Living In The Shallows (UK Crush #1)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Then came the water park, which was crazy, as the crowds had to be controlled before the boys could go anywhere, and the film crew had to set up each shot before the light shifted. It was humid and stupefyingly hot, and the models who had been selected to ride the rides with the boys were dropping in the heat.

I redid my bun for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last hour; it was driving me batshit crazy. We were watching the lighting people reset the filters and reflectors, but the day was so hazy that it really didn't seem to matter; by the time they got everything set, the sun had moved, and it all had to be redone. The humidity was making my hair slippery, and it kept sliding around. I yanked it out and started to retie it, huffing with irritation. I felt strong hands in my hair, taking the tie out of my hands, and I turned around to see Gethin, smiling, with brush in hand, looking outstanding in swim trunks.

"Relax, poppet, you're going to end up ripping half your hair out." He leaned over to whisper in my ear. "Deep, cleansing breath." He began to brush my hair in long, sure strokes. I closed my eyes and let him take over, tilting my head back and letting myself go. In less than five minutes, he had my hair in a nice, tight French braid, up and off my neck, mercifully cool. I leaned back into him and murmured my thanks, smiling and opening my eyes.

I looked around, feeling reasonably comfortable for the first time all morning, to find Teddy's eyes on me. I smiled at him, and he smiled back, taking a few steps in my direction. I waited, but he stopped. I raised my eyebrows expectantly. He finally continued and reached me.

"What were you doing?" I asked. "Why did you start to come over and stop?"

"You—seemed to be having a great time with Geth," he said uncertainly.

"What? When he was braiding my fucking hair?" My voice was a lot louder than I intended, but Matty and Ro were the only ones around who could understand us, and they were talking BZG. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Teddy took a step back from me, eyes wide.

"I'm sorry," I said, lowering my voice. "Dealing with that asshole director all morning has made me a little irritable."

"A little," he agreed.

"I guess this could qualify as being a little bit of a stroppy bitch," I acknowledged.

"Maybe," he agreed again with a smile.

"You can stand closer, you know," I said. "I'm not going to bite you, for Christ's sake,"

"You sure?" he said with a laugh, finally moving close enough to put an arm around me. He put his lips next to my ear. "You want to know the real reason I was staring at you?"

"There's a 'real reason'?" I repeated.

"Hell yes." He looked at me, eyes smoky in the shimmering heat. "Watching you, in those clothes," he put his hand on my bare midriff, "leaning your head back with your eyes closed, enjoying getting your hair touched," he leaned in, "was so," he leaned closer, "fucking," closