Perfect Chaos
“I wasn’t actually planning on doing much swimming.”
“Then what’s the point?”
The point? Lainey naked, wet, and wrapped around me, that’s the point. And she’s missing it completely. Perhaps I haven’t made myself clear enough. I move in, pushing my front close to hers, but I’m left frowning when she pulls back. “I was thinking how nice it—”
“I’m scared of water,” she blurts, turning away and hurrying through to my kitchen. I’m left in the middle of my lounge with my mouth hanging open, stunned. And feeling fucking awful. She’s scared of water?
I hit my forehead with the flat of my palm, clenching my eyes shut. “You idiot, Ty.” I go after her, feeling like a million tons of crap, and find her in the kitchen going through her bag. I don’t know what she’s looking for in there, and I’m guessing she doesn’t either. “Lainey.”
She ignores me and continues to rummage, so I approach, cautiously watching her getting more and more agitated as I close the gap between us. Then she slams her bag down and sighs deeply. “Shit.”
Once again, I move on instinct, reaching for her bag and pushing it away. “I’m sorry,” I whisper sincerely, taking her shoulders and turning her to me. Her eyes fix on my chest, her face blank. “I would never have suggested or pushed it had I known.” Taking her jaw lightly, I lift her face. “Lainey, look at me.”
Her eyes are watery, though she’s furiously battling to hold back the tears. The more I get to know this woman, the more vulnerability I’m discovering. It’s making her more real. More fascinating. It’s making me want her even more, and I want her pretty badly already. She’s fragile, needs handling with care, and the thought of handling a woman with care and consideration has never entered my brain. Now, though, with Lainey, it’s coming so naturally. I want to make her feel better. I care about her feelings.
Her eyes sink into mine, and I see the pleading in them. She wants me to help her, too. “I’m sorry,” I repeat softly.
She shakes her head mildly in my hold. “You weren’t to know.”
“You want to talk about it?”
Her lips curve, only the tiniest bit, but I catch it. “You like talking, don’t you, Ty Christianson?”
“I crave your words, yes,” I admit unashamedly, making that tiny curve of her lips stretch a bit more. “This amuses you?”
She shrugs, glancing away. “Of all the things I’ve heard about Ty Christianson, him being the compassionate, chatty type wasn’t one.”
“Not with most women, no.” For the first time in my adult life, what a woman has heard about me is bothering me. Because the woman who has heard about me is a woman who I really, really like. “And I told you not to listen to rumors.”
“But they weren’t rumors, were they?” She raises challenging eyebrows, and I suddenly realize what she’s doing. She’s smart, diverting the conversation away from herself. She nearly got away with it.
“I asked if you wanted to talk about it.”
“The rumors?”
“Lainey,” I sigh. “Stop bloody fighting me at every turn.” Leveling serious eyes on her, I raise my own eyebrows. “What happened?”
“I can’t swim,” she offers easily, but she doesn’t seem to find looking at me easy, choosing to drop her gaze again.
I can’t deny her the need to hide. But what’s bothering me is that she’s embarrassed. “Okay,” I say easily. “We’ll do something else.”
“I went in the water after being badgered by—”
“I said it’s okay.”
She doesn’t listen, going on to explain. “He said we’d stay near the shore and he’d hold on to me, but he didn’t.”
“He?”
“My ex-husband.”
Blood, meet heat. My nostrils flare dangerously, though Lainey misses it completely, going on.
“He left me to go snorkeling. The current got stronger and I panicked. He thought I was joking when I flailed around trying to keep my head above water. I wasn’t. He left me. Just left me, and I was pulled out of the sea by a guy who was jet-skiing.” She finally comes to a stop and scowls to herself. “He knew I didn’t like the water. I told him so.”
I don’t even know what to do with that, except, maybe, ask who her arsehole ex is so I can hunt the fucker down and drown him. And I’ll make sure there’s no one around to save the lowlife, either. My teeth grate and I try to breathe some calm into myself before I say something stupid. Like ask her more about her ex. He hurt her, and this is just adding to the list of shit I’ve got to hold against him. “Was this before you got married?”
She nods.
“Why would you marry someone who was so careless with your life?”
“Do you think I’m pathetic?”
“No.” I shake my head, frowning as I glance away. “Ouch,” I yell when Lainey smacks my shoulder. “What was that for?”