Page 12 of Sweet Dreams
"It's time to jam-up, Ivan," I stated firmly after he'd gotten a good lookaround.
"What now?" Ivan grinned inamusement.
"It's time to put some comfy pajamas on. Time to jam-up," Iexplained.
Ivan must have thought that was funny, because he laughed, which was a really nice sound, by the way. My lips automatically lifted into a grin. He had one of those contagious laughs that make you smile upon hearingit.
Ivan hugged me and then said, "Okay, sounds good. You get changed first while I go get my bag out of thetruck."
After he left my bedroom, I had a dilemma to solve quickly. What would be appropriate to wear for pajamas? I normally slept in a soft cotton camisole with just my undies. I didn't think we were ready for that though. Besides, I intended to question him and learn some things about him for a change and I couldn't have him getting distracted by my nakedness. Plus, it was too soon for him to realize that I was, in fact, not a model and therefore had a nice belly roll when I sat down. I settled on the cotton camisole paired with long cotton pajama pants. I was just pulling the pants up when Ivan knocked softly on the door. "Are you decent?" he called before stepping into theroom.
"Just barely!" I said while my stomach went mushy. This felt intimate somehow. Wearing our pjs, talking in my bedroom. Like we were playing house together. I was nervous, but in a goodway.
"Damn, I missed the show.” He teased me with a half-smile, half-leer. "Turn around so I can change too. Or you can watch, it doesn't botherme."
"Ivan!" I said, flushing red. I turned around and heard clothes rustling as he changed pants. I walked toward my bed and climbed up on the quilt and sat down facing him, sinking a few inches into thepillows.
The red in my cheeks didn't go anywhere as I got to check him out with pajama pants hung low on his hips. His feet were bare and thank the Lord, he had nice looking boy feet. Feet weren't attractive most of the time and so many guys had nasty feet. Total deal killer. But notIvan.
My eyes drifted back up, and I saw the sexy, male muscle bumps on either side of his hip bones. I think Abercrombie made them famous a decade or two ago. It's like they were arrows leading to the treasure. I could literally feel my lips burning as I thought about getting my mouth on them. Five years without a hint of a sex drive and I'd gone from zero to sixty in one date. I would have to turn on the ceiling fan to cool it off inhere.
And then I took in the abs, and the pecs, and the biceps. All tan, all bumpy with muscle, a few strategically placed veins in all the right places. A faint scattering of dark blond chest hair tapered into a subtle happy trail, disappearing into his pants. Good God. My face burned even brighter and my eyes glazed over. That man was straight up lethal and I wasn't sure I could handle it. I mean, he was a California beach lifeguard. They made a TV show out of hottie lifeguards! He had to stay in shape for his job, he had women drooling over him all day, he took action in dangerous situations. And now he was in my bedroom, half dressed and looking at me with hooded eyes, taking in my pajama-clad self inbed.
He walked toward me and I swear it was more of a prowl than a walk. Not much to do but try to take it all in and burn it to memory. I could have jumped up and moved us to the living room, but the sexy side of me that literally just woke up from its long slumber wouldn't let me. I was frozen in place and I think Ivan knewit.
He reached the side of the bed. He lifted one leg, climbed up, and sat criss-cross-applesauce in front of me, knees touching mine. I could feel his heat and I was drawn to it, just like his familiar scent that surrounded me with him this close. He leaned in and touched his lips to my cheek. "Relax, Esa," he whispered against mycheek.
His words broke some magic sexy spell I'd been in. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding, then smiled at him as I realized how silly I was being. We're just going to talk and get to know each other. Like an innocent sleepover or a campout. Though I'd never camped out with a gorgeous man, just the two of us. Mostly just a bunch of girls who talked about guys like Ivan. I had no frame of reference for what was supposed to go downtonight.
"Sorry, it's been awhile, as you know, and I just got a little nervous," I said on a chuckle. "Could we talk for a little bit? I feel like there's so much more I want to know about you." I laid my hand on hisknee.
