Danilo caught my gaze over the flames and gave me a small smile.
My heart sped up, but I simply returned his smile. He looked relaxed, lounging in the teak chair in jeans and a tight t-shirt, beer bottle in hand, dark hair tousled. I hadn’t taken Danilo for the beer-drinking kind of guy. He seemed too sophisticated, like a red wine or expensive whiskey kind of man. He looked approachable, not like the unattainable knight-in-shining-armor, the powerful Underboss. Maybe this trip was my chance to get to know the real Danilo. Our last encounter had been bumpy, but I was willing to put it in the past and move on.“I want to take a dip,” Leonas said eventually.
My eyes had been drooping by then, but the prospect of seeing Danilo without a shirt for the first time had me wide awake in a heartbeat.
“Sounds good. Maybe a creature of the lake will devour you,” Samuel joked.
“We could go skinny-dipping,” Anna suggested.
I looked at her in disbelief, but she was giving Santino that challenging smile she’d adopted around him.
He downed his beer. “Clothes stay on, and you two won’t behave like bickering toddlers.”
“I’m not a kid, Sonny,” Anna muttered.
His eyes flashed. I wasn’t sure why Anna loved to piss him off by using that stupid nickname, or pretty much anything else she did. It had become her favorite pastime.
Leonas got up from his chair and pulled off his shirt, then shimmied out of his pants without shame, leaving him in dark boxer shorts. “I’m going. You keep on chit-chatting.”
He ran down the path to the lower deck and catapulted himself into the black water with an ass-bomb.
Samuel sighed, but he also began to strip down to his boxer shorts before he followed Leonas into the water with a more elegant dive.
I stood, eyeing Danilo. He seemed torn on whether he should join the night swim. His eyes slanted to Emma, who was huddled in her cardigan. “I’m off to bed,” she said with a yawn. “You go ahead and take a dip. I’ll get ready to sleep.” She began wheeling toward the patio.
Anna stripped beside me, clearly giving Santino a show. He leaned back in his chair with a mildly pissed expression. I still had my bathing suit on beneath my summer dress, but Anna didn’t. She dashed toward the lake in black underwear and dived in.
“I’ll ask for a fucking pay raise once I’m back in Chicago,” Santino growled as he got up and began to undress.
I couldn’t help but giggle.
Danilo sent me a hard look I didn’t understand, as if me laughing at Santino’s joke was inappropriate. But I was momentarily distracted from this when he pulled off his shirt and slacks, leaving him in boxers. I couldn’t stop myself from admiring his six pack and muscular chest, his strong arms and the fascinating trail of dark hair disappearing in his shorts. Santino strolled down to the lower deck, leaving me alone with Danilo.
I realized I was still in my summer dress.
“Aren’t you going to take a swim?” Danilo asked. Was he waiting for me?
I quickly dragged my dress over my head, then wondered if I should cross my arms over my chest because my nipples puckered in the cold, but that would have looked awkward, and maybe Danilo couldn’t even see that much in the dark. The fire didn’t give off that much light.
Dropping the dress on my chair, I gave Danilo a smile. “Ready to go.”
He nodded, but then his eyes briefly darted to my chest and I knew the dark wasn’t hiding enough. Luckily, it hid my blushing. Danilo and I headed down to the lower deck to the sound of splashing and shrieking from the lake at a slow pace. Anna and Leonas seemed to be involved in a water war.
Danilo got into the water first then drifted close to the deck, watching me. “Do you need help getting in?” he asked when I hesitated on the upper step of the ladder.
I shook my head. “No, it just makes me nervous that I can’t see what’s below the surface.” I moved down the ladder and sucked in a sharp breath when my toes touched the water. It was much colder than before.
“Jump. Drawing it out will only make it worse,” Samuel commented as he swam closer as well.
“Okay,” I said hesitantly. I checked that the coast was clear before I hopped into the water. My body seized up for a moment, paralyzed by the cold before my head burst through the surface. I gasped for breath.
“Are you okay?” Danilo asked.
“I’m fine,” I managed. Samuel was close behind Danilo, as if he thought I needed more than one savior. Of course, Leonas had other things in mind and thrust water into Samuel’s face. Samuel whirled around and tried to catch Leonas.