“As much as you enjoy spending time with me,” I retorted, taking another sip of my tea, his eyes flashing with something amused and dark.
I would never admit it, but when Yates wasn’t being an ass, I actually did enjoy spending time with him. Besides being absolutely brilliant and fun to argue with, Yates and I shared a passion for traveling, so our families often vacationed together. The summer before our senior year, we’d spent a month yachting in the Mediterranean.
Technically, my father had done some business overseas while we did, but neither Yates nor I paid any mind to that, and it had ended up being one of my favorite vacations yet. And that was saying something, because I’d traveled a lot.
Before going, he had spent days researching everything we could do together, and I think I saw more in a span of four weeks than I ever would have on my own. I didn’t get to relax very often, but it was still a blast. Seriously, one time I tried to sleep in, and he carried me over his shoulder out onto a ferry that took us ashore to go on a day tour of a vineyard. It had totally been worth it, though.
A memory of us snorkeling flashed through my head as a warm feeling of affection settled in next to my urge to hit him upside his head.
“Bunny, just trust me, damn it.”
I scowled at Yates, testing the water with my foot loving the Mediterranean Sea’s temperature and the way it soothed my skin. I pulled my foot back as I approached the ladder of the yacht, the cocky bastard in question lazily floating a few feet away, his blonde hair wet and slicked back away from his tan face and stunning, almost unnatural looking eyes. Honestly, I was glad he was in the water. His muscles were far too distracting.
Then again, I had purposefully chosen my smallest bright orange bikini today because I had noticed it made him far more grumpy when I wore it, compared to my other swimsuits. Good. When he smiled, it was far too distracting.
Stepping back on the ladder, I finally let out a squeak and jumped in fully, letting myself sink below the surface completely before popping back up. Brushing the salt water from my eyes, I smiled as hot, rough fingers slid around my waist, my hand reaching out to grab his shoulder. When I opened my eyes, my breath caught, finding him far closer than I expected. My throat went dry, and I felt myself go dizzy as he leaned closer… only to grab the goggles and attached snorkel tubs from the jumping platform.
I scowled as he flashed me a cocky smile and wink before swimming away.
Ass.
I was positive Yates knew I found him attractive, and it only made me that much more pissed. Not that I would ever admit that to him. The day had been enjoyable, and my first time snorkeling had been a blast. I wasn’t the best swimmer, but I knew I could trust Yates to keep me safe… even though he spent a lot of our vacation snapping at waiters that he felt spent too much time at our table or at the boat staff that tried to make conversation with us. Okay, mainly me, but same thing. I shouldn’t have found his grumpiness nearly as appealing as I did.
Then again, that was literally the problem with Yates. I hated how much I enjoyed theideaof spending time with him more thanactuallyspending time with him. I would probably still travel with him, though. I enjoyed it far too much to give up.
What?! We could be archenemies that vacationed together.That was a thing.
“I didn’t know you were so into me, bunny,” he drew.
I was so surprised by his words, I nearly choked on my drink, coughing before having to shake myself. What had he just said?
“You donotlike me or like spending time with me,” I commanded, as if that would somehow change what he was saying. His smile grew.
Was he serious?Why did my heart squeeze so much at that concept?
No.Bad heart.My feelings for Yates, mostly my annoyance, were my most understandable ones when it came to my boys… If those changed, I wasn’t positive what I would do, exactly.
“Of course not,” he amended, “that would be ridiculous.”
A small smile flitted to my lips as I tried to not overthink his words—it wouldn’t do any good—but it faded when he just had to go and mess up our relative peace. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“On a more serious note, bunny,” he said as he leaned forward, putting his forearms on his legs and fixing me with a look, “we need to talk.” A spike of anxiety rolled over me as I watched him with a relaxed curiosity that I didn’t actually feel.
He continued, “I find it very hard to believe that all of this online bullying shit went away just like that—”
“Yates.” My jaw clenched as actual anger flushed over me.Not today.I wasn’t doing this.
“I’m not letting this go,” he rumbled quietly. “I know it’s still going on because you still aren’t acting like yourself.”
“You have no idea what you are talking about.” I leaned down to adjust my sandals slightly, despite not needing it. Was it time for dinner yet? I am almost positive I had heard them call us in, right?
“I know you don’t eat enough still,” Yates bit out sharply. “I know you’ve stopped taking photos or posting them on your account.”
Damn him.
I froze as I tried to take a deep breath, my emotions slowly numbing out. Leave it to Yates to bring up what everyone else had managed to move past. Well, at least acted like they’d moved past. I straightened and fixed him with a look, trying to appear unaffected.
“My eating habits are none of your business,” I explained quietly. “Plus, I am going to be taking photos all fall in my classes. Maybe I just wanted to take a break.” Or maybe I was afraid of givingthemanymore ammunition.