Page 22 of Never Date A Player
After a couple minutes, his legs touch down, though it’s still too deep for me to stand. He gently pushes a lock of hair out of my mouth with the side of his palm, his gaze flickering over my face. “You okay?”
“No,” I say, embarrassed and unhappy about how good he feels. I look in his eyes. He must see something there, because his embrace tightens. “Sorry I made us fall. I should have paid attention.”
He lifts me higher out of the water. My boobs smash his chest, the roundness on full display thanks to the wet T-shirt I’m sporting. He grins. I swear he’s enjoying this. “Not a problem. I wanted to cool off.” The temperature of his body and the look in his eyes indicate that the water hasn’t done its job.
I smile too, though, because I can’t not with him looking at me like that—all happy and goofy and so different from the stoic Lewis I’ve seen.
I wrap my arms around his neck. What else am I gonna do? I can’t stand without my head going under. I could swim in, but that seems like a lot of effort. “It’s freezing.”
He runs a wide palm up and down my back, his smile fading, heated gaze scorching me, then flickering to my mouth.
What are we doing?
“The shore,” I choke. Get me alone with this guy and things happen. “We should dry off.”
After a noticeable pause, he nods and walks me in until I touch bottom. I turn toward the beach.
“Gen”—I glance back—“you’re wrong about me,” he says with sober eyes. “I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong.” He dives under the water and swims for the abandoned paddleboard and paddle.
What does that mean? I’m not wrong. I’ve seen this before. Actually, I’ve been in it before with the A-hole—well, not exactly this, but close enough. Though I have to admit, nothing has ever felt the way it does with Lewis.
I wade the rest of the way to the beach, irritated and wet. He said Mira isn’t his girlfriend, but there’s something he’s not admitting to, and with my luck, it’s worse.
Nessa glances up from her chat with Zach and her mouth parts. She stands abruptly and grabs my towel, jogging to the water’s edge. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“Just cold.”
I don’t bother explaining what happened because that seems obvious. I wrap the Authentic Beach Bum Hawaii towel my mom bought me years ago around my shoulders.
I hate this towel. That’s why I keep it in the trunk. I should get rid of it. My mom missed my elementary school graduation and end-of-year ballet performance because of her Hawaii trip. “I can’t renege, darling,” she explained to me at the time. “This is an important business trip.” I was too young to understand what that meant, but as I got older, I wondered about the kind of arrangements my mother had with the men she dated. They were all rich, powerful, and aloof. The man she traveled to Hawaii with wore expensive suits and barely registered my presence when he picked her up once a week for dates.
I scrub my legs, my chest, attempting to wipe away the memories and diminish the wet T-shirt look. With the lacy bra I chose this morning, it’s definitely nippy out.
“Nice one,” Zach shouts as Lewis approaches from the water. “What happened, man?”
Lewis runs a hand through his wet hair, shaking rivulets off his arm and smiling down at the sand. His gaze flickers to me. “Large boat wake came when I wasn’t looking.”
When he gazes at me like that, all secretive and sexy, I can’t focus, let alone be mad at him. I wasn’t looking. I lost control and confronted Lewis. It felt good to tell him what I thought—aside from the dunking backlash. I still can’t believe I did it. He just… he incites me. Why does the one person who makes me feel anything have a girlfriend—or a not-a-girlfriend. Whatever. Why is he so complicated?
I grab my green tote and pull my wet hair into a hair band. “Nessa, I gotta change. Do you mind if we go?”
“Not at all.”
Zach high-fives Nessa. “See you later, pipsqueak.” She cringes, but he doesn’t appear to catch it.
Lewis watches me collect my things. It drives me crazy and I pretend not to notice.
“Thanks for the paddleboard ride,” I tell him. That sounds stupid, given what happened, but I have nothing better and I feel like I should say something.
He nods and takes a deep breath, like he’s bracing for something, or trying to hold it back.
Nessa and I make it to the parking lot before I glance in his direction. Zach is chatting with the blondes who checked him out earlier. Lewis is there too, but his gaze is miles away on the lake.
Chapter Six
“Why don’t I call Zach?” Nessa says. “He won’t mind, really. It’s not a big deal.”
I stare at the steering wheel. This is seriously happening? Because my humiliation wasn’t complete? I sort of thought it was after the club incident. The paddleboard proved me wrong, and now this?
