The Hazards of Skinny Dipping

Chapter One

Finally alone, I reveled in the silence, looking out the large floor-to-ceiling windows of my family's beach house. My grandparents had bought the house located just outside of Charleston, South Carolina years ago, before Kiawah became a retreat for millionaires. They were generous and let the entire extended family use it whenever we wanted. After two weeks of sharing the house with five other people, I was excited to have it to myself.

I'd decided to stay an extra day, craving some alone time before I had to give up all of my privacy and move in with some random girl. The whole idea of having a roommate sounded good in theory, but knowing my luck, I'd be living with my exact opposite or something even worse.

Sitting cross-legged on the ultra-comfy bed (now that everyone had left, I had moved up from the pull-out couch), I took the now crinkled letter out of my green REI backpack. Go skinny dipping. If I was ever going to do it, an empty beach house was the perfect place. Besides, I was running out of time. School started in just a few weeks.

It was already after nine, and the last remnants of the sun had disappeared. I picked out my favorite red bikini and changed. I'd have to ease into the whole thing, maybe jump in the pool and then take it off. It's funny that getting drunk and kissing a random guy didn't scare me, but getting naked in a pool seemed terrifying. I just wasn't comfortable being naked. I knew my body wasn't bad. I was decently thin with curves in all the right places-namely my chest. The few guys I'd been with always seemed happy enough with my body, but I still didn't like shedding my clothes. I know some girls walk around their rooms naked. Not me. I was dried off and in clothes within minutes of getting out of the shower. Okay, that's not entirely true. I loved sitting around in a towel, but you had to be careful doing that when you lived in a house with a couple of brothers.

I changed into my bikini and headed outside. One side of the house bordered the woods, and the house on the other side had been empty for the two weeks I'd been at the beach. I knew that well. I'd been disappointed when the Bradleys failed to show up.

Something was still missing. If I was going skinny dipping, I was going to do it right. I went back inside to get my iPod. I plugged it into the outside stereo system and selected my workout list. I needed something upbeat.

Satisfied with the musical selection, I jumped in. I wasn't good with the whole easing myself in slowly thing. Too cold that way.

It was only after I'd jumped in that I realized I'd forgotten one important thing-a towel. I thought about getting out for one, but then I'd get cold. There was no sense going through it twice.

I dove under the surface and tried to make myself relax. It wasn't a big deal. I needed to pretend it was a bath-a big, outside bath. I pulled the elastic out of my hair, letting my long, light brown hair fall down my back. My mom called my hair dirty blonde, but I hated anything with the name dirty. It was light brown.

I finally made myself do it. I untied my top and slipped off the bottoms. Oh my god, I'd done it. I was actually naked. I flung both pieces to the side, trying to get them to land on one of the lounge chairs, but somehow they ended up on the decking underneath. It didn't really matter since I wouldn't be putting them back on. I'd just run up to my room and change.

Amy hadn't specified how long I needed to skinny dip, but I figured I needed to at least swim around a little. The more I did it, the less weird it seemed. It felt liberating. The water was warm enough, and with only a few lights illuminating the pool, I didn't feel overly exposed.

That excitement lasted maybe another five minutes until I saw headlights pull into the neighbor's driveway. Unfortunately, they had one of those windy driveways that curved around to a garage in back. If the driver happened to look through the trees and shrubs, I'd be spotted. Before I panicked, I reassured myself that it was too dark for anyone to actually see anything.