I start to float on my back, only to remember, too late, that I’m naked. The second my breasts peek out of the water, Nick sucks in a breath.
“Don’t look,” I order.
“How can I not look? Your tits are right there.”
“Yeah. So keep your eyes somewhere else.”
“I’ll show you my dick.”
Laughter lodges in my throat. I try to choke it down, but a wave of it shudders out. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you just offered that. Why?”
“I thought it might make you feel better because I saw your tits.”
“No, what would make me feel better is if you said, Sorry I was leering at you, Kate.” I splash him.
He splashes back. “Why would I apologize for something I’m not sorry for?”
“You’re the worst.”
“No, I’m not.” He swims closer.
We’re treading water again, eyeing each other. I realize it’s the first time in ages that we’ve hung out alone, without Danny. I mean, we’ve been alone before. But never naked in the middle of the lake.
My pulse quickens when I notice he’s staring at my mouth. Is he thinking about kissing me? Oh no. Now I’m thinking about kissing him. The droplets clinging to his bottom lip are like a magnet trying to pull me toward his mouth.
Which is my cue to get out of this water.
“This was fun!” I say, far too brightly. “We should do it again sometime.” Then I tear my gaze off his delectable lips and swim toward the ladder.
“Or we can keep doing it now,” he calls after me.
“I’m tired. It’s been a long day. The flight, being in the sun all day, drinking tonight. I’m gonna turn in.” It’s a lie. I’m not tired at all. I’m exhilarated.
I hear the water ripple when I reach the ladder, and I know he’s right behind me.
“Don’t look at my butt when I get out,” I order, glancing over my shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m not making that promise.” He’s grinning at me.
I climb up and pretend I don’t feel his heated gaze on my bare flesh. On the dock, I scramble for my clothes and throw my shorts and top on over my wet body, then pick up my underwear and bra. The cedar planks creak as Nick hops off the ladder.
“I put your clothes on the chair,” I say without turning around.
“Thanks, Poodle.”
I’m back to being Poodle. But I suppose that’s a good thing. It’s easier to keep my distance when he calls me that. Easier to remind myself that he’s a cocky jerk who gets off on making fun of me.
But I can’t deny that I really enjoyed those moments, out in the dark lake, when I was just Kate.
6
The late-night skinny-dipping does the unexpected job of turning me and Nick into allies. The following day, it’s us against Danny and Michelle, who are arguing from the second they open their eyes. She’s still outraged that he hooked up with one of her friends, despite the fact he hadn’t even known Michelle’s name at that point in time. To his credit, Danny has stopped apologizing. When he and I were making omelets this morning, he told me he’d spent all night groveling, telling her how wrong he was, that he should’ve been honest and told her, yada yada. Now, in the light of day, after hours of her rude comments and stormy glares, he’s clearly had enough.
We’re out on the boat, just cruising the lake, when I hear my brother explode, a stream of curses leaving his mouth.
“For fuck’s sake, Michelle, would you shut the fuck up about this already? How many more fucking times can I apologize?”
A stunned silence falls over the boat. Nick and I exchange a look. Oh yeah. Danny’s reached the end of his rope. Only took him three years, but hey. Better late than never.
“I can’t believe you just said that to me.” Michelle’s eyes are blazing.
“Yeah, well, I can’t believe you’re holding this against me. It’s not like you were some virginal angel before we met. You had a ton of boyfriends.”
“None of them were your friends! And I didn’t lie about dating them!”
“I didn’t lie about anything! It was a stupid drunken night. Hell, I pretty much forgot about it until last night!”
“I don’t believe you!”
They start up again.
“Hey, you know what,” I call toward the helm, “why don’t we head back to the house?”
“Yeah,” Nick agrees solemnly, brown eyes twinkling. “I don’t know if open water is the best place for us to be right now.”
“Shut up,” Michelle snaps at him.
His brow quirks. “Alright then.”
“Hey,” I snap back at Danny’s girlfriend. “I don’t care if you’re mad at my brother. That’s no reason to be rude to Nick.”
Oh my God. I’m defending Nick? What have I become?
I don’t miss the half-smile he gives me. He knows exactly what I’ve done.
Danny, meanwhile, just looks tired as he starts the engine. He and Michelle go inside the moment we return to the house, and Nick and I don’t see them again. We pass the afternoon playing Scrabble, grill up hot dogs for lunch, and then retreat to our respective bedrooms to take naps.
“Naps are always more fun in pairs,” Nick says enticingly at the top of the staircase.
“Yeah, not happening.” And then I go to the blue room and he goes to the red one and that’s that.
Sometime before dinner, I start hearing moans coming from the room next door. The yellow room where Danny and Michelle are sleeping. Great. Looks like they made up. And gross, because now I get to lie here and listen to my brother having sex. Or I can drag myself out of bed and get dinner ready. Which is clearly the better choice, sanity-wise.
I’m chopping veggies to make steak skewers when Nick wanders downstairs ten minutes later. His hair is rumpled from his nap. He’s shirtless and his chest is just…ugh. Too perfect.
“They’re fucking,” he says flatly.
“Yeah, the sex noises woke me up too.” I sigh. “I really wish my brother had some balls.”
“Oh, he’s got balls. Sounds like he’s using them right now.”
“Eww. You know what I mean. She’s been treating him like garbage, not just today, but for years. And he’s so quick to say, okey-dokey, we’re all good, let’s have sex.”
Nick shrugs. “Maybe it’s a good riddance bang.”
“You’re a class act, Carmichael.”
“Oh, come on. One last hurrah, you know? Everyone does it.”
“I wouldn’t,” I say. “I mean, what if the sex is amazing and then it reminds you of the good times and you don’t break up?”
“It’s a risk,” he agrees.
I snort.
He joins me at the kitchen island to help prep dinner, and as we get the skewers ready, he tells me about the football program at Southern and how much he’s enjoying it. Art might be my passion, but like I said, I grew up around sports, so it’s a subject I enjoy. By the time we take everything out to the grill, Michelle and Danny still haven’t come downstairs.
I set the tray of skewers on the table by the deck railing. “You want to draw straws for who goes up to get them?” I ask Nick.