Page 73 of Pieces

“Did you miss the part where I’m bad at this?”

“I heard you.”

“As in unredeemable.”

“More of a challenge for me then.” I wink at her and watch that smile break free, my favorite one when she’s going with the flow. “Alright, rule one: it’s all in the wrist. Rule two: don’t overthink it. And rule three…” I pause dramatically. “Look cool while you do it. Like this.”

I flick my wrist, sending the stone zipping over the surface in a clean string of skips. It hops five times before sinking, and I glance back at her with a smug smile.

“Show-off,” she mutters, but there’s a spark of challenge in her eyes. “Finn would love this. I’m more of a sit-and-observe kind of girl.”

“Sounds like Finn and I would get on well.”

“You would.” She smiles. “He’s the adventurous twin. Always off exploring, dragging me to climb a tree with him. That’s what he’s doing now, traveling.”

Her expression shifts, as does her mood.

“You miss him.”

She looks out to the water. “I do. He’s like an extension of me in some ways. It’s hard not being with him and it’s harder not being on the same time zones too. Like if I’m struggling, he just knows.”

“That’s nice. I bet you got into trouble as kids.”

She snorts. “Not me. I was a good girl.”

Her eyes find mine, and I have to swallow those words without making it too obvious that I’m affected by them. By her. But there’s also a slight pinch to those two words, a shadow that’s quickly blinked away, like they affect her more than she’s letting on.

Clearing my throat, I hand her a stone. “Your turn.”

She mirrors my earlier stance, her tongue poking out in concentration, and hurls the stone…straight into the water with a spectacularplop.

“Solid splash,” I say, biting back a laugh.

“Still think I’m worth the challenge?” she says, putting a hand on her hip.

That little action has me drawing closer to her. She’s so freaking beautiful.

I step up behind her, close enough that the sweet scent of her shampoo sneaks past the crisp air. My hands settle around her waist as I move her hips to where they should be to throw better, or that’s what I tell myself. But it’s impossible to ignore how easily she leans into me, like she belongs there, like she was always meant to fit against me.

Taking a chance, I brush her hair from her shoulder, my fingertips grazing the silky strap of her camisole peeking from beneath the cardigan. A glimpse of bare skin, delicate and distracting. I lean down, my lips just close enough for her to feel my breath. “You’re definitely worth the challenge, Daphne,” I say, the words carrying more weight than I intended. Or do they? Her and the baby have quickly become the center of something important to me and I’d do anything for them.

She turns her head, tilting toward me. Her tongue peeks out to wet those lips I so desperately need to claim. “That so?” she murmurs, her voice betraying her with a slight shake.

I move my hands down her sides, hitting her jean-clad hips, squeezing slightly, relishing the way she shifts her body backward just a touch. “Absolutely,” I say. Her breathing changes, and it takes everything in me not to take that kiss from her. But I restrain myself because that’s not what today is about. Yes, I want her, but I want to show her that what this could be between us is more.

As I guide her arm again, my hands linger longer than necessary. “Let’s try again, hm?”

She nods with a thick swallow that I notice, because I’m right fucking there, inhaling her, basking in her body heat. Adjusting her feet, she throws the rock, and this time, it skips twice before sinking. Her laughter bursts out, bright and full of shock.

“Two skips! Did you see that?” she says, spinning to face me, her eyes alight.

“I saw it,” I say, grinning back at her.

She spins back toward the lake with a triumphant laugh. “Two skips! That’s practically professional level, right?”

“Practically,” I tease, crossing my arms as I watch her. I don’t even care about the skipping anymore. I’m too busy watching the way she’s smiling, how her eyes are alive with that wide-open kind of joy that you don’t see every day. It’s different from her usual smiles, the ones that she gives out to be polite. This one? It’s completely her.

“What?” she asks, catching me staring.

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