Page 34 of Things We Tell Ourselves

When he walks around her to return to the pool, he brushes against her. She exhales, hurrying to catch up.

“I’d say that I’d like to see you try, but I have a feeling you really would.”

He gives her a sideways glance. “You better get in the pool voluntarily then.”

It’s hard to tell for sure with Sadie’s sunglasses, but it looks like she’s watching them. Camille drops her sunglasses over her eyes to break contact, feeling her cheeks getting hot. Sadie dips her head back, resting it against her chair. Thinking about what’s about to happen, Camille goes from being thankful to silently cursing Nancy.

She’s going to have to take off the coverup to apply the sunscreen. As soon as she does that, these elitists with their beautiful smiles, limitless bank accounts, and supple bodies are going to see parts of her that even the select few guys she dated didn’t get to see. She should’ve stayed upstairs.

Sadie reaches her hand around and reclines her chair. “Hurry up, Wadezy,” she emphasizes the end of the nickname as she flips onto her stomach, “I need you to get my back.”

Camille’s hand is on the hidden hook of her wrap, jealousy bubbling up like stomach acid in the back of her throat at the thought of watching Wade apply sunscreen to Sadie’s back. She should consider it a good thing. Wade will be distracted by Sadie long enough to apply her own sunscreen and then jump in the pool before he’s the wiser.

She’s about to open her coverup when she hears, “How about I take care of Camille, and my lazy brother can get your back?”

Camille’s hand freezes at her waist.

“I can put on my own sunscreen,” she says, snatching the bottle from Wade, who gives her a long stare.

“See?” Sadie chuckles, taking her shades off. She reaches around to her back, “I’m the only one who needs help with the hard-to-reach spots.” With the flick of her wrist, she pulls the string of her bikini. The strings fall to either side of her chest. She drops her shades on the ground next to her chair, laying her head down, smirking happily in Camille’s direction as she shuts her eyes.

Camille unhooks her wrap, turning from them to glare at the overgrown shrubs lining the privacy fence. As much as she doesn’t want Wade to see her without her coverup, she definitely doesn’t want to watch him rub sunscreen on Sadie. She pops the sunscreen open, looking over her shoulder at Wade.

There’s a splash of water as Easton pops up. “I got you, babe.”

Camille can’t help but notice Sadie frown as Easton’s wet feet walk up to her chair.

“You know what,” Camille calls out to Wade. “It would be easier if you did my back.” Her back still to him, she takes off her sunglasses and tosses them on the chair. She pulls the wrap from her shoulders, allowing the coverup to fall down her back. Over her shoulder, she sees his eyes follow down her back, where it stops just short of her bikini bottoms.

“Sure thing,” he swallows, walking up to her. He glances back at Easton. “Here you go.”

He tosses the bottle of tanning oil, not bothering to see if he’s going to catch it as he turns back to Camille. She tries to hide her giddiness at how excited he appears as she hands him the bottle of sunscreen.

“Is that the oil?” Sadie grumbles from her chair as Easton dumps a glob on her back.

“What?” Easton asks, leaning down to rub the oil in. “Don’t you want to glisten in the sun like you did in the Maldives when I fell in love with you?”

Sadie lifts her head as he rubs oil across her back, reaching dangerously low on her sides where the string of her bikini top is lying on the chair. “I thought you fell in love with me over our long chats on the phone.”

Wade dumps the bottle over in his hand while she keeps a firm grip on her coverup, using a hand to scoop her hair forward, revealing her bare skin. All she can think about is his hands on her. The shock of the cold sunscreen against her upper back is quickly replaced by the warmth of his hands. She’d never paid attention to his hands, but they feel bigger than she was expecting. He rubs under the strap at her back, causing her to bite the inside of her cheek as he quickly runs out of places on her back to rub.

As if reading her mind, he asks, “Want me to get your shoulders?”

She releases her cheek. “Sure.”

He applies more sunscreen to his palms and rubs them over the top of her shoulders, making it feel more like a massage than a sunblock application. He swipes both hands under the string tied at her neck.

“Thanks,” she sighs, feeling him finishing up.

He leans forward to her ear, his voice low. “You’re welcome.” The vibration in his voice causes her breath to catch. And then his hands are gone.

She lifts her coverup over her shoulder, turning to see him dive into the pool. Out the corner of her eye, she sees Sadie watching her, Easton oiling the backs of her legs. Camille applies the sunscreen to her legs and hips in sections, keeping her coverup on. Wade does a lap in the pool, the heat she was feeling receding as he doesn’t so much as look in her direction as she finishes applying sunscreen to her arms and then to her face. She kicks her shoes off and waits until Wade pushes off from the side to do another lap. She tosses her wrap on the chair, taking off full speed for the pool.

Camille flies through the air, grinning ear to ear with her knees curled up to her chest. She lands in the middle of the pool a few feet from Wade. He splashes her playfully when she resurfaces.

She wipes her eyes, looking around at the water in amazement. “It’s way cooler than I was expecting.” She swims to the shallow end of the pool, stopping once she’s able to stand with the water at her shoulders.

“The temperature’s regulated,” Wade tells her, treading water on the deep end as casually as she’s standing on the shallow end. “We set it to fifty-five in the summer.”

---