“What are we going to do once we get back on the boat?” Her eyebrows shoot up, her expression questioning.
“Whatever you want me to do,” I answer, my voice full of promise.
Chapter Eleven
Maisey
We scramble back onto the boat, both of us breathless and laughing, my entire body tingling, but not from the water.
No, my body is tingling from Tucker’s kiss. From his touch. A few stolen moments in the lake and my body is aching for more. More of Tucker’s hands, more of Tucker’s lips, more of Tucker’s skin…
My laughter dies. He’s standing in front of me now, dripping wet, rivulets of water streaming down his wide chest, making my mouth run dry as I stare at him. He’s so—large. Tall and broad and packed tightly with muscle. The lightest bit of dark hair curls between his pecs and his stomach is a literal washboard. Ab-tacular. Ab-tastic.
All the silly words describing his perfect abs don’t measure up to actually seeing them up close. In the flesh
. My fingers literally itch to touch him there.
I curl my fingers into fists instead, telling myself I need to remain in control.
“You’re looking at me like you want to jump me,” he says, his amused voice breaking the sudden tension that formed between us.
I burst out laughing because he’s not telling lies. I do want to jump him. “You’re looking at me in the same way.”
He smiles. Pushes his wet hair away from his forehead, his biceps bulging. His body is so much more…delicious than it was when we were younger. He was always built as a teen, but he wasn’t quite so big and masculine and dominating.
“I’m trying to control myself,” he says, his voice low and gruff.
“Me too,” I murmur.
Tucker takes a step toward me. “Not like I’m going to do anything to you here on a boat in the middle of the afternoon.”
I mock pout. “That’s too bad.”
He chuckles, and the sound is devastatingly sexy. “You want me to strip you naked and have my way with you right now? So if anyone drives by, they could see us?”
Everything inside of me goes liquid at the promise in his words, his voice, his eyes. Yes, yes, YES! I want to shout, but I don’t. “Maybe,” I say with a little shrug.
His smile turns wicked and then he’s right in front of me, his hands on my waist, his fingers burning into my bare skin. I had no idea I missed his touch so badly until I had his hands on me once again.
Now I’m not sure how I’ll ever survive without him.
“You’ve been driving me crazy since the moment you stepped on this boat and took your clothes off,” he says, his head bent close to mine as he watches his hands slide along my waist. “Wearing a swimsuit like that.”
He sounds annoyed. Frustrated. And I love it. “Oh, this little thing?” I ask innocently.
“You wore it on purpose,” he accuses, but he doesn’t sound angry.
He sounds like he’s barely in control of himself.
“You always did like me in red,” I remind him. It was the color of my dress to winter formal. That night, he couldn’t stop staring at me. Told me again and again how beautiful I looked.
I still have the corsage he gave me, dried out and stashed in a box of collectibles I keep in my spare bedroom closet.
“I definitely like you in this,” he says, his fingers toying with the ties on my hips. “One tug on each side and your bottoms would fall off.”
He slips his fingers beneath the fabric ties. They brush against my skin and I step closer, wishing he really would tug them off. I want to be bared to him. Open to him. I have nothing to hide with Tucker. He walks back into my life so easily, like he was never gone. And I want to accept him with open arms.
There are no warnings, no caution. I just…