit up and then stand. “This rain is freezing.”
I jump up as well, and luckily I’ve been lying on a big fluffy towel, so I grab that and rush over to Ellie to wrap it around her.
“Thanks,” she says as the rain starts really fucking pouring.
With my arm wrapped over her shoulders to keep the towel in place, because now the wind is kicking up, too, we race over to the sliding glass doors and step into the kitchen.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately—for me, at least—we get the parquet floor all wet. And with both of us scrambling to try to close the sliding door at the same time, Ellie loses her footing and, as it slams shut, she falls into me.
Her towel starts to drop, and, with me steadying her, we try to grab it at the same time.
It’s a battle we both lose as the stupid thing falls to the floor.
And that’s how we somehow end up face-to-face, our bodies almost touching.
Whoa.
We’re so close to each other that I can feel the heat coming off of her.
With the way she just licked her lips as she stares at my chest, I’m certain she feels me in the same way.
Her nipples are hard from the cold rain, or maybe a little from me. I’d like to think so. In any case, the thin pink material isn’t doing much to conceal the contour and outline or deep rose color.
Fuck.
She’s so close that if I move one inch closer, our chests will be pressed together.
I want to move.
Oh, how I want to.
But I don’t.
Neither of us does anything. We just kind of enjoy the moment as we stand still, listening to our almost-shared breaths and trying like hell not to let our eyes meet.
Because if they do…
Outside, the rain is still falling. The sound is soothing, like white noise, until a rumble of thunder gets in on the soundtrack.
And then a bolt of lightning rips through the sky.
We both jump, which makes us laugh.
I’ve never been more thankful for a thunderstorm, seeing as I was about to do something really stupid—like fucking kiss the girl in front of me.
And maybe do more.
Ellie lets out a little shiver, and instinctively, without thinking, I lift my hands and gently rub her upper arms.
“Are you cold?” I ask, my voice rough and gravelly.
Touching her is electric, and I want to just do it forever.
It’d be so easy to reach around to her back and untie her bikini, letting it drop away and exposing those luscious breasts…for me to lick and suck on and—
“A little,” she croaks out, breaking me from my lustful reverie and reminding me to stop caressing her arms.
“Okay.” I drop my hands from her. “This towel on the floor is soaked.” I toe it away. “Let me go grab some dry ones.”
“All right, thanks.”
I pad over to the laundry room, leaving wet footprints in my wake.
I don’t care; I’ll clean up later.
The best thing for me to do right now is get away from Ellie for a few minutes to straighten out my head. Before I do something stupid, and she, caught up in the moment, too, doesn’t stop me.
Then we’ll both be fucked…in more ways than one.