Page 31 of One Week in Paradise
Cash hesitates, and for a moment, I think he’s going to try and persuade me to jump in the pool with him or at least offer to sit with me, but he seems to decide against it. He shrugs and then sheds his shirt and shoes until he’s only standing in a pair of shorts.
I pretend like I don’t notice the way his shorts cling to him like a second skin and instead focus on glaring at a random spot on the ground.
As he scales the winding pathway to get to a higher point to jump into the pool, I make myself at home around the edge.
The water is the perfect temperature, and I let out a genuine sigh of relief as I dangle my legs into it. I grab my phone and take some videos of stunning surroundings and a few photos of me smiling up at the camera. Reluctantly, I even take one of Cash, capturing the moment he cannonballs into the pool and resurfaces, grinning from ear to ear like a child on Christmas morning.
He glances in my direction, and I quickly drop my phone into my lap and pretend to be fascinated with the lush greenery around us.
The plants around the pool shoot up high into the sky, creating a sort of cocoon effect that protects us from the sun and heat. I close my eyes and let my head loll backwards.
All my stress and anxiety about Cash, and Ethan, and The Video… it’s all gone. I’m here, in the moment, and I’m enjoying it.
Until a wave of water suddenly sprays over me.
I snap my eyes open and find myself face-to-face with a grinning Cash.
‘What the hell was that for?’ I snap as he wades towards me.
‘I’ve been trying to get your attention,’ he says with a shrug. ‘That was the only thing that worked.’
He swims up to me and gently pushes my legs apart to come and rest between my thighs. I try to push him away, but he brings his arms up to rest on my thighs and locks me in place. His fingers press into the soft skin there, and images from last night flash through my mind. I swallow.
‘Bailey…’ His voice is a low whisper like he’s afraid the others will hear. ‘I just wanted to say—’
‘You’ve already said it,’ I say quickly. I shift and clamp my thighs together so his hands slip off them. ‘You don’t need to keep repeating yourself. I get it.’
‘No, you don’t.’ His hands come up to grip my thighs again like he’s desperate to keep a hold of me somehow.
I huff in frustration and run a hand through my hair. ‘I don’t understand why you’re fighting this.’
‘Fighting what?’
I gesture between us. How can he not see it? How can he notfeelit? ‘This tension between us.’ I lean forward, my breasts bumping gently against his chest, and stop when there are only a few millimetres between our noses. If I wanted to, I could easily drag my tongue down his jawline.
I think I do want to.
And I think he wants me to do it too. He shudders beneath me but doesn’t move to push me away.
‘I know you can feel it,’ I murmur, my breath fanning across his face.
He still doesn’t move. ‘It doesn’t matter what I feel.’
A familiar sting of rejection hits me, andIpull away. ‘You want me.’
It’s not a question. It’s a fact, and he knows it. We both do. His body is betraying whatever crisis of respectability or morals he’s currently going through.
‘And I want you,’ I continue. ‘So let’s do it. We’re both consenting adults. Let’s get it out of our systems, and then we can go back to the way things were.’
Cash’s face twists into an expression I’ve not seen before. He looks almost pained.
‘I don’twantto get you out of my system, Bailey,’ he says through gritted teeth.
‘Then what do you want?’
‘That’s the perfect shot!’
Lacey’s shriek of delight steals both of our attention. She’s by the other end of the pool, but she’s pointing at us with a huge smile on her face. ‘The sun is hitting you two perfectly! You look likethehottest couple. Seriously, this could be a shot from a movie. Stay there. I’m going to get a shot for you guys. And then you get one of me and Danny after.’
