The Confession

“All right, let’s get these lessons started,” she murmured, sending Zach a text.

Three minutes later, as she sat unloading the things from her bag, he strolled from beneath a stucco archway. Heavenly couldn’t help but grin. With a clinging white tank perched on top of his bulging shoulders, muted blue swim trunks, black flip-flops, and aviators, he almost looked as if he’d been born and raised in LA.

Once he’d eaten up the distance between them, Heavenly stood and wrapped her arms around him awkwardly. Zach still tensed each time she hugged him, but that didn’t deter her. The man needed some form of affection besides the brotherly slaps on the shoulder Beck gave him. She didn’t want Zach climbing so far inside himself that he couldn’t find his way back out.

“Ready to learn how to swim?” she asked encouragingly.

Sliding the sunglasses to the end of his nose, Zach eyed the water warily. “I don’t know. I understand people swim for fun, but I’ve heard of those who have drowned in mere inches of water.”

“I promise, you won’t drown today. I won’t let you. Okay?”

“Okay,” he replied doubtfully.

“First, we need to put on sunscreen.”

“That’s not necessary,” he pushed back. “I’ve worked outside in the desert my whole life without it.”

He probably had if the bronzed bulges of his arms were any indication. “Maybe so, but water increases the reflection of the sun. You don’t want to get a horrible sunburn. Trust me. Besides, I need it. Otherwise, I’ll be burnt to a crisp in five minutes.”

As Heavenly applied the sunscreen to her arms, chest, and stomach, Zach did the same, staring at the water suspiciously.

“Think of the pool as a giant bathtub,” she offered, hoping to alleviate his angst while working the lotion onto her legs. “The only difference is that the water is cooler. It’s refreshing.”

Zach’s grunt said he wasn’t entirely convinced.

Heavenly was beginning to wonder if she’d even be able to convince him to stick his big toe in before Seth picked her up again.

“Would you mind putting some on my back?” she asked, holding out the bottle of sunscreen to him.

“I-I’m sorry.” Zach shook his head adamantly. “I can’t touch you. It would be disrespectful and wrong. You belong to my brother.”

She hadn’t realized he’d see it that way, but she should have. “He won’t consider you helping me with sunscreen an inappropriate touch, but he’ll definitely be mad if I go home with a sunburn. And I’ll have to pay for that sin.”

Zach blanched. “He beats you?”

Only when I beg him to.

But she bit back the confession. There was no sense confusing the poor man even more.

“Absolutely not! I meant he wouldn’t be pleased that I didn’t protect my skin.” Heavenly glanced around the pool area and spotted a middle-aged lady sitting beneath a big umbrella, reading a book. “I’ll go ask that woman if she’ll do it.”

“Do you know her?”

“No, but if you can’t—”

“I will do it to placate my brother.”

“Thank you.” Heavenly presented her back to Zach.

She heard him swallow. And when he settled his rough, calloused hands on her back, his touch was tentative. To ensure she didn’t spook him, she held perfectly still while he applied the lotion. When he was done, she thanked him politely.

“Go ahead and take off your T-shirt. I’ll apply some sunscreen to your back, then we’ll get in the water.”

“I’d rather leave it on in the company of strangers.” He skimmed a glance over the woman reading and a thirty-something man catching rays on the other side of the pool.

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.” Which was probably sitting inside Seth’s apartment, watching TV. “Zach, we don’t have to do this if you’ve changed your mind.”

“You said this is an important skill, and I promised I would let you teach me. Promises cannot be broken.”