Page 76 of No Summer Hotter than You

He quickly brushed his lips against my temple with a sigh. “For practice.” His words came out as a long breath.

“Yeah,” I barely managed to mumble.

We were far from needing any more practice. In fact, we should probably do less of it. However, Anthony took no heed to it. He was about to kiss my temple again when a series of soft thuds began to come from the room where I left Julie and Andy.

Anthony pulled away from me with an irritated scowl. “I’m going to kill that horny bastard one day.”

I laughed. “At least shower first.”

He sheepishly smiled as he slipped off the bed and grabbed a few items before taking his shower. It wasn’t until I heard the shower turn on that I let out a shaky breath. Now that it was certain Julie and Andy were going to room together, I was certain sleeping in the same bed with Anthony for the next few days would be perfectly fine.

Things between us were still awkward and had taken a while to fall back into place. Not that our relationship would ever really be the same again. Regardless, sharing a bed should be fine, right? We were just going to share one bed for a few nights. That was all.

I let out a frustrated sigh as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I debated whether I should change out of the two-piece swimsuit I had on for the black one-piece laid out on the bed. I had been trying to build confidence in myself and love my body the way it is naturally. I didn’t really like showing off my body, especially my midsection since it wasn’t slim like Julie’s and Evelyn’s.

But fuck that.

I decided right then to fuck insecurities, wear this bikini, and show off my body the way it was. This was how I looked and there was nothing wrong with it, despite what my mom would say if she saw me in this. Before I could slather on sunscreen, there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find Anthony standing there. He quickly slipped in with knitted brows. He looked worried.

“Hey, what’s wrong? The others are already in the lake.”

“I’m fine. Just about to put on sunscreen,” I replied as he closed the door behind him and locked it.

He observed me in my firetruck red bikini and the mesh shawl I had tied around my waist. His honey brown eyes darkened slowly as his gaze took me in from head to toe, drinking me up bit by bit. “You look good,” he said, his voice husky and deep. “You look fucking hot.”

In the mirror, I could see myself flush as red as my bikini. “Thanks,” I muttered meekly.

He grabbed the bottle of sunscreen off the dresser and popped it open. “You look amazing, Shoua. But you’re so damn clueless about it. Did you see the way people were looking at you last week at the bar?” Before I could say anything to him, he spoke up again. “Turn around, I’ll put sunscreen on your back.”

The squirt of the sunscreen into his hands sounded lewd as he stepped into my sphere. I quickly clipped up my hair and did as he asked. His hands slowly worked from the back of my neck down to my shoulder blades as I had done for him the last two days.

Anthony exhaled, sending a sharp puff of air across the back of my neck, which made tingles shoot down my spine to my toes. His calloused hands drifted down to the small of my back. He squeezed more sunscreen into his hands and then motioned me to twirl around to face him in the mirror.

“Turn around, I’ll get your front,” he said.

“It’s fine. I’ll do it myself.” I quickly turned around to grab the sunscreen bottle, but he stopped me. His sunscreen-ladened hand covered mine.

Anthony sighed. “Look, I already got all this sunblock in my hands. I need to put it on you.”

“Fine.”

His fingers immediately spread the lotion under the string of my bikini top along my clavicles, and my cheeks began burning again. I glanced up at him, but his eyes were on my neck.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He let out a little amused chuckle as his hands moved lower.

“You’re not even looking at me in the eyes. How would you know how I’m looking at you?”

His beautiful eyes finally met mine. I was expecting them to be hazy and cloudy with lust and desire. However, they were far from it. They glinted brightly with so much clarity I was a bit surprised.

“You think I’m not looking at you, but I am. I’m always looking at you.” His voice dipped low and gruff as it came out just above a whisper. “I’m always following you with my gaze, through the crowd or through the room. You’re beautiful, Shoua. Just absolutely breathtaking.”

I swallowed thickly and licked my lips wet. His eyes immediately darted to them as my heart began to race.

“I-I—” My lips trembled, but I couldn’t say anything else.

A knock was suddenly at the door. “Yeah?” Anthony answered, irritation clearly in his voice.

“Hey, Shoua. Are you—”Julie began as she opened the door and took a step inside only to stop when she saw Anthony’s sunscreen-covered hands on my chest and immediately turned and walked out. “Sorry for interrupting!”

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