Mr. Lawson's Assistant

Chapter 27

We walked down to the beach, and I took off my shirt and shorts so I could step into the water.
I wasn't a fan of wearing nothing but a cute bra and underwear in public, so my bathing suit was a simple, navy full-piece, with an open back, and a slitted pattern down each ribcage.
I turned to drop my clothes by the path, and caught Damon's eyes.
When I narrowed my eyes at him, he smirked and raised his eyebrows.
"Nice suit."
I pursed my lips, ignoring him, and turning back to face the water. Heading down to the waves, I caught sight of a pretty shell, but when I reached down to grab it, a wave of water rushed over it and it was gone. Letting out a breath, I watched the water surge around my ankles and stared out to the endless blue in front of me. "Beautiful isn't it?" Damon asked, and I glanced over to him quickly. He did the same, before he switched his eyes back to the vast ocean in front of us.
I paused, watching a speed boat out in the distance, "I've never been on the water before." I smiled, seeing Damon's eyes following the boat as well.
His gaze left the craft, and switched back to me, and I looked back out over the ocean.
"Have any plans for tomorrow?" He asked suddenly, and I frowned.
"Why?"
"Answer the question," He chuckled.
I sighed, "If I'm going to be going somewhere with you, then yes." I gave him my own small smirk, crossing my arms. He feigned offense, taking a step back.
"What if it involves going out on the ocean?" He asked, but the look on his face told me that he already knew he'd won. I'd always wanted to go out on a boat.
Go figure he had one.
I let out a breath, searching the blueness for another boat to watch, before I turned back to look at Damon. He had an annoyingly satisfied smirk on his face.
Glancing at the water, I surpressed the mischievous grin that spread across my face. In one quick motion, I reached down, and scooped up a handful of ocean directly into Damon's face.
His expression changed immediately. Eyes flashing, he turned to me slowly, gauging the way I was trying to hold in my laughter, as water rolled down his nose and jaw.
I laughed, "You looked so pleased with yourself," I bit my lower lip, trying to keep a straight face.
"And you're pleased with yourself now, aren't you?" He asked, wiping a hand over his face, and fixing his eyes on me. I shrugged, but nodded, and watched the way his eyes darkened. All of a sudden, he lunged downward, and within seconds, my face was full of salty water. I stumbled back sputtering, a not-so-nice insult tumbling out of my mouth. Blinking, I glared up at Damon, holding my tongue, as his annoying smirk returned.
"Jerk." I spit, kicking the water around my ankles and splashing his chest.
He chuckled darkly, and I saw the way his eyes move to the water, before I took off running. I felt the tail end of his splash on my back, but I laughed and pushed into the deeper water. Glancing over my shoulders, I saw Damon moving towards me through the water, his long legs keeping him moving much faster than I could go as it grew deeper. I was up to my waist, and had slowed down considerably, but he kept his steady pace, catching up to me with no trouble.
"Ok, ok! Truce!" I yelled, turning to face Damon, who was still coming at me, his eyes glinting.
"It isn't a truce until we're even." He said, a devilish smile coming to his lips, before he lunged forward and closed the distance between us.
I whirled around to try to swim deeper, but Damon reached out and caught my shoulder, spinning me back to face him. I opened my mouth to protest, only to be met with a mouthful of salty water. Coughing, I pushed back against Damon's chest, trying not to laugh, while I spit out the water and wiped off my eyes. A deep chuckle rumbled from within his chest, and he only tightened his hold on my shoulder, grabbing my other wrist with his free hand.
I gasped, "We're even!" I pulled against him helplessly, tripping over myself, and falling back into the water. Damon winked at me.
Suddenly, I was shoved backwards into the water. I didn't have time to scream at Damon, before salty water rushed into my mouth. He pulled me back up immediately, but I'd already gotten another mouthful of water. 
"Now, I'm winning," Damon leaned down to enunciate his words, when I opened my eyes and gasped for breath, as he pulled me out of the water. I growled at him in annoyance, spitting out some water, and tugging at my wrist. Meeting my eyes, another small flash of amusement crossed his face. Satisfaction was evident on his face. It was annoying.
"Don't look at me like that," He clicked his tongue quietly, "you started it." He laughed, adjusting his hold on my wrist underwater.
I glanced down to where his arm and mine disappeared under the dark blue water, then back up to his face, narrowing my eyes. For a moment, Damon looked down at me, and we held each other's gazes, the water lapping around us gently, and seagulls flying overhead. It was almost like a peaceful trance, as my eyes lost themselves in his.
Realizing what I was doing, I snapped myself out of it, and glanced back down to my wrist. Damon caught my glance, and slowly released me. Only then did I realize how close I was to him.
His chest was directly in front of my face, and I didn't miss the way his stomach flexed as he breathed. Water dripped down his torso, reflecting in the warm sun, defining his tanned chest even more than his toned muscles defined it.
Stop it.
Taking a step back, I looked out over the water, collecting myself, before I looked back to him. He was still looking down at me with his same intense green eyes, but the playful smirk was no longer on his face.
"I'll get you back later." I said finally, tredding around him to walk back towards shore.
As I did so, I wracked my brain for anything I could do to get him back. The water gradually became more shallow, and I stepped out of the ocean and onto the shore, Damon right behind me.
I wrung out the water from my hair that was already starting to dry. My natural waves were sticking to each other, creating hard knots in my hair from the water. When I was done wringing out the water from my hair, I distanced myself from the ocean a few yards, before I sat down in the sand and began digging. Damon, watched me for a moment, but he said nothing. A few minutes later, he turned and strolled down the beach towards the abandoned pier to the right of his house. I took that as an opportunity to focus on my masterpiece.
*
I had been to the beach a few times when I was a kid, but since my dad had died, and my mom married Tony, I hadn't been even once.
Even after I moved out, I hadn't found the time to take a vacation to the beach- or a vacation at all for that matter.
Now that I was here, I was starting to remember all the things I'd wished to do if I ever went back to the beach. One of which included riding a boat, and the other involved snorkeling. I also needed to work on my tan, and I was waiting for Damon to return, so I started building a small sand castle a few yards from the water. It was coming along nicely. Sighing, I stood up to go find a few decorating pieces for my castle, before I returned with a handful of shells and small rocks.
"What are you doing?"
I turned to see Damon walking towards me, a frown tainting his face.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" I retorted, setting the last shell into place.
Damon shrugged, "I didn't expect you to be the... sand castle type." He said carefully, observing my work, as he stopped in front of me. I rolled my eyes and put my hands on my hips.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Damon just chuckled, taking another step up to my castle, and holding out his hand to me.
I leaned away from his hand, suspicious of what he was holding, but when he opened his fingers, I glanced up at him in surprise.
In his hand, he held the same shell I had tried to pick up earlier.
"Thanks." I took the shell from his palm, and rolled it around on my fingers. It was a spiral shape, with a pointy top, and the outside was the color of the sand.
The inside, however, was a beautiful, shiny pink, that gradually grew darker the deeper into the shell it curved. Standing up from my castle, I palmed the shell and glanced at the ocean once more.
"We should go get some lunch." Damon suggested after a moment, and I nodded.
Beginning to walk back to the house, I bent down to grab my clothes from in front of the path back to the house.
I felt Damon stop abruptly behind me. "What's that?" Damon asked me, and I followed his eyes down to my left side, where a scar was half-way hidden underneath my bathing suit.
"A scar." I pursed my lips, not meeting his eyes, and pulling on my shirt quickly. Clearly he wanted to ask about the origin of the scar, but to my relief we continued the rest of the way to the house in silence.