Page 70 of The Road Trip Romance

“You haven’t even seen all my cool scars. My lower abdomen looks like Freddy Kruger and I did ten rounds,” Jordan argues.

“What are you talking about?” Sophia says, stepping toward the sound of his voice with her eyes still closed.

“Jordan here got in a gnarly car accident twenty years ago. He had to get exploratory abdominal surgery, so he uses a stunt stomach for shots where he’s naked,” Penn explains.

“Give me your hand,” Jordan says.

Sophia hesitantly holds out a hand and he takes it, running her fingers over his scars.

She flinches and then feels them. “Shit, Jordan. You’re lucky to be alive,” she says softly.

“So I’ve heard. Now you know all our secrets…well, most of them,” Jordan replies, still holding her hand. He turns them so they are facing the water.

“I’m nervous,” she admits.

I lift her shirt’s hem and she jumps a little. Leaning in, I whisper, “It’s just me, baby.”

She releases Jordan’s hand.

“We won’t look,” Jordan promises.

“This is about being free. You should be proud of your body. It made two awesome kids. It’s brought you on this crazy life journey. It’s healthy and beautiful. It doesn’t need to look like some airbrushed supermodel to be perfect. You’re perfect just the way you are,” I whisper in her ear as I pull down her underwear and shorts.

I take her hand in mine. “Open those eyes and let’s go, Sophia,” I state as I take her hand.

She slowly opens her eyes and Jordan reaches out and takes her other hand, and we all go running into the water until we’re up to our necks.

It’s Penn who splashes us first, but Sophia is quick to join in. Within a minute, it’s a full-out splash fight. It ends with Sophia’s arms wrapped around my neck, her front pressed to my back, and her legs wrapped around my waist.

“It’s cold,” she protests.

“It feels good,” I argue as I reach behind me and wrap my hands around her ass, squeezing it.

“Come on, we should probably get our clothes back on before someone joins us,” Jordan says as he glances toward the shore to make sure we haven’t been joined by anyone.

Sophia slides down my back and we all start swimming up to the beach. But we only make it a few yards before Penn comes up and pushes both our heads under the water.

“H-hey! Not fair!” Sophia splutters as she pops back up.

“You’re dead, pretty boy,” I growl as I swim toward him, but the man takes off like an Olympic athlete and makes it back to shore in record time.

“You suck!” Sophia calls out after him, his white ass emerging from the water as he walks over to our clothes.

I don’t know why, but I pull Sophia behind me as we near shore, shielding her from the others. Penn is already dressed and heading over to the car. Sophia quickly throws on her clothes and I do the same while keeping myself between her and my friends. The need to protect her seems to be growing exponentially by the minute.

“You guys might have thought to bring towels,” Sophia groans as her now wet clothes cling to her body.

Rex chuckles as he pulls his shirt over his head while we all start toward the car to join Penn. “Nah, towels are for wusses,” he laughs.

She rolls her eyes and I take her hand in mine as we walk, wanting to be as close as I can to her for the rest of the trip.

As we near the car, Penn stands by it and looks at Sophia. He steps forward and pulls her into a big bear hug.

“I’m glad Tate lost his marbles and came to see you,” he mumbles as he hugs her.

She giggles. “Love you too, Penn,” she says as she releases my hand and squeezes him back.

“Come on, party people, Jordy here has a flight to catch,” Rex says as he opens the driver’s door.

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