Page 16 of The Good Girl Next Door

It’s been a while since I’ve worn this bikini. Still fits too. The bright red top pairs well with the vivid orange bottom. Two different colors for the two different sides at war inside my head.

I take a deep breath and glance out my window. Silas is no longer sunbathing. He’s in the pool with his arms resting on the edge, reading.

The Art of War.

Looks like he’s done with all the romances. Good, I’ll pilfer from his stack before he returns them. I’m not sure about his new book though. It seems like he might be changing tactics.

But so am I.

I slip on my sandals and then head to my closet for my white cover-up and sun hat. Kindle, sunglasses, and towel. I’m ready for anything, but I think I’ll be focused on something other than my Kindle.

The air-conditioned house is freezing, but the moment I step outside it’s hot. Even hotter when Silas lowers his paperback and raises his sunglasses. One corner of his mouth rises, the other following shortly after as I cross the short distance between the house and the concrete encircling the pool.

I pause when my sandals touch the threshold, heat creeping around the edge of my toes and feet.

“Prudence,” Silas says, pulling an AirPod from his ear and setting it in front of him, along with his sunglasses.

I had a plan. I’m sure of it. But with a single word and a flash of a dimpled smile, I’m left speechless and amnesiac. Who am I? Where am I? How to English?

“The water’s warm, Prudence. Why don’t you join me? Or you could just stand there.” His gaze travels the length of me. Head to toe. There and back again. “I don’t mind,” he adds in a gruff baritone that I feel all over my body.

Tingling. Burning.Sizzling.

“You’ve been out here a while, Silas,” I say, finally pulling myself out of my stupor as I set my Kindle down on the table. “Haven’t turned into a prune yet?”

He grunts. “Have you been watching me from your window again?”

I swear that dimple will be the death of me as it retreats even further into his cheek as he smiles. I’ve never seen anyone with a jaw as sharp as his. I thought they were all photoshopped or camera angle tricks.

Nope.

He could shred the hardest cheese with that thing. A diamond, probably. But all I’m wondering right now is how it would feel against my tongue.

“Maybe. Have you been watching me?”

“Always, Prudence.”

It comes out without hesitation. He knows what he wants. He’s been clear from the first day we met. I’ve been resisting, wavering back and forth. I don’t think I’m a fun little game to him. But maybe I’m just not experienced enough to see if he’s being insincere. I’d like to think I can read people’s intentions.

But Sofia is right. A life without risk or hurt isn’t worth living. I’m done playing it safe. I know what I want and he’s staring at me like I’m a freaking present he’s been waiting to unwrap.

I dip my legs into the water as I sit next to Silas. “Liar,” I say as goosebumps flare all over my limbs. “It’s freezing.”

“I’ll warm you up, Pru.”

His hand wraps around my ankle, stroking me up and down.Welp.He wasn’t lying this time. I’ve been aching to feel his hands on me since the library, and his rough palm, stroking my ankle and calf, do not disappoint.

“Is that how a hockey player should be touching their coach’s daughter?” I ask, breathlessly.

It feels like there’s a leak in my lungs because no matter how many breaths I take, it’s never enough to fill them. My breathing accelerates as quickly as the tension in my belly tightens.

Stroking, stroking, stroking.

“I don’t know, Pru. You tell me. Do you want me to stop?”

He pauses, eyes fixed on mine—flecks of green and gold in his light brown irises. He pulls his hand away slowly until only his fingertips remain, forcing an answer from deep inside me.

I almost scream it, but thankfully I don’t.

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