Chris laughed. “I hope not – that would be a serious buzz killer.”
And the icing on top of a long day, I thought.
My stomach twisted with excitement as we reached the railing that linked the way down toward roughened concrete steps, part of the sweeping barricade that surrounded the pool. On top, the whole perimeter of the concrete fortress was divided with steel poles with a single chain linking them together – not much of a barrier between the seeming protection of the man-made water hole and the entire ocean beyond.
Unlike me, Chris didn’t seem nervous at all. As he walked along the wide edge of the pool he seemed comfortable, right at home. For some unknown reason I followed him exactly, stepping in his footsteps as if we were walking in a minefield. Why on earth wasn’t this place swarming with tourists? The air was still thick and warm and the full moon rose in the sky, adding to the minimal, eerie light the two lonely lamps cast over half the pool. No amount of lighting or lack thereof would make it less uninviting, though. Unlike the ocean, it was free of seaweed and creatures of the deep … or was it? What if a shark had catapulted on a wave over the ledge? Or an octopus had wanted a sea change (so to speak)? I’d watched the Discovery channel; I had seen it happen.
I chewed on my lip thoughtfully, ready to plant myself on a concrete step and sit this adventure out.
Chris sighed. “The tide cuts off the main access from the beach, see?” He pointed toward a rocky, harsh landscape. “That’s why no one’s here. Plus there’s a bigger pool over in Breckon Beach. That one’s patrolled and popular with late night swimmers. This place would have been the go back in the ’80s maybe; now it’s mainly used by athletes who want to do laps without having to worry about hairy-backed men in Speedos and screaming kids.”
“But we’re here; I mean, we made the effort to come here, so why don’t others?”
Chris ran his fingers along the chain-linked pole with a casual shrug. “Maybe they do. Maybe late night lovers come skinny dipping here at midnight … Who knows?” He stepped toward me, his hand skimming over the chain.
“You mean there might be an Onslow Boys equivalent on their way here right now? The Breckon Beach Boys?” I said, looking back to where we had walked from.
“Christ, I hope not,” Chris laughed. “I’m kind of enjoying the serenity.”
Yeah, the serenity littered with my thousand paranoia-infused questions. Lighten the hell up, Tammy!
I turned back around and flinched. Chris was standing close, really close, leaning on the railing with amusement.
“Guess we better not muck around then.” Even in the night-time shadows I could tell that amusement lined his face; I could tell simply by the way the words had fallen off his tongue. They were tauntingly suggestive. If he thought it was funny to make me squirm under his penetrating stare, well, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
I lifted my chin. “Keep dreaming, Henderson. I’m not skinny dipping,” I said proudly. “I don’t care how secluded this place is.”
The light of the moon illuminated the brilliant flash of Chris’s toothy smile. “More’s the pity,” he said. “To be honest, I’ll be amazed if you even get in.” He walked right up to the edge of the pool.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I said quickly.
Chris stretched his arms to the sky. “You just don’t strike me as a girl who gets out of her comfort zone much.”
Comfort zone?
My entire summer had been spent out of my comfort zone. This whole trip had been massively out of my comfort zone. But I had done it. Against all my better instincts, here I was. I had even been prepared to potentially do something last night with Chris that was completely out of character. I had wanted him to kiss me – everything in my body language had screamed as much at him. He would have to have been blind not to have understood that much last night, but he had known. Of course he had. Why else would he have spun around so fast other than to avoid me?
I felt not so much the burning of humiliation rising in me, but more the burning of anger.
He didn’t know anything about me. So what if I didn’t want to go skinny dipping? Just because I had some safety-related questions over the creepy, poorly lit, abandoned pool, I was a girl who never pushed the boundaries? That never went against the grain?
Fuck you, Chris Henderson.
My brows narrowed and all of a sudden I hoped that I was illuminated well enough that he’d see just how angry his statement had made me.
