Their nudity didn’t bother me—I’d seen it all before. And with Maddie’s luscious body laid out in front of me, there was no need to look at anything else.
“How do you feel, sweetheart?” Jessie asked.
It took her a moment to answer. “Light,” she said. “And free.”
“I told you this was fun,” Kincade said. Maddie nodded, but I noticed she hadn’t used the word fun. My guess was, to her, this was something more. A big step forward toward… something. Toward another way of being. And possibly a step away from who she used to be—or who she always told herself she ought to be.
I was determined to make sure she had fun today, but for right now, I suspected she needed a breather from the big step she’d taken.
I leaned back in the water, letting Maddie’s legs rest on my abs as I floated on my back. If anyone passed by, they’d probably think that we looked like the strangest raft ever. A raft made up of bare limbs jutting out at all angles. Along with some less often seen body parts.
My mind drifted as we did in the water. It really was beautiful here. And peaceful. I liked how the waterfall filled the smaller pool and then the water flowed down to the larger one. It reminded me of the tentative plans I’d made to buy the two units on the floor below my penthouse.
My place was great. Lots of space and high ceilings. But if I bought out the floor below me, it could be on two levels. Hell, maybe I could put a full-size pool on the lower floor.
I told the others about my plan as we floated there, and if any of them thought it was a weird thing to talk about while naked, they didn’t say anything about it. Kincade insisted on calling it a megapenthouse, though.
“If I had two floors, I could make a huge guest wing. You could stay there when you’re in town, Jessie. You too, Kincade.” Kincade didn’t come to LA as often as Jessie, but when he did, we usually got together.
Jessie had his head up and caught my eye. Then he jerked his chin toward Maddie. Shit. “And Maddie, you could have the run of the place. But the pool will be a swimsuit-free space.” She had her eyes closed, but she smiled.
I was kicking myself for not mentioning her in the first place, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t. I sure as hell wanted to see her again. There was no doubt about that. But somehow, I hadn’t thought very far beyond this week. Maybe that was because I was still trying to get my equilibrium here. Things had been good with my best friends, but not quite the same as always. I suspected a big part of that was because of me. So my mind had been firmly in the present—for once—and I honestly hadn’t thought about what would happen after Doug was officially a married man and we all went our separate ways.
Would Kincade, Jessie, and I go back to only getting together once every two years? And where did Maddie fit in? I honestly didn’t know, but I knew she belonged with us.
My gaze ran over her body, noting that she no longer seemed tense. Her face was peaceful, and her limbs were long and loose. That sweet, creamy white skin of her breasts and stomach were— “Shit,” I said aloud.
Three heads raised in unison. “What?” Jessie asked.
“Do you know what we forgot to do?”
“Wear clothes?” Kincade suggested, and I scowled.
“Think about it for a minute. What do you two idiots rush to do the second we get to the pool every morning?”
Jessie got it. “Sunblock.”
“No, remember, I put some on you.” Maddie’s voice was content and relaxed.
I squeezed her feet gently. “But what about you?”
She lifted her head abruptly, and I let go of her feet. “Oh shit,” she said, echoing me. She looked down at herself. “Some parts of me haven’t seen the light of day in… well, forever. I’m going to burn to a crisp.”
Jessie was already swimming back to our packs to get the lotion.
“If you want, I generously offer to lay my body across yours,” Kincade said. “Instead of sunblock, we could call it—”
“Jockblock,” she said with a laugh.
Kincade grinned. “Just let me know when you want to be jockblocked.”
I had a better idea. “Let’s go over there.” I pointed toward the row of large, flat rocks that separated the upper pool from the lower one. Maddie nodded, swimming beside me. When my feet touched the bottom of the pool, I grabbed her hand and pulled her along. Together, we stepped out onto the flat, wet rocks.
Maddie eased herself onto one of the larger ones, her legs together. She looked like a goddess. Like an ancient painting of Aphrodite basking in the sun.