Page 25 of Fear of Intimacy

“Tashaaaa.” He dragged my name out in a whine. “I’ll pose like one of your French girls.”

The idea of making Trevor do what I wanted sounded very appealing. Turning, I gave him a shrug.

“Okay, French girl, let’s go.”

“I’m yours to do as you please.” I didn’t miss the way his eyes darkened or the underlying meaning of his words. Shaking my head, I waved my hand at him.

“Pick a spot.” My eyes almost popped out of my head when Trevor reached behind his head with one hand andpulled his shirt off. The action alone was hot, but it was put on the back burner at the sight of his upper body. Hisrippedupper body, I might add.

My eyes didn’t know where to look first as they moved from his wide shoulders to his biceps before finally landing on the six-pack decorating his abdomen. I eyed every bump and ridge down to the V-line that disappeared into his swim shorts. Tattoos littered his skin; chest, arms, ribs, even his upper thighs had a few. I wanted to get closer and see what each one was.

“You okay over there?” My eyes lifted to his as he smirked knowingly at me. Flushing, I ignored the teasing tone.Focus, Tasha.

Trevor brought his arms up, flexing his bicep and pointing with the other and posed. Putting the phone down, I raised my eyebrow at him.

“Seriously?”

“What? All the ladies love it.”

Scoffing, I rolled my eyes. “Uh-huh. Just stand there and look pretty.”

“You think I’m pretty, huh?” Trevor’s arms dropped, and he sent me a wide grin. I took that moment to snap a picture.

“In your dreams.”

“Oh, I dream about a lot of things, Tasha.” I refused to look up at him and let him see how flustered he got me. Looking at the picture I just took, I found my new favorite photo. Trevor may have just been standing there but the smile on his face made my breath hitch. It was enough to make anyone’s heart stutter a few beats. A part of me was giddy, knowing that it was aimed right at me.

Unable to help myself, I quickly sent myself the picture before turning back to Trevor.

“Want a few more?”

With ease, Trevor posed a couple more times. Eachpicture was Instagram-worthy and would no doubt get thousands of comments and likes from women.

“Your turn,” he said a few minutes later.

“I’m okay.” I wasn’t sure I could take a decent photo with Trevor behind the camera. “We’re almost to the spot anyway.”

Keeping Josie’s phone tight in my hand, Trevor reached into his pocket and pulled out his own phone.

“Selfies it is, then.”

“Wha—” Trevor snapped a picture of me just as I spoke. “Hey!” I glared up at him. He moved until he was behind me and squatting a bit down, his chest brushing against my back as he brought his phone closer to our faces.

“Smile.” Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I looked forward and did as he said.

Trevor leaned down and smashed his cheek next to mine, beaming widely at the camera. A hand suddenly tickling my waist had me throwing my head back laughing, eyes closed. I briefly heard the camera’s shutter sound around Trevor’s tickle attack.

Squirming away from Trevor’s hand, I wrapped my arms around my waist to block his hands from trying that again. My cheeks hurt slightly from smiling as I looked at him. Quicker than I could process, he brought the phone up and snapped a picture of me.

And then ever so slowly, he lowered it, his eyes glued to my face.

“Perfect.” His voice was soft, but I still heard him. I opened my mouth to talk—I wasn’t sure what I was going to say—but the tour guide took that moment to announce our arrival. Disappointment flooded through me at our stolen moment.

“Is everyone ready to dive in and get some snorkeling done?” Johnno, our tour guide asked. “We’re going to getyou guys all geared up and go over some things.” He clapped.

As we all got ready, my excitement grew. I had always wanted to go snorkeling. Growing up, I went on quite a few vacations with my parents, but I wouldn’t classify them in the same category as this one. More than anything, they were business trips.

My parents would come home and say we were going on a trip, get my hopes up that the three of us would be a family and go see all the sites, only to crush my dreams when they would end up in meetings all day. I always ended up stuck in the hotel with my nanny. I wasn’t even allowed to go outside.

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