Lovewrecked - Karina Halle Page 0,60
through the open canopy above and lights up the depths. The rocks are slick and black, volcanic, and flowers and ferns grow along the sides of the pool, framing it like a picture. The smell is earthy and green and wet and wonderful.
Tai doesn’t even hesitate. He drops his backpack to the ground and immediately starts to tear off his clothes until he’s completely naked.
I mean all of it, off.
I don’t even have time to react, my eyes glued to his gorgeous round ass, a couple of shades lighter than the rest of his bronzed brown body. It bounces firmly as he runs right into the pool, disappearing into the water.
He dives under, and then pops his head up, shaking his hair from side to side. He’s smiling so wide, it pulls something out from under me, like I’m suddenly unstable, unprepared. For what, I don’t know, but it has something to do with him.
“What are you waiting for?” he yells at me, treading water in the middle of the pool. “Get in here!”
“How do I know what’s in the water?”
“I’ll protect you,” he says with a wicked grin, which tells me he will do no such thing. “Come on. You shy?”
“You know I’m not,” I tell him. “I just don’t want my feet nibbled by mysterious water things.”
“Mysterious water things, huh? Didn’t you want to be a marine biologist?”
“That’s the ocean! Marine!”
I sigh and start undoing my shorts, taking off my tank top. I’m wearing a bikini top and blue underwear that does nothing to cover my generous ass, nor my boobs. This isn’t the time to be insecure though. When I was younger I used to let body images dictate the activities I did. Nowadays, I don’t let that stop me, even though I haven’t been to the gym in weeks.
Especially when Tai is gazing at me in such an intense, almost primal way, like I’m the hottest thing he’s ever seen. It’s hard to feel anything but desired.
God, I hope that’s not all in my head.
I am starting to flush though, just from his gaze, so I quickly get to the edge of the pool to cool off.
“Careful!” he cautions me as I step on the slick rocks.
They’re as slippery as ice.
Before I know it, I’m falling.
I pitch forward, so I fall right into the water.
On my stomach.
SPLAT.
Ow.
I haven’t done a motherfucking belly flop since I was a kid, and with boobs it’s a whole new painful ballgame.
I lift my head, trying to swim, my skin burning.
My face is burning too, from embarrassment. So much for the water cooling me off.
“Are you okay?” Tai asks, though he’s also laughing as he swims over to me. I guess it serves me right.
“I’m fine,” I mumble, trying to find my footing, my toes skirting over the slimy rocks at the bottom. Ick.
“Not the most graceful, are you?” he asks, grinning at me. A lock of hair has flopped on his forehead and I kick forward to reach out and brush it off his face. My fingers tingle as I touch his skin, my breath catching in my chest, not just from treading water, but from how close we are to each other. He briefly dips his chin and mouth into the water, his eyes alternating between flirty and intense.
I don’t mind either look.
“Hey, I’ll have you know that I was able to do yoga on your boat. How many people can say that?”
He spits out a bit of water and grins again, those pretty white teeth against his skin, his eyes crinkling in the corners. “I watched you do yoga. You fell over a lot.”
“The boat was constantly moving!”
“Any excuse,” he says.
I’m about to ask him to do yoga on dry land, just to see if he can do a standing split without falling over, when something BRUSHES AGAINST MY LEG.
“Ahhhh!” I scream, and with rapid-fire kicks I manage to lunge at Tai, wrapping my arms around his neck, my legs going around his waist.
“What is it, what is it?” he asks as I hold on tight, trying to get as much of my body above the water as possible. I’m aware that he’s having to tread water extra hard, now that I’m clinging to him like a bear climbing a tree.
“Something touched my leg!”
“Are you sure it wasn’t your other leg?”
I’m not sure. “It wasn’t my other leg! It was a thing!”
“A mysterious water thing?”
“Shut up,” I growl in his ear, holding him tighter. I have to say,