“I’m very busy,” he replied, tone unreadable.
“Doing what?”
“Being busy.”
“Uh-huh.” I turned my attention to Leo. “And why are you so far away? Yesterday you were chasing me.”
“Yesterday you had on a few more layers,” Leo replied, his grin faint.
“Such propriety.”
“Believe me, sweetness,” he replied dryly. “I’m not a prude.”
“Prove it.”
But Leo didn’t move, though he looked almost pained, his throat bobbing as he glanced elsewhere.
“Technically, I’m still wearing more than either of you, so I think you’d feel more comfortable being around me if you were naked,” I said just then, running my hands through my hair, slicking it back from my face.
“Is that right?”
“Unless you’re too scared…”
Leo only stared at me as I dived back under, hiding from their reaction, shocked by my boldness. But I was tipsy and giddy and having the time of my life. I was getting drunk in the mountains in a cabin with two of my best friends (who happened to beverygrown men).
I was the luckiest chick alive. To be cared about so deeply, to have our friendship/relationship/whatever it was, treasured so intensely. These were the best days of my life playing out before me.
And so what if there was heat that was only growing hotter?
So what if the nights held a dangerous edge to them when all we had for entertainment was each other?
So many years we had eased the heated strain by distracting ourselves, but here, in the now, in the middle of paradise, we were stripped of those distractions and forced to bear witness to the result of years of repressed tension suddenly unfurling before our eyes.
I felt a hand on mine, and I whipped my eyes open, a sea of black hair swaying from my peripheral. I surfaced from the water, smiling as Hunter followed.
“Where did you come from?” I hollered, splashing him. “Scared me!”
He ran his hand through his hair, clearing it from his face. “I wasn’t trying to be a sneaky fuck.”
I slammed my finger against his mouth. “Potty mouth.”
He immediately bit my finger playfully and I pulled it back, laughing.
Wet lines of water ran down his face as he smiled broadly at me, and it was so beautiful, so charming. It made my chest ache with indescribable emotion. To see Hunter happy to his bones—to know I was putting that smile on his face. Drawn in by that joy, I edged near to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, looking up at him.
“I like when you’re happy,” I admitted, quietly.
“I only ever feel it with you,” he whispered, voice thick. His eyes looked away from mine, settling between us. A wave of emotion flickered through his face, something painful and sad.
“What is it?” I asked him, tentatively.
But he wouldn’t say. He simply shook his head slightly as his hands came around my waist. He pressed them there, unmoving, but his thumbs ran in circles. My skin broke out in goosebumps, the heat I was now feeling having nothing to do with the sun.
I glanced around me suddenly, searching for Leo.
“He went in for a drink,” Hunter told me, causing me to look at him. He stared back, his eyes heavy, but not from the alcohol.
We gazed at one another for a long moment. My breath stayed held in my lungs as his turned to quiet pants. His hold suddenly tightened; his head dropped to mine. His eyes scorched me, ripped apart any words I could have spoken in that moment to ease the tension.