She giggles when I surface. “Race you to the dock!” she shouts, and then she’s swimming.
She has a fifty-yard lead, but I swam in high school and college. Catching her is no problem. When I pull even with her, I shorten my strokes so I can stay near her all the way to the dock. I slow just before we reach it, letting her pull herself onto the dock before me.
She stands in the middle of the dock with her arms wide in the air over her head. “I beat you.”
I take my time climbing the ladder and then make a big show of collapsing onto the dock, pressing my hand against my chest to exaggerate my exertion.
Looking down at me, she frowns. “Did you just let me win?”
I lift a hand, shielding my eyes from the blinding sun only to be struck dumb by the sight of her. Her long, dark hair hangs in wet waves around her shoulders. Her white bra is wet and her nipples poke through. I can’t take my eyes off those perfect peaked buds. Water drips down her body, calling me to follow its path from between her breasts, over the softness of her belly and her navel. My gaze dips lower, stalling at the white cotton panties that cling to her hips, translucent from the water.
“You let me win on purpose?” she asks, dropping to her knees to scowl at me. “Do you have no pride?”
“Maybe I was suffering ill effects of hypothermia. You’re crazy swimming in that.”
“That water wasn’t half as cold as your shower this morning.” She huffs. “I could have beaten you for real.”
I laugh. “Oh, really?”
“Yes! I demand a rematch. Back to the rock.”
She starts to stand, but something catches my eye on the opposite shore, and I grab Ellie’s hand before she can get up. “Wait.”
“What?”
I put my finger to my lips and nod toward the beach by the house, where a man and a woman stand. While I can’t identify him for sure from here, I’d bet money the man is Brayden. I literally don’t know anyone else who’d wear a suit to the cabin. And the blonde with him—
“Is that Molly?” Ellie asks.
“I think so.”
Brayden cups Molly’s face in his hands and shakes his head as he looks down at her. Then he backs away. I can’t tell, but judging by their body language, it looks like they’re . . . breaking up?
Ellie squeezes my arm. “Are they involved?”
“They hooked up once, but I don’t think anything came of it.” Brayden’s not exactly an open book, so how the hell would I know?
“Does he know about her and Colton? The kid?”
“Yeah. He knows about Noah.” I tilt my face toward the sky and close my eyes.
Lying down beside me, Ellie finds my hand and squeezes it. “Thank you for bringing me out here.”
I roll my head to the side and squint away from the sun so I can look at her. “You said that already.”
“I mean it.” She laughs. “Though if I’d known where we were coming, I’d have brought a bathing suit.”
I dip my gaze down to her breasts in her wet cotton bra. “What fun would that have been?”
She sits up a little, looking back toward the shore. “They left. I don’t think they saw us, so you don’t have to worry about them knowing . . . you’re here with me.”
I frown. “Why do you think I’d worry about that?”
“Isn’t that why you didn’t want them to see me?” She lifts a shoulder. “And why we’re here and not at whatever pre-wedding family gathering the Jacksons have going on today?”
Well, shit. “They looked like they were having an important conversation, and I didn’t want to disrupt them. Ellie . . .” I wait until she meets my eyes. “I didn’t bring you out here to hide you. I brought you out here to cheer you up and get you away from everything.”
“Okay.”