Our bodies are pressed tightly to one another, but her closeness isn’t enough. The protector in me aches to build a steel wall around her to protect her. Slay anyone who ever dares steal that sparkle out of her doe eyes. I’m fixated on her damn lips, full and wet from the water. My heartbeat picks up, and I wonder if she can sense the change in me. My muscles press against her as I pull her closer. The way her lips part, she senses the hardness growing in my swim trunks. Fuck, I want to kiss her right now. Her hooded gaze tells me she wants to kiss me too. This is wrong. I need to rip myself away from her and do the right thing. But there’s a pain in my chest at the thought of denying myself this moment. Her wet, full lips against mine. Fuck, I can’t stop it. I’ll deal with the consequences later. But I need her mouth.
I lean forward, gauging her reaction, watching for any hesitation on her part. Her eyes become heavy with lust, her cheeks flushed, breaths coming faster. Her eyes meet mine, lids half-mast, and the way she looks at me…
I move to press my lips against hers, to take what I crave, when Kipley’s voice echoes across the lake.
“Hannah! Where are you at!”
My heart shoots out of my chest, and my stomach drops to my ass in panic. Before I can think better of it, I dunk Hannah into the water.
“Hannah...? Oh, Levi, s’up man? Hannah with you?”
Yeah, she’s under the water, probably floating right next to my hard-on.
“She was here somewhere, you know her, all over the place.” I try to hide my shock when Hannah pops up almost at the other end of the lake. Jesus, how does she do that? She lifts her head, waves to Kip, and begins her swim back to shore.
“Hey, how was kayaking?” she asks, climbing up the deck ladder.
“Fun, minus all of Rebecca’s whining.” Kip turns to me. “You really screwed us by pulling out. She complained the whole time about wanting to come back. Unless that’s what you wanted?” Kip wiggles his eyebrows, and it instantly pisses me off.
“Trust me, not my plan, man.” I swim up to the dock and climb up. Hannah wraps herself in her towel, refusing to make eye contact with me.
“Speak of the devil. Beware, she’s on the prowl.”
We all turn to see Stacey and Rebecca walking down the hill.
“There you are! I went to your tent to see how you were feeling but you weren’t there.” Rebecca comes right up to me, not bothering to read my body language that says don’t you dare fucking do it, and places her hand on my chest. “I was so worried about you.” She talks to me in a tart baby voice, and I want to throw her in the lake. Out of the corner of my eye, Hannah grabs her things, cramming her towel in her backpack. I want to tell Hannah she has the wrong idea—really wrong idea—but there’s no way to do that without Kip hearing me and throwing my dead body in the lake after he kills me.
“I’m fine. You don’t have to worry. I was just hanging out with Hannah.” I try to include her, hoping to show her I’m happy to have spent the day with her. Rebecca does not take lightly to the new information.
She aims her bitchiness at Hannah. “Wow, Hannah. What are you wearing?” She cynically laughs. “Is that a sports bra? Girl, it’s a new age. You can wear a bathing suit nowadays,” she jokes.
Hannah frowns, peering down at her suit. “This is a bathing suit. What’s wrong with it?”
Rebecca lifts her arms, tossing off her cover up. “See, girl? This is a bathing suit. I guess if you don’t have anything to flaunt, you wear something like that. Little Hannah Matthews, still the little tomboy,” she taunts, pointing to her chest.
“Rebecca,” Stacey warns.
I keep my eyes on Hannah, watching the sparkle slowly fade from her eyes.
“What?” Rebecca grins, looking at me. “Don’t you agree, Levi? You would much rather look at something like this, wouldn’t you?” She steps closer, lifting her hair over her chest to expose her too obvious fake tits. Anger sears through me at her cruelty. I search out Hannah, her eyes flickering with fury and unshed tears. Withdrawing, she bends down, snatching up her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. Without another word, she pushes past me and Kip, thrusting her shoulder hard into mine, and storms away.
“Hannah! Where are you going? She’s just joking.” Kip tries to grab for her, but she throws his arm off her shoulder and treks quickly up the hill. “Hannah! Come on.” He makes one last attempt, but lets her go.