Which left him alone with Penny.
“Can I set up next to you?”
She smiled and took the towel off his shoulder. “I’d like that.” She laid it out, and they sat side by side, looking out at the lake like the best of friends without a care in the world. Only he did care…more than he was prepared for.
She lay back, reclining on her forearms, and he sat with his hands tangled together and draped over his bent knees. They were best kept there.
He glanced around. Jenna and Colt were sneaking kisses and easing into the water. Lily was busy with Alex, and the whole town of Diamonds seemed to be having a great time.
He wouldn’t mind stealing a kiss of his own from the pretty redhead with a wicked mouth. But he couldn’t. A fact he hated.
“How are you?” he asked. Small talk wasn’t his style, but he didn’t know what else to say.
She looked at him and smiled. “Better now. Wishing I could touch you.”
That took him by surprise. Then again, she wasn’t shy when it came to what she wanted.
All he could do was smile and be just as honest. “Me too, darlin’.”
“Oh?” She sat up a little. “Where would you like me to touch? If we could, right now, that is.”
“Everywhere,” he answered instantly, like some damn teenager on the brink of getting to second base if he said all the right things.
“Okay then.” She fished for something out of her little bag. “Sit just like you are and keep your eyes forward.”
Just when he was going to ask what she was doing, much less why she was ordering him around, he saw a tub of sunscreen in her hand, and she moved behind him.
“You’re getting a little hot,” she said in his ear f
rom behind him. “I can help with that.”
The cold feeling of sunscreen squirting onto his back almost made him jump. It was pathetic how easily she made him edgy.
But when her hands started spreading the lotion around his shoulders, down his spine, and then back up, he almost groaned at the sensation. Her small thumbs dug into his muscles, kneading as she massaged him.
He stayed just as he was, not touching her, hopefully looking completely unaffected. She was just a friend helping him out with sunscreen.
Yeah right.
“I keep thinking about the other night,” she whispered.
Shit, that hard-on he was trying not to not sport was starting to stir.
“Can’t talk about that, darlin’. Unless you want me tenting my shorts all day.”
She laughed, and the sound made his whole body flush with a sense of enjoyment and pride. Making her laugh was the best thing he’d done all day.
“Well, then. Why don’t we talk about you?”
He glanced over his shoulder with a raised brow. “You know me, not much to talk about.”
“So then tell me something I don’t know. Like some hidden secret, darkest fear, or fun fact you’ve hidden from the rest of your world.”
There were no fun facts he could think of. Mostly because the parts of himself he kept private weren’t fun. They were painful.
“Why do you want to know?”
Her hands stopped for a moment, resting flat on his back. “Because I want to know you more.”