Page 68 of The Mistakes I've Made
None of these words seemed to be working on me. I was still stuck back on the part of the conversation where she’d mentioned getting undressed.
A laugh escaped Leilani’s lips before she rolled her eyes, and she playfully slapped my arm. “You’re horrible. And you’re breaking the rules again.”
I shrugged as she began pulling off her dress. “You’re the one talking about getting naked.”
Her dress halfway over her head, I heard her laugh. “I didn’t say anything about getting naked!”
“Sorry,” I said, taking her all in. The naturally tan skin…the legs that seemed to go on forever…the bikini. “Can’t talk right now. Having a heart attack.”
And back down went the dress.
She tried to appear flustered, mad even, but she couldn’t hide the smirk that pulled at the corners of her mouth. Even when she placed her hand on her hip and said, “Nope, we’re not doing this.”
“What? Why?”
Her forehead wrinkled as her brow rose. “Why? Because you clearly can’t follow the rules.”
And you clearly love it when I don’t, I wanted to say.
But I didn’t.
She was right.
We were supposed to be just friends, and I was breaking the rules I’d made.
But, damn, it was fun.
“Come on.” I offered my hand once again. “I’ll be good.”
She cocked her head to the side, contemplating my request, before finally sliding her fingers into mine.
“Okay,” she said. “But, only because I want to be able to say I swam in the Atlantic Ocean.”
I nodded. “Deal.”
“And you won’t make any inappropriate comments when I take off my dress?”
“Nope,” I said.
I’ll be thinking them though, I thought.
All of them.
At once.
“Total saint,” I promised.
I wasn’t sure she believed the last part, which I gave her credit for, but she began disrobing all the same. To keep myself occupied, I did as well, stripping off my shirt and kicking off my shoes.
When I turned back around, I found Leilani gawking at me.
With a smug grin, I chose not to point out the fact that the rule-breaking was now completely on her.
“Ready?” I asked, trying not to look at her for too long, for fear that things down below would become too hard far too quickly.
Brilliant idea, I scolded myself.Take the hot new friend that you’re desperately trying not to bang out to the beach where you’ll both be half-naked and wet.
Fucking genius.
