Page 46 of Shy Girl
“How was yoga?”
He wiggled a little as he situated himself in the sand, then put his arms on his bent knees. Wind whipped by from the inward-bound storm, churning the waves into higher peaks. The first tendrils of the cloud bank slid in front of the sun and sent a shadow across the sand. The burning prickle of sunshine on my skin faded for a moment, and I enjoyed relief from the intense warmth.
“Ff-fine. It’s been a w-while since I’ve t-tried it.” I lifted an arm and rubbed the back of it, where the muscles felt more stretched than sore now. In the aftermath, it really did feel good.
“Vik swears by it,” he said idly, “because men rarely attend yoga classes and women tend to love a yogi, I guess, but I could never get into it.”
“Did you tell B-bastian to do it with me?”
“Not guard you, or anything. He wanted to see if he could stretch out his forearms because they fall asleep at night after all his saw work. I told him to keep an eye out for you if Victoria was around.” He met my gaze. “I know you can take care of yourself. I’ve seen you at gunpoint and you were cool as a cucumber.”
The reminder sent a little barb into my chest. I’d spent years of my life picturing Jayson rescuing me from various terrible situations, like a true hero coming to life. Of all of them,thatwas the one I’d never imagined. Now he’d always remember it and I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
“N-not that c-cool,” I said.
“I spoke with Victoria while you were at yoga.” He leaned back, palms pressed into the sand. He wore a pair of board shorts and no shirt. It took all my considerable mental strength and concentration not to stare at the muscles that moved across his back with each breath, or gently pat away the grains of sand on his shoulder. Only his chosen topic took me away, and I kept a heavy gulp at bay.
Was he still in love with her?
Did he want to reunite?
Maybe I’d been hasty in my suggestion that we act like we were dating. Now maybe he wanted an out and my vacation was about to crash and—I forced my mental spiral to halt. Several moments had passed and it would be awkwardly quiet soon.
“Oh?”
“I think she’ll leave us alone.”
The easy wayusrolled off his lips caught me by surprise, and my stomach smoldered with it. As if we were a unit. A pair. Meant to be instead of just pretending to be to get Victoria off his back. In those moments when it was easier to pretend, it was also easier to get lost in the dream.
Relief followed quickly. If nothing else, he didn’t want to chase her. Jayson had never been much of a ladies’ man through the years. He seemed too busy doing other things—most of them dangerous—that he didn’t pay much attention to dating. Such an attitude had made things tolerable for me. I wasn’t sure I could sit by and watch him ogle someone like Victoria.
“G-good. She d-doesn’t frighten me.”
Why I insisted on him knowing that, I wasn’t sure, but it felt important enough to emphasize. Did I want him to see me as courageous the way I saw him? Yes. Like I still wanted to fit into the special Merry Idiots club, or something.
“I know.”
There seemed to be nothing left to say, so we both fell quiet. I closed my eyes and tried to soak up the sounds, the grit of sand, the brush of wind. Then I felt a gentle, warm touch on my arm and my eyes fluttered back open. I looked up to see Jayson grinning at me, his palm on my arm, just above my elbow.
“Want to go swimming?”
I hesitated, glanced at the water, then back to him. A slight blush crept up my cheeks as I swallowed.
“I c-c-can’t s-s-swim,” I whispered. Mom had a thing against the reservoir water and swore that amoebas lived in it, so we never went near the lake. Pineville didn’t have a swimming pool—at best a few knee-deep creeks with winter snowfall—so water hadn’t ever been a big part of my life.
“Stay with me and I’ll keep you safe. Deal?”
I sucked in a sharp breath, stuck on the precipice ofdon’t you dare get closer to himandtake this opportunity right now!Serafina would kill me if I didn’t go with him and I could mentally hear her excited squeal when I told her. Finally, my heart won out over common sense, even though the battle was gory.
I smiled.
“Let’s d-d-do it.”
Ten seconds later, I seriously regretted my hasty excitement.
Jayson tugged me down the beach, a kid-like haste apparent through his whole body as we headed to the water. I wore a tank top and loose shorts over a tankini, an outfit Serafina had picked out because the turquoise color made my skin pop. But I hadn’t bought any of this with the intent toswimin it.
Now, we plowed right toward the ocean.