"I'd love to talk all night with you if you want. And I'm an open book, so ask away," Ivan replied with his trademark happiness. He moved to sit up against my headboard, tossing several pillows to the floor in the process. Then he grabbed me around the waist and hauled me up next to him, with his arm around my shoulder. I wiggled in and got comfortable with my head on hischest.
See, this is why it's a deal breaker to date a guy with ugly feet. I was lying in bed staring down at our feet out in front of us and if his had been hideous, it would have been seriously distracting. How could you possibly have a focused conversation when you had ugly feet staring back at you? And then to get under the sheets with ugly feet cooties rubbing off on my clean linens? Oh hellno.
Dragging my eyes and my thoughts away from feet, I decided I wanted to know about more important things, like his family. "So, do you have siblings?Parents?"
"I'm an only child like you. I have two parents, still married, living in Newport Beach. I actually grew up there but feel more at home here in Huntington Beach. My parents are fairly wealthy due to my dad's business and his family's money. They sent me to good schools and paid for my college so I'm very appreciative, even though I have no plans to follow in my dad's footsteps. I can't imagine working inside all day long. It would drive me crazy to sit at a desk and stare at a wall. Thankfully, my dad's okay with my career choice. He wasn't at first, but he's come around in recent years." Ivan paused. "What else do you want toknow?"
I could ask a thousand more questions about his family, because getting insight into people's relationship with their parents fascinated me and I could live vicariously through them for just a few moments. But I'd let that go for now and get into details later when I had some sleep under my belt and could better handle the emotional kick to thegut.
"Hmm...how about why you got into lifeguarding. When did you know it was the career for you?" Iasked.
"Well, that's actually a sad story. I'm not sure it's the best thing for me to tell right now, considering the stress you've had to deal with today," Ivan hedged while fidgeting with my hair that lay over his hand around myshoulders.
I swiveled my face in order to see him. He was avoiding looking me in the eye, so I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek, forcing his eyes to find mine. "Hey, if you're okay sharing with me, I want to know. It's obviously important to you and that makes it important to me.” Ivan always seemed so confident and carefree. So, quick to jump in and take care of me. This serious, sad side of him was something I hadn't seen yet. And I wanted to be there for him. I wanted to see all sides ofhim.
Ivan sighed and covered my hand with his. "Only a few people in HB actually know this story and I'd prefer to keep it that way." He paused as I nodded myunderstanding.
7
His eyes stayed on mine,but lost focus as he began to tell his story. "I dated a girl my junior year of high school. Megan was her name. I'd liked her since sophomore year, but she never noticed me. I grew like six inches before junior year and took up weight lifting, and what do you know? She finally noticed me. We started dating, and it was contentious the whole time. We'd fight, make up, make out and then repeat. One night, a big group of us headed down to the beach and built a bonfire. We were all drinking, which was just plain stupid, but we were in high school, you know? So, Megan and I broke off from the group and took a blanket down to the beach where it was more secluded. One thing led to another and we had sex. It was my first time and I'm sure it was pitiful." Ivan chuckleddarkly.
My stomach clenched at the thought of him with another girl, but I tried to focus back on his story as hecontinued.
"She was pissed that she had sand in all the wrong places and it was all my fault, naturally, so she yelled at me. I was still pulling my pants on and gathering up our things when she said she would cool off in the water. By the time I grabbed everything and made it down to the water, I couldn't see her anywhere." Ivan stopped and took a shaky breath. "I figured she went back to the bonfire. So, I went up to the group and asked where she was, but no one had seen her. I went back to the beach where I thought we'd been and I still couldn't see her. I started yelling her name, running up and down the beach, totally panicked. Our friends started doing the same. I jumped in the water with some of my buddies and we tried to dive down and feel around for her. No one wanted to call 911 since we'd been drinking, but someone finally did. Probably way toolate."
Ivan rubbed his face and my heart squeezed in my chest as I realized where his story was going. Silent tears filled my eyes as I felt how much this must have hurt him, changed him, influenced him. And so young. I stroked his chest to let him know I was there for support. This must be the shadow I would see in his eyes sometimes. Why he understood death, understoodgrief.
