Page 84 of Overtime
“Then how can I know you’re telling me the truth?” His voice sounds light, teasing. Uncharacteristic. Beautiful.
I rest my forehead against his back. “You’ll have to trust me.”
His body vibrates with a grunt. “So that’s what today’s lesson is, huh? Getting you out of your shyness.”
Good luck with that. I’ve spent twenty-one years trying to hide myself and make myself as small as possible.
“Wrap your arms around me.”
“What?” I jerk away.
“You heard me.” He reaches back and grabs one of my arms, pulling me flush against him. I melt against the heat of his back and let him find my other arm. It’s Aran, not me, who places my hands against his stomach. “Huh, you did undress.”
I bury my face against his back, although there’s no point. He must be feeling how hard my heart hammers against him.
“I am dying,” I declare.
“Let’s go die in the water.”
Slowly, he walks us to the shore. I am way too pleased at the feeling of his velvet-soft skin against my face, at the hair on hisstomach, the unrelenting hardness of his muscles. When I try to put any distance between us, his hands grab my arms tighter and pull me even closer.
But then the freezing water makes contact with my feet, and I jerk away with a yelp. And Aran turns to face me.
He doesn’t flinch at the water lapping up at his ankles. Instead, he tilts his head and runs his eyes down my body.
Too late, I think about trying to cover myself. Except my hands are too small to try to hide anything.
“Why are you trying to hide yourself?” Aran takes a small step forward and slides his left hand around my waist, bringing me against him. It’s exhilarating to feel all of him. “Because in case you didn’t notice, I find you damn hot, Maddie.”
My tongue is heavy, which makes my voice come out weird when I ask, “You do?”
“Yeah. It shouldn’t take some random horndog guy for you to realize it.”
“You’re not random, though,” I say in a voice barely above a whisper.
With his free hand, he cradles the back of my head, and I think he’s going to kiss me. Instead, it keeps going down over my braid, and down still until he reaches the end of it. I feel the tug but only realize what he’s doing when he pulls the hair tie off.
“What are you doing?” I ask, breathless.
“I want to feel your hair on me.”
A shudder racks my body. I don’t know if it’s that I’m overly sensitive, or if it’s him, because those words shouldn’t be enough to make me feel like this. Like I’m a ball of fire and liquid all at the same time.
“That’s more like it,” Aran murmurs as he runs his thumb across my bottom lip. “I like this look on your face. Not the one you had before.”
I bite his thumb. Pretty hard. “That’s what you get for teasing me.”
His eyebrows are up. “You may think you’re punishing me by biting me, Strawberry, but you’re not.”
I squeeze my eyes shut tight, dying of embarrassment. “Are you always so forward?”
“No.” I feel him lean down to my ear, and then he whispers, “I’m a goalie.”
I can’t believe he’s making me laugh in a situation like this, but here I am. Semi-naked with a guy who knows exactly how to make me forget all my worries and fears. And I forget myself too, because I’m not even sorry when I bring my arms around his neck and stick flush to him.
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Wait to see what I have in store next.”
