Page 37 of Ravished By Her

Covering Lacey’s face with sunscreen and rubbing it in didn’t take as much time as I’d hoped. Her eyes opened and I pulled my hand back.

“Sorry,” I said, although I didn’t know what I was apologizing for.

“What for?” she asked, blinking her blue eyes. I couldn’t think what stone they reminded me of. I’d have to look it up later when her lips weren’t so close to my mouth.

“Nothing,” I said, and she stood up to her full height. The tension between us snapped and I took a step backward. “You can do your neck and your ears.”

I held out the tube of sunscreen to her and our fingers brushed as she took it from me, squeezing some onto her fingers and holding her hand out to me.

“Your turn,” she said. After a second of shock, I tilted my face up and tried to hold as still as I possibly could for this. It felt awkward staring at her, but I didn’t want to close my eyes, so I just went with the awkward.

Lacey’s fingers were gentle, but I didn’t miss the calluses on her fingers that moved across my skin, making me tremble.

“You have freckles on your nose,” she said, her voice soft as she gently stroked down the bridge of my nose.

“So does my sister, but hers are different. It’s one of the only ways people could tell us apart, but they’re so faint that you can only see them when you get close,” I said.

“They’re cute,” she said, and I didn’t miss the way her eyes flicked to my mouth and then back up.

“Thanks,” I said, and she cleared her throat and finished with my face, but she didn’t stop.

“Let’s get those ears,” she said, carefully applying the sunscreen to the tops of my ears and making sure not to get it into my hair. She walked around me and started touching the back of my neck and I hoped she couldn’t feel me shaking. Lacey might as well have been kissing the back of my neck for the way I was reacting.

“I’ll just spray the rest of you,” she said from behind me.

“Yeah,” I said, holding my arms out. Lacey sprayed my body and I did close my eyes for that as she crouched down to get my legs and then stood back up to get my arms and my chest.

“You’re all done.”

I opened my eyes to find her right in front of me.

“Thank you,” I said, and she handed me the spray sunscreen bottle.

“You’re welcome,” she said, gazing at me for a moment before she sat back in her chair, putting her sunglasses and hat back on.

I fell into my chair and put my sunglasses back on, sitting back and attempting to get myself together.

“So,” she said, startling me. “Is this it? Is this what we do during a beach day?”

“I’m hearing some skepticism over there,” I said, turning my face toward her.

“No, I’m just wondering how this is supposed to make me forget about the trainwreck that is my life,” she said, frowning.

“Okay, it’s time for drastic measures,” I said, getting to my feet. “Come on, let’s go.”

Lacey stayed in her chair. “Where are we going? You’re not going to feed me to a shark, are you?” She didn’t seem serious, but I did catch just the tiniest flicker of fear.

“No, because that’s not a thing. I mean, there are shark sightings every now and then, but they’re so rare.” She didn’t seem convinced.

“Are you scared of sharks, Lacey?” I asked.

“No! No, I’m not,” she said.

I laughed. “Very convincing. It’s okay, I’ll protect you from the sharks.”

She let me lead her across the sand and down to where the waves pulled at the shore, pulsing like a heartbeat.

“Weren’t you literally on the swim team? Why are you so scared of the water?” I asked when she wouldn’t get near the water.

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