my hands. But it still gives me an unadulterated kind of joy when she tips her head back and lets out a breathy little moan.
We hang out for a little bit, Finn and Kalindi talking, Pippa and I mostly just enjoying touching each other innocently. There is a moment when Pippa puts her hand on my knee. I can't help but get excited whenever she so much as touches me like that. She gives me a naughty smile as she caresses my inner thigh, teasing me a little.
That's when I start to get hard under the water. At the same time, Kalindi and Finn are getting a little too hot to stay in the spring anymore. Finn turns to me, standing up. “We're gonna go ahead and go inside and get changed for the next little while. I think that this place offers food so we are going to try to grab a little smorgasbord to bring outside. Okay?"
“Ja. Thanks. I think we will say outside for a little while longer.” My eyes slide to Pippa. I cock a brow. “Right?”
Her face is already quite flushed from the heat of the pool but she turns even redder under my gaze. She nods. “That sounds great.”
Kalindi seems to struggle to get out of the other end of the pool. Finn splashes over and jumps out, pulling her out of the water with both hands. For second, my gazes riveted on Kalindi's body.
For being such a slight person, she has a huge ass. And her jiggly breasts are just incredible. Even buried in the rather modest black bikini she is wearing, she's definitely worth looking at.
Apparently I stare a second too long because Pippa smacks me on the arm, sounding a little angry when she calls my name. “Lars! Seriously?”
I look over at her and she is wearing a look of anger and disappointment, her curly red hair slicked back and her cheeks rosy. “You don't have anything to say for yourself?”
Not really knowing what else to do, I get defensive without really thinking about it. “What, I can't look at another girl?”
Pippa levels me with a glare. “Not like that you can't. You're just lucky that she wasn’t looking. If she had been, she probably would have been horrified. At the very least, it’s embarrassing. To her, but also to you.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “I'll be the judge of what I find embarrassing, okay?"
Pippa smacks me on the arm again. “I want you to apologize.”
“To whom? You just said that Kalindi didn't see me.”
She makes an aggravated sound. “To me, you… you caveman. As if I didn't already have enough to worry about.”
I give her a puzzled look. “What? What do you mean?”
She pushes a hand through her damp red curls. “Lars, I live in a world where I worry all the time about whether or not you will still find me attractive if I gain a pound or get a little older. I worry about that all the time. And for you to stare at Kalindi like that, so openly, just… It undermines all the work that I've done to reassure myself. I tell myself that I am being crazy worrying about these things, but this doesn’t help me feel that it’s true.
My mouth opens, but no words come out. Usually I don't hear Pippa say things like this out loud and to hear them now, said in anger, is just a little shocking.
Before I can say anything or disagree, she pushes away from me, making a disgusted sound. She starts to climb out of the pool. But I'm not about to just let her run away from me after lobbing a grenade like that.
“Oh no you don't,” I say, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her back into the water. “We need to talk about this.”
She spins in my arms, looking up at me with anxious eyes. “Maybe I was a little too honest there,” she says very softly.
I pull her against me gently, wrapping one arm around her lower back. She looks so lovely right now, so open and honest, so alluring. I touch her bottom lip, cup her jaw, slide my fingers into the mass of her hair.
“I don't want you to think that I am some shallow young princeling,” I utter, scanning her face. “If it wasn't already obvious, I like you for a lot more than your looks.”
Her eyebrows go up just a little. “Really? You're not just…” She swallows. “You’re not