Page 70 of The Mistakes I've Made
This girl was smart.
But she’d lost the element of surprise, and this time, I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
We wrestled around, laughing and yelling at each other, neither gaining much ground until one thing started to become painfully aware.
Just how close we were.
Her body, covered by that bikini—which would probably keep me up all night—was pressed so tightly against me that I could feel her heart beating inside her chest.
And the fact that we were in water? It just made it ten times worse.
Because, every time she moved against me, she slid.
Up and down.
Now that I was aware of the proximity, that only made me imagine what it would feel like to have her sliding around on top of me in a bed.
Leilani’s breath caught, and I realized why.
All that rubbing and dirty thoughts had caused the semi-wood I sported whenever she was near to go full out.
And she’d noticed.
In a big way.
But, instead of pushing away from me like she normally would, citing our dumb rules or making a silly joke, she just sat there in my arms, lost in the moment with me.
Could she feel it, too?
The sizzle in the air. The crackle in the atmosphere when we touched.
How could I be just friends with someone who made me feel so much?
That was the ultimate question.
The one I was too scared to answer.
And so, this time, it was me to put on the brakes, and I stepped back.
Because, like I’d told her earlier in our little game in the water…
I was a sore loser.
And, if Sierra was right and love and life really were a game, I wasn’t sure I could play and afford to lose this one.
After that moment in the water between Taylor and me, the one I couldn’t stop thinking about, I was in desperate need of advice.
And there was only one place I would go searching for it.
“Oh my God, do you know what time it is?”
I checked my phone. “Um, yeah. It’s midnight here, so it should be, like, barely dinnertime there.”
Piper laughed. “Yeah, I know. I’m just messing with you. What’s up? I haven’t heard from you in a while. Are you burning the midnight oil, trying to get that place ready for your dad?”
“Yes,” I said at first, but then I let out a big sigh and finally said, “No.”
“No? Are you all finished then?”
