Page 32 of Riverside Reverie

We were surrounded by other people, but it was like we only had eyes for each other. Zoey and Kai, Rhiannon and Baz were certainly in their own worlds, not that I blamed them. I was having a hell of a time keeping my hands from tugging Lux to me, and she wasn’t even mine.

Desmond ran into the water, diving beneath the surface just as quick. I felt a momentarily pang of sympathy for him. This wasn’t his first time skinny dipping with someone he had feelings for, yet he made it look easy.

Talia swam beneath the water, grabbing Jasmine’s ankle and tugging her beneath the surface. When they resurfaced, laughing, it was game on. Jasmine swam after Talia in retaliation, leaving Lux and me floating somewhat alone.

“You slippery eel!” Jasmine shouted through her laughter. “Des, come help me get her back for that!”

Desmond shook his head at me as he passed, swimming after them both. There wasn’t a thing he wouldn’t do for Jasmine.

“They’re kinda cute together, huh?” Lux remarked, watching after them. “Jas and Desmond, I mean.”

“Yeah, they are.”

Lux swam a little closer to me, a look of conspiracy in her eyes. “Wanna hear a secret?”

“Yes, of course,” I grinned back, moving a little closer to her.

Lux cupped a hand over her lips. “Jas likes him. Like, likes him likes him.”

“Really? Did she say that?” I asked, and Lux nodded.

“But you didn’t hear it from me,” she mimed zipping her lips, that gorgeous smile still tipping the corners up. Her eyes went to my shoulders, resting on my collarbone, and she bit down on her bottom lip. “I have another secret.”

“Oh, yeah? What is it?” I asked, feeling affected by the heat in her eyes. She moved closer, the water sloshing over her exposed cleavage.

“Jasmine thinks you’d be a good dick-straction—for me.”

“A good dick-straction, huh?” I repeated, lifting a brow. We were surrounded by all that water, but my throat was drier than a desert.

She giggled, sinking lower in the water so that it covered up to her chin, then she nodded. Her greyish eyes luminous in the moonlight. “Yeah, but…I’ve never had a one-night stand.”

“Trust me, you wouldn’t be a one-night stand,” I swam closer to her, our bodies separated by mere inches. I knew I couldn’t have her once and be done. Her eyes widened, taking me in, and her lips parted. Lips that I wanted to claim as mine.

“A casual fling, then…” Lux stood up, the water obscuring my view of what were probably perfectly pink nipples, the same rosy hue as her lips.

“Mmhmm,” I murmured, keeping what I wanted to say locked down; that she couldn’t be a casual fling, either. She was the girl you kept, not the one you discarded after some fun. “What are you saying?”

“That I…want to try it,” she admitted, her eyes locked on mine. It was too dark to tell if she was blushing, but if I had to place a wager on it—I’d say yes. “A casual fling, I mean.”

“Is that so?” I was about to move in closer, to put my hand around her waist and tug her towards me so she could feel how into the idea I was, but then her eyes widened with absolute fear, and she let out a strangled screech, all but leaping out of the water and at me. I didn’t even have time to register her naked, trembling body in my arms.

“Lux, what the hell?” Jasmine called out, alarmed.

“Something touched the back of my leg, and it felt slimy!” she wailed, trying to climb up my body and out of the water. It put her breasts at perfect level with my gaze—not that I was complaining.

“It was probably a fish,” I reassured her. Lux’s eyes dropped down to my face, and she realized she had climbed halfway up my body to escape the unknown thing that had touched her.

“A fish? Ew, nope, I’m out,” she said decidedly, pushing off me and heading back to the shore as quickly as she could.

* * *

To my dismay, Lux went to bed not long after the skinny dipping ordeal.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t tired at all. I knew sleep would allude me, so I didn’t bother trying to rest. Not even when everyone else went to bed for the night. Instead, I brought an extra blanket up with me to the top of the cliffs at our campsite, spreading it out so I could lay down on it and look up at the night sky.

It was nearly 3 a.m., and I was still laying on my back. My arms were folded behind my head, and I stared up at the stars in the quiet solitude, thoughts too tangled and body too affected to fall asleep.

Lux’s words from the water kept replaying in my mind on some sort of tortuous loop. The feel of her body against mine as she’d all but climbed up me to get out of the water imprinted against me. It was like every part of my skin that’d meet with hers was on fire and burning for more.

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