I put my fork down and eye Nora carefully.
“Since when?”
The entire time we’ve been together at the cottage, her actions have been contrary to that statement.
She shrugs. “I just realized that I don’t have the right to dictate anything to you. That’s all.”
I narrow my eyes. This is new. And strange.
“Weren’t you the one saying that the bullet has already left the gun and that there’s no going back now?”
Something soft flits through Nora’s eyes before she covers it up.
“Yeah. I did. But I can be selfish sometimes. Anyway, what would you like to do this afternoon?”
She changes the subject clumsily and now I’m the one on edge.
What the f**k?
I shrug, attempting to appear nonchalant. “I don’t care. Want to go swimming?”
It’s an attempt to lighten the mood. But Nora rolls her eyes.
“Let’s not push it.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Why? When we first came to the cottage, you went skinny-dipping by yourself. Perhaps we should go together. It’d be a whole different experience, I can assure you.”
Nora’s face brightens, the clouds clear, and she’s happy again.
“Sure,” she agrees. “I’m sure it will be far different.”
I pay the check and we head back to the cottage.
As we walk inside, Nora looks at me. “It’s broad daylight, you know.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Your point?”
She grins. “I don’t have one. I was just making an observation.” She slips off her shorts. Then her shirt. Then tosses her bra and underwear onto the couch.
She stops still and stares at me.
“I see you haven’t undressed yet. Are you scared?”
I strip off my shirt. “Nah. Just distracted.”
I drop my shorts and underwear at her feet.
“Let’s do it.”
I grab her hand and pull her out the door, determined to not become distracted by the way her ni**les point to the sky. Not yet, anyway.
When we reach the water’s edge, she stretches, lifting her hands to the clouds and arching her chest toward me.
I pretend not to see, although my dick definitely stands up and takes notice.
Without preamble, I scoop her up, plunge into the water, and drop her unceremoniously into it.
When she sputters back through the surface, she’s shrieking.
“This wasn’t what I had in mind when I wanted to skinny-dip with you!” she calls out, chasing me through the water. I swim hard, away from her.
Cat and Mouse.
She’s fast though, and when I slow just a bit, she catches me. Lunging out of the water, she slams her hands on my shoulders, dunking me.
I rocket back out of the water and kiss her hard.
She startles, then clings to me, her tongue burying itself in my mouth. She wraps her legs around my waist and I feel her, the very centermost part of her, pressed to my stomach.
It makes me instantly rock hard.
With her wrapped around me, I float a few feet inland to where my feet touch.
And then I don’t hold back.
I run my mouth along her neck, kissing it where it arches. I nip at her ear and when she arches backward, I suck her ni**les, drawing them into my mouth and teasing them into sharp points.
She grips my back, her fingernails digging into my skin as the cold lake water chills every part of us.
But we’re heating each other up.
Nora reaches down and strokes me under the water, teasing my rigid hard-on into steel. I could etch glass with it now and she knows it. She smirks as she dips her own head and licks my ni**les.
Payback.
But I trump her when I slide my fingers between her legs and directly into her.
Despite the water, she’s still dripping wet.
For me.
“Let’s go inside, shall we?” I murmur against her neck. She nods.
“Yeah. Skinny-dipping is overrated.”
She’s flushed, almost panting, something that satisfies me.
I did that.
I pick her up, carrying her to shore.
“I can walk, you know,” she tells me, laughter in her blue eyes.
“But you’re too slow,” I answer. “I’m a man on a mission.”
She laughs and I carry her toward the house, both of us as na**d as the day we were born.
And then I stop still.
Because there, sitting on the porch waiting for us, is Jacey.
She looks tired, but she’s still here, in the flesh, watching Nora and I approach, in all our birthday suit glory.
Nora sucks in her breath.
“Is that…”
“Yeah. That’s Jacey.”
She squirms in my arms, but I hold tighter.
“You’re more concealed if I carry you,” I point out.
“But you’re not,” she answers. I shrug. There’s no help for that now. We’re both naked. But at least my arms wrapped around her will provide her with just a little bit of cover.
Jacey stands as we approach and there’s laughter in her eyes. And confusion. I see her study Nora, trying to figure out who she is.
“Brand!” she calls out. “I see you’re doing better… there was no need to worry after all!”
“Is that why you’re here?” I answer. “Because you were worried? You could’ve called.”
She grins and takes a step off the porch, her eyes fixed to mine, never flickering below my waist.
“I knew if I called, you’d tell me not to come. I had to make sure you were fine.”
“I’m fine,” I tell her, not stopping. I take the steps two at a time, headed into the house.
“You’re also naked,” she calls after me. “Did you realize?”
Little brat.
I grin. Nora glances up at me.
“Is it okay that I’m here, or?”
“Of course,” I assure her. There’s a whole lot of self-doubt in her eyes right now, and I want to squash it. “It’s fine.”
We get dressed quickly, then join Jacey in the kitchen. She’s sitting at the kitchen table waiting for us, running her hand over the wood of the tabletop.
“I miss this cottage,” she muses. “There were happy memories here.”
And I had been in the process of making another one, but I don’t point that out.