Page 23 of The Other Side of Apart

But Marcus grabs my hand and pulls me to him. “No way.”

I look up at his face, which is surrounded by messy spikes of hair my hands created last night. “Have something against hot tubs at three AM?”

“I absolutely love hot tubs at three AM with a naked you, but hot tubs are meant to warm you up after you’ve taken a dip in the ocean.”

“No time like the present for a swim?” I ask with my eyes.

He scans the quiet ocean and the private boardwalk to a dock on an inlet. “No time like three AM for a dare.”

Goosebumps scatter over my skin when a breeze winds up through my robe. “Okay….”

“You’ll get your hot tub time only if we drop these robes, run down that boardwalk, and jump off the dock. And you have to stay in for at least two minutes.”

“Do you realize there are killer whales in that water? Right there?” I jab my finger at the ocean.

“Yeah, well, unlike Big Foot, they’re not into Asian girls. I personally don’t get it, but…”

“Are you serious right now?”

“You woke me up at three AMnotfor the reason I was hoping, so yeah, dead serious.”

I step closer, hand on his belt. “Take your own dare, and maybe all your three AM dreams will come true.”

He pulls his belt, and his robe drops to the deck. I shriek when he tugs my belt, trying to dart out of reach, but he yanks it before running down the deck stairs, a white streak in the dark. My robe slides off and I chase him down the steps along the cliffside to the boardwalk, laughing like a crazy girl at his white bum glowing against the dark smudges of trees. A few seconds later, a splash echoes through the air, followed by a string of curse words. My stomach knots. The end of the dock leers at me, and my legs tense, but Marcus chants from the water. “Faster, Mei! Don’t stop. Get in this water NOW! HUSTLE, MILLER!”

I squeal, plunging into icy water. Fear about what’s beneath me shoots me to the surface, and I burst out of lapping waves, gasping and shrieking. “So—cold!” I yell through clenched teeth.

Marcus whoops, swimming toward me, and pulls me against him as we tread water, sputtering and laughing. Moonlight shimmers around us like we’re in a spotlight, just two silhouettes in a very, very dark ocean.

I tread faster, and Marcus laughs, our legs tangling.

“You ever done this before?” he asks, breathless.

“Never. And I won’t, ever again.” My teeth chatter, and I wind my arms around his neck, pressing my cold, wet body to his to find warmth. “What about you?” I ask through a shiver, and he holds me against him, his hand splayed across my back.

“Only with ugly soccer guys.” He rests his forehead against mine, nudging my nose with his. Our legs and feet kick each other. “They didn’t have anything I wanted to see. And I definitely didn’t get this close to them. But you?” He smiles. “Watching you run down that dock like you owned the place kinda revved me up. If we didn’t have to tread to stay alive, we’d be doing something else right now.”

I wriggle out of his arms and splash him before twisting and swimming toward the dock.

“You wanna play, Mei?” he calls as he swims toward me, a gleam in his eye.

“You forget I’m connected to the mafia,” I call back, changing direction to outswim him, but my stiff, jittery doggy paddle isn’t fast enough.

He lunges, and I squeal when he hooks me around the waist and yanks my back to his chest. “You’re going down, Mrs. Miller,” he says in my ear, wrapping his legs around my waist and dragging me underwater with him.

We surface a few seconds later, his arms still around me. We spit salt water and swipe at our eyes, laughing and breathless. He turns me to face him. “What you gonna do now, Mei?” His hands glide up my legs to my thighs, and he grips them, wrapping them around his waist. One hand presses my lower back, the other keeps us afloat. “What’s your escape plan? It’s just you, me, and all the killer whales under us.”

I squeeze my thighs against his ribs, and he groans, dropping his forehead to my shoulder. “You’re gonna kill me. Gotcha.” His hand slides along the curve of my back, flexing over my backside. I close my eyes when his mouth skims my neck, leaving a trail of heat, until something brushes my leg, and I jolt in Marcus’s arms, screaming and thrashing. “Did you feel that?” I shriek. “Something just brushed my leg.”

He bursts out laughing. “Yeah—my hairy leg.”

“No! It wasn’t.” I push away from him and swim toward the dock, stopping only when I hear voices. I scan the beach and tree line, skidding to a halt on a couple walking along the beach, hand in hand.

Marcus swims up behind me, sliding his arm around my stomach, his mouth on my ear. “You can either stay in the water and get devoured by the scary sea monster feeling up your leg, oryou can jump out right now and give those people the show they came to see. Your choice, baby. I know what they’re hoping for ’cause I want the same thing.”

“I’m so naked!” I hiss through chattering teeth.

“So very, very naked…”

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