I pushed past Chris, my feet slapping angrily against the cool, wet concrete as I glanced out toward the massive pool.
“You don’t have to, you know,” Chris said, looking uncomfortable. “I just thought that it was kind of a cool place to bring you after a long trip.”
Oh, now he was trying to be nice and supportive?
Underneath the glow of the pool light, I stood close enough to count all the different shades of brown in his eyes, eyes that ticked across my face as if trying to solve the mysteries of the universe through me. Then they lit up, as if at that very moment he had realised what my determined, serious gaze meant.
“Tammy, wait …”
It was too late. In an act of defiance, as he reached out toward me, without a second thought I dived into the water.
Chapter Forty-Three
Until I hit the water.
Not only was the pool filled with salty ocean water, I wasn’t entirely convinced that the water hadn’t made a direct line from an Antarctic iceberg itself. The ice-cold water sliced against my skin.
I broke through the surface, gasping with the shock of it. The freezing assault on my body that had not long ago been clammy and warm from the trek through the dunes now stung in bitter pain. But my next gasp had nothing to do with the paralysing sensation of the water.
I was met with a far bigger problem.
Oh my God! Where was my bikini top?
My feet found purchase on the bottom of the pool, allowing me the balance to be able to cover my breasts with one arm while clawing frantically through the impossibly dark water with the other. At least, I hoped it was impossibly dark.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit …
“Looking for something?”
My eyes locked onto him, still standing on the pool ledge, the perfect viewpoint. My brows narrowed. Chris held up a scrap of material. Corded, turquoise strings with two triangles that dangled from his hand, dancing in the summer breeze.
This couldn’t be happening.
“I feel like I’m living in a Carry On movie,” Chris joked before clearing his throat and forcing himself to be serious. “Look, I was just trying to stop you from diving in, but, um, I kind of only stopped part of you.” He swung the bikini top around his finger, averting his eyes from me.
I had never been so glad of dodgy lighting.
Chris braced himself for some kind of homicidal rant about my top, but, truth be told, as my body slowly acclimated to the freezing water, it felt good floating, my weight suspended and soothed from the stiffness, aches and pains of the day’s travel. As the water cradled me, carried me, it swept all my cares away with it.
“What are you standing there for?” I called. “You look like a coat hanger, get in already.”
Chris’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
“What’s wrong? Cold water out of your comfort zone?” I jabbed.
Chris took a deep, chest-expanding breath. I couldn’t tell if it was to psych himself up or if he was praying for patience.
“Well, here,” he held up my top. “You want me to chuck you this?”
Maybe it was the calming sway of the water that lapped at my skin, or the protection of shadows, the feeling of the open air and summer breeze that rippled across the water’s surface. Maybe plunging into the murky depths of the unknown had made me reborn?
I didn’t know, but what I did know was that I felt free, and I liked it. I liked it a lot.
“Keep it!” I ye
lled, working quickly to edge my bikini bottoms down. I slid them from my legs and scrunched them into a ball. “Here,” I called, and I threw them toward Chris. He caught them in shock and held them up, his brow curving.
I just smiled and removed my arm from my chest, unaware if he could even see me. But I didn’t care. I kicked myself away from the ledge, deeper into the shadows.
Chris had moved closer to the lamp light; for a moment I thought he was walking away, again reaching the edge and backing off, backing away from me.
Panic spiked inside me. What had I done? Maybe I’d misread it; maybe he didn’t want to get into the water with me, after all. Had what I had done in a bold, wild moment repelled him so much that he didn’t want to swim at all now?
In the depths of the shadows I watched him warily, watching intently as he made his way toward the railing and worked on tying the strings of my bikini together and looping my bottoms onto the steel pole as if for safekeeping. Under the light, I caught the bemused smile and the slight shake of his head that I’m sure I wasn’t meant to see. He moved toward the edge of the pool and his eyes landed on me. I hunched my shoulders under the water. Even under the protective cover of darkness Chris’s eyes locked onto mine easily enough. So easily, and so readily, his smouldering, dark eyes burned directly into my soul.
I didn’t feel protected by the shadows anymore – if anything, I felt like I was under a giant spotlight.
All my bold confidence gushed out of me, poured into a locked box I couldn’t begin to unlock again. I felt nervous. I was so exposed.
Chris’s mouth broke into a wolfish grin. “So much for not skinny dipping,” he said, popping the top button of his black footy shorts.
My breath hitched as he unzipped the fly, causing the shorts to loosen a little. I quickly looked away. I was completely out of my depth.
Chris didn’t dive; instead I heard the padded steps of his feet followed by an almighty splash. Water sprayed over my head and back.
His head broke the surface, gasping in a breath of horror.
“Holy shit, it’s fucking freezing!” He flailed around much like I had as the shockwaves ripped through him.
I laughed, completely unsympathetic to his suffering.
“It’s beautiful,” I said with a sigh.
“Please tell me it gets better?” he asked, his voice filled with tremors.
“It does,” I said. “Put your shoulders under. It’s worse if you don’t.”
Chris lowered his broad, bare shoulders and my stomach twisted with regret at having given him such advice. Still, his beautiful face was visible, looking at me like he was going to say something but hadn’t made up his mind whether to release the words.
I wanted to hear them. “What?” I asked.
Chris shook his head, fighting against the smile that tried to break through his lips.
“Nothing.”
“You were going to say something.”
“Was I?” he asked with interest.
“Yeah, I could tell. What were you going to say?”
Chris dipped his head under the water for a second and smoothed his hair back off his face; he looked like he was modelling for Dolce & Gabbana, he was so breathtaking by moonlight. Although we were in a large, almost Olympic-sized pool, and we were metres apart, I couldn’t help but be acutely aware of how completely naked we were in it. My heart raced with nerves as Chris swam toward me and latched onto the concrete edge in the shadows.
I swallowed, trying not to seem uncomfortable by his sudden nearness, by the fact that he was so close I could feel his breath near my shoulder.
Alarmingly, it wasn’t embarrassment, or wanting to edge away that made me feel uncomfortable. I wasn’t either of those things. It was a whole other sensation that spiked in the pit of my stomach that made me breathe quickly and have trouble keeping my thoughts focused and gazing above the waterline.
It was the same way I had felt last night when Chris had helped me undress in the dark van.
I inwardly scoffed. Yeah, and that turned out so well. Christ, Tammy, get a grip of your hormones, you sex-starved maniac.
Starved? Yeah, that was kind of an understatement; it had been a while, a long while actually. And now there was a naked Onslow Boy next to me. No wonder I felt a little unsettled! Okay, really unsettled.
I tried to keep cool, to look calm and casual, just like he appeared to be. Obviously my naked presence didn’t have the same effect on him. That knowledge would help me stop from doing anything foolish like I had last night.
“So? You were going to say?” I tried to keep the conversation flowing, distract myself from his nearness. His nakedness.
Serves me right – I got into this, now I had to suffer the consequences.
Chris stood up on the pool floor, exposing his broad shoulders as the water lapped below his ribcage. I remained hovering with my shoulders under the water; I didn’t have the luxury of standing.
Chris rubbed his jaw line, laughing.
“What?”
“I wasn’t going to say it,” he said.
“Say what? What were you thinking?” I pressed.
Chris lowered his shoulders in the water again, never moving his gaze from me as the humour in his eyes disappeared.
“I was thinking, alone in the dark with a naked, beautiful girl. This is soooo much better than Portland.” He grinned.
A shiver ran down my spine and I knew it had nothing to do with the chill of the water. My heart slammed against the wall of my chest and my stomach twisted with the sheer thrill of Chris’s confession.
Beautiful girl. Did he really think I was beautiful?
He was grinning like a fool, so maybe he was just joking.
“Are you sorry you left the others?” I asked, then inwardly slapped myself. Why had I just asked that? Some things I really didn’t want to know the answer to, and I had the feeling that was one of them.
Chris’s brows knitted together in deep thought, but he still didn’t break eye contact, studying me. There was no smile, no cheeky glint of humour. It had all melted away, replaced by the stony exterior of the Chris of old. I literally braced my bare back against the concrete wall, the rough edges digging into my skin.
“Seriously, you want to know?” he asked.
After a second, I nodded involuntarily. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want him to say, ‘We should have stayed in Portland,’ or ‘I wish the others were here right now, it would be so much more fun,’ or ‘Are you kidding? Of course I wish we were with the others - being stuck here with you is a nightmare.’
I was snapped out of my thoughts as Chris glided through the water, and edged closer to me and my naked body. He stopped so close I dared not even move. If I did, I would brush against his bare skin and might not be able to fake the fact that it wouldn’t mean anything to me.
“You really want to know?” His voice was husky and serious.
I swallowed, wishing I could just slink away into the depth of the dark water and disappear.
Escape.
But then he said, “Tammy, there is no place else I would rather be than right here, right now, with you.”
Before I could take in the weight of his words, Chris edged closer, slow but deliberate.
Placing his hands on either side of me, caging me in against the pool wall, his body that sheltered me from the breeze that rolled in off the ocean was now replaced by his breath, warm and welcome on my skin. He was so close, but not touching.
I wondered if maybe it was a test: a test of wills, of who would break first. I desperately wanted to reach out to him, to bring my shaking hands up and slide them over his shoulders, to press skin to skin, drawing him near and crushing against him, like the stirrings of waves slamming against the rocks.
Chris was like a rock, a boulder hovering over me, barricading me in, his heated eyes ticking tauntingly over mine. If this was a test of wills, I forced every weakness in me to stand firm, defiant. I had made the first move
last night and been rejected.
Not again.
Don’t move, Tammy, don’t look at his eyes – focus. Ignore the curve of his bow-shaped mouth. Christ, it looked so kissable. Try not to think about that, try not to think about the flex of his muscles so near your face, try not to think about … oh God.
I swallowed as his leg brushed against mine, the sensation too raw, so unexpected I forced myself not to reach out and pull him toward me. As if reading the moment of weakness on my face, Chris smirked.
Cocky bastard.
He could torture me if he must, but I would not fold. No way, no how, not again. As I was about to run through the same chant in my head, over and over again to cement my stance, I suddenly didn’t need to.
Chris folded first.
Chapter Forty-Four
I had expected him to pull away.
It had never occurred to me that he would close the distance between us. I had been so distracted, busy battling my own desires, controlling my urges, that I didn’t notice until it was happening.
The heated look of need in his eyes made my heart stop. His gaze dipped to my lips.
I wasn’t a girl being led into the dark Onslow Hotel beer garden. No, this was better. Much, much better.
I closed my eyes, waiting for him to tell me this was a mistake, waiting for him to stop. Instead, his fingers skimmed along the dip of my spine causing me to suck in a breath. My eyes flung open, locking with Chris’s wicked gaze just before his mouth descended slowly onto mine. His kiss was achingly tender, brushing against my lips, capturing the breath he drew out of me, then a gasp as his body pressed against mine. My back grazed against the rough, concrete wall but the pain slicing into my skin was the furthest thing from my racing thoughts as I felt Chris’s desire push against my stomach. I lifted my hands to slide over his slick shoulders just like I had fantasised. I opened my mouth to him, his hot tongue teasing mine like I had hoped it would. What had begun as a slow, soft exploration turned into frantic, deep, burning need as Chris kissed me hard. Tasting the salt from the ocean on his lush mouth, it was as if all our reservations were swept away. My arms circled around his neck, drawing him closer, pressing skin against skin with no apology. There was no room for pleasantries, just deep-seeded desire as Chris fisted my hair, tilting my head for better access to my mouth.