Shoe Strings

start.   “Do I wear my clothes
under this?”
    “Just your bathing suit.   We’ll leave your clothes in the car.”
    Lita wondered if she should try to squeeze into the suit
back in the bathroom, the only available spot for privacy.   But she knew she wouldn’t be able to
handle the smell.   With a huff of
impatience, she lifted the tank off her body and rolled the shorts off her
hips.   She couldn’t have felt more
exposed to Jesse if she’d been naked.  
    When she set her clothes on the seat of the Scout, she saw
him stand up slowly, his eyes on her.   For the second time that day, she cursed not having a one-piece bathing
suit.   He didn’t move or speak, but
stood watching as she inched the wet suit up the length of her body.   It was a tight fit and took some serious
muscle to get over her hips.   She’d
gotten both arms in the sleeves, but couldn’t get it up and over her
shoulders.   Jesse moved behind her
and slowly, reverently, pulled the suit up and around her neck.   He turned her in his arms and with sure,
steady fingers, lifted the zipper.   His eyes followed the path and then zeroed in on hers when he’d
finished.
    “I feel like I’ve been shrink wrapped,” she said to lighten
the mood that hung thickly in the air between them.   “This thing is like a second skin.”
    “Nothing compares to your skin, Angelita.”   Jesse’s voice sounded no more than a
whisper as his fingers feathered under her jaw.   “I’ve never seen skin
so…shimmering.   It looks like your
coffee after you’ve swirled milk into it.”
    She nearly offered him a sip, just a taste to whet both
their appetites.
    “Jess.”   It was
Jerry, calling from the shore, that broke the spell.   Lita took a deep breath as Jesse stepped
back reluctantly.   She didn’t know
what she was more afraid of at the moment, the water or the path she and Jesse
were headed along that ended, she felt sure, in a plunge.   There was no doubt, after the look he’d
just given her and her still frantic heartbeat that they’d be sharing more than
a raft very soon.   Hell.

 

 
    Chapter 18
    Kerri Ann couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept until
nine or the last time she’d woken with a man’s arms around her.   She felt ambivalent about the time
and…edgy about the man.   She didn’t
want to move, or breathe too hard and wake him.   She’d kept him up half the night as it
was.
    Oh, how she wanted to stretch her body in joyous
relief.   She and Bryce were lovers,
of that she was now certain.   There’d be no going back to just friends after the tender and excitingly
wild love they’d made.   She hadn’t
known she had it in her to be so…uninhibited in bed.   And Bryce, by God, the man was a
genius.   Her body felt more alive,
more human, than it’d ever felt before.
    She felt him stir beside her and her pulse jack hammered in
response.   Would he want her again
in the light of day or would there be an awkward embarrassment between
them?   She didn’t have long to fret
over how it might be.   His arm
tightened around her and she found her back against his chest.   “Good morning,” he whispered in her ear
and nuzzled her neck.   The feel of
his lips on her skin sent shivers over her body.   “I had the best dream.”   His hands shifted to her breasts and
began kneading.  
    “Did you now?”   It was all she could do not to tremble.   Where had this undeniable need come
from?   She turned to face him, had
to see how gorgeous he looked in her bed with the light streaming through the
open windows.   They’d been in too
big a hurry to shut them the night before.
    “Ummm.”   He took
her mouth in a kiss so hot it could have set the sheets on fire.   “I see it’s not over.”   He pulled back and stroked his hand
through her hair and looked at her, just studied her face.   “This is real, Kerri Ann.”
    Suddenly close to tears, she nodded.   It was real.   Bryce Jenson, in her bed, making love to
her, was reality, not some fantasy in her mind.   Overwhelmed by emotion, she answered him
the only way she knew how, with her body and her soul.  
    Past ten, struggling not to fall asleep atop Bryce with the
sheets tangled around their feet, Kerri Ann thought of Ty.   She needed to pick him up from Cal’s.   She wondered how she’d feel around him,
how to act with Bryce now so much more a part of their lives, at least for a
little while.  
    “What are you thinking