“Why are you stopping?” he asked.
“Why are you watching me?” I shot back.
He lifted both his eyebrows. “Do I seriously need to answer that question?”
The idea of him watching me like I was doing some striptease made me very self-conscious. Wearing a bathing suit in front of him was already stressing me out. I wasn’t about to take off my clothes while he watched me. I had been planning on stripping them off and jumping in before he could study my body too closely.
“I’m going to see you in it anyway. Why can’t I watch you take off the clothing that’s covering it up?”
I blushed, wishing I didn’t have to verbalize my insecurities. Why couldn’t he just be distracted with something else? Especially after I’d seen how very perfect his body was. “Please turn around?” I asked him.
He just grinned, then gave me a nod before turning around. “Fine. I can’t see,” he said. “Although, I let you watch me strip my shirt off.”
I hurried and got my shorts off, then removed my shirt just as quickly. I was almost to the water’s edge when I replied, “If I looked like you, I’d strip off my shirt everywhere.”
He turned around just as I slipped a foot into the water to test it. “If you looked like me, we wouldn’t be here right now,” he drawled. “But seeing as you look like… that, I’m real damn glad we are.”
The way he was looking at me made me feel beautiful. My previous worry slipped away.
At Least You Didn’t Say Tacos CHAPTER 29
ASA
The sun, the lake, and Ezmita in a bikini made all my other worries go away. If we could stay here forever, I would be happy. I didn’t think life got better than this. I glanced over at her and her eyes were closed. I wasn’t sure if she’d fallen asleep or not.
The blanket I had brought was spread out on the grassy area under the shade of the tree, so I didn’t think I needed to worry about her getting a sunburn. The fact that she had rolled onto her stomach and was giving me an excellent view of her ass barely covered up by the bottoms of that bikini made me think she’d fallen asleep.
When we had first gotten out of the water to drink and eat, she’d been more shy about her body. Even when she had been lying down, she had turned on her side and placed her arms in a modest way over her body. We had talked about her parents, the time I had been gone, and all that had happened with her. She didn’t bring up my parents again and let me ask the questions.
I wasn’t sure when we had gone silent because it was so easy with her. I didn’t feel like I had to entertain her. She made me feel like I could relax and be me. I wasn’t sure I had ever just been me on a date. Most girls wanted entertainment.
Ezmita’s skin was smooth and unblemished. She looked perfect in the pink bikini she was wearing. I didn’t know why she had any reason to want to cover herself up. I liked that she did, though. Seeing yet another layer of her personality and who she was made me enjoy being with her even more. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t appreciate the view. Maybe too much. She could possibly control me with that view, but I doubted she’d even do it if she knew she had the power to do it.
Today I’d been determined not to let things get carried away again. The more things we did, the closer we got to having sex, and when I wasn’t in the heat of the moment, I knew it was a bad idea. I was leaving soon and even if I wasn’t, I didn’t need Ezmita getting emotionally attached. That would lead to her being hurt. She was a girlfriend kind of girl and I knew it. Yet here I was still “dating” her like she wasn’t. She could claim all day that she wanted no commitment, but it wasn’t true.
She couldn’t make herself be someone she wasn’t even if she was doing a hell of a job trying to. I was making her try and be something else, and I hated that about me. She didn’t deserve that. She was damn near perfect, and the fact she was here with me was a miracle. I wasn’t sure what it was about me that kept her from shutting me down. Telling me no.
She stretched and I watched her, enjoying the show. Then she turned over toward me and her eyes fluttered open. A slow grin spread across her face. “I’m sorry. I fell asleep,” she said as if she had anything to apologize for. My list of things I should apologize for, however, would take up a whole damn notebook.