Pretend We're Over (Pretend 2)

He chuckles. “I guess we’ll find out tonight.”

“But what about our jobs, our mothers’ names, where we grew up? We should know the answers to those questions.”

He nods. “We will. We can talk about all of that on the flight home. But I don’t want this to feel like a first date. First dates suck. I want this to be fun, an adventure. We can learn the important things about each other after we leave. Agreed?”

“You know for a man who claims he isn’t adventurous; you sure got this adventure thing down pretty fast,” I say.

“I’m adventurous when I want to be.”

“Good, because I’ve decided our next activity.”

He looks around in the dark. Only the moonlight and the lights from the hotel in the distance pierce the darkness.

“I assume you mean go back to the hotel to sit in the jacuzzi? I don’t think there is anythin

g else to do at midnight.”

“You are such an old man.” I grab the hem of my tank top and pull it over my head.

He blinks his surprise as I stand in my sports bra. I should have had us wear our swimsuits under our clothes, but I only brought one, and it’s not the most comfortable thing to wear all day.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“What are we doing, you mean.” I shimmy out of my jean shorts until I’m standing in front of him in just my sports bra and thong. Even in the darkness, I can see his eyes heat at the sight of my body. He wasn’t lying when he said he found me attractive.

“Strip,” I say.

I don’t have to tell him twice. He removes his shirt and khaki shorts in record time, not even asking why we are stripping in the middle of a public beach. The darkness makes it hard to see every groove of muscle on his body, but I don’t have to take in every wave of his muscles to know how ripped he is. I already have the memory of his shirtless body to fill in any gaps.

I turn around before I lose my nerve, and then I pull my sports bra off.

“Millie, what are you doing?”

I slip my panties down, and then I’m running into the waves. “Skinny dipping!”

I don’t wait for Sebastian. If I do, I’m going to catch sight of his naked body again. I’m going to see what lies beneath the bulge in his boxers, and this isn’t about that. It’s about doing something crazy and adventurous.

Sebastian seems plenty adventurous to me. We’re married for goodness sakes; if that isn’t fearless, I don’t know what is. But I get the feeling that other than his hookups, he usually isn’t too adventurous. He must have a boring desk job or something.

I hear Sebastian splashing in the waves behind me, and I dive under. Chills immediately set in as soon as my head dunks under the water. It’s springtime in Hawaii at night. There is a reason no one else is in the water—it’s fricking cold.

My head rises out of the water and comes face to face with a soaking and very naked Sebastian.

“You’re crazy! This water is so cold,” he says.

“You said you were up for anything. I wanted to see how far I could push you. Ever skinny-dipped before?”

He shakes his head. His eyes go to my bare shoulders and chest that bob up and down with the waves, threatening to reveal more of my body to him.

I shiver. We need to head back before we freeze to death and ruin our vacation on the first day.

“Come here,” he says. His voice is calm and trusting. He holds out his arms and waits.

I move closer, suspecting it’s a trap. When his arms go around me, I realize he’s just being a gentleman. He’s warming my body against his—it’s sweet.

“We should head back before my cock falls off from hypothermia.”

I laugh, and we start swimming back. We get close to where the water will no longer hide my nakedness from him.