I pulled in a less shaky breath, blew it out, and inhaled a good, deep lungful of clean air. No quivering breath this time when I exhaled. I released the air in my lungs little by little, feeling the anxiety melt away.
Ollie smiled tenderly and brushed hair away from my eyes. "There. See? You did it."
"Yeah, thanks to you." I moaned pitifully. "But my parents..."
He kissed me, hard and quick. "You are an adult, Mara. You don't need anyone's permission or approval. If your parents are dicks about it when they realize this is a naturist resort, that's their problem."
Easy to say... Not so easy to believe.
Dammit, girl, you can do this.
I squared my shoulders, lifted my chin, and nodded once with conviction. "Yes, I can do this. Once I get my clothes on the right way."
Ollie grinned. "I can help you with that."
He did help me, and I loved feeling his hands on my body again, even it was purely to get my clothes on right. He kissed me again, slower and hotter, giving me the boost I needed to face my judgment day.
Ollie took my hand, leading me back toward the guest house---and my parents.
Chapter Fourteen
Ollie
Nothing had prepared me for walking in on Mara swimming in the hot spring in the nude. Sure, I'd seen her naked before. Once. We'd done the deed, but somehow, seeing her frolicking in the hot spring without a stitch of clothing on had hit me harder than the first time I'd seen her naked. Surrounded by the blue waters, she looked so peaceful and so damn sexy.
But her tranquility evaporated when I told Mara her parents were here. Still, she was handling the news better than I'd expected.
The closer we got to the main resort area, the more we could hear the badminton game unfolding out on the lawn. Some of the younger guests, who were in their twenties like me, had wanted to make badminton a contact sport. The guys kept bumping chests and whooping, and the girls hopped up and down while giggling.
I told them to please calm down, but I guessed as soon as I'd left the vicinity, they'd gone wild again. Their screams and whoops echoed through the open area beyond the last bit of trees at the end of the nature trail.
Mara stopped us within sight of the trailhead. She chewed on her lip, staring at the vague shapes of human beings we could see through the trees.
"You okay?" I asked. "It's cool to take a minute before we go out there."
She sucked in a breath, rolled her shoulders back, and gave me a tight smile. "It's okay. I can do this. About time I stood up to my mom, anyway."
"I know you can do it. You're one amazing woman, Mara. Don't forget that."
"Thank you, Oliver."
Every time she called me Oliver, I wanted to tear her clothes off and make her scream my name. Since I couldn't do that right now, I settled for kissing her.
More whoops and shrieks erupted beyond the trees.
I led Mara out of the woods.
Some guy shouted, "Go for it, Tad! All the way!"
Just as Mara and I reached the edge of the lawn, maybe fifteen feet from the edge of the makeshift badminton court, it happened.
"Go for it for real, dude!" someone hollered.
Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion. I saw the shuttlecock, that comet-shaped ball, fly through the air. And I saw a muscular guy with buzz-cut hair leap high off the ground, his racket outstretched, determined to whack that shuttlecock. He missed and kept sailing, sailing, sailing through the air...
The guy slammed into Mara.
My hand was torn from hers. I tripped and hit the ground rolling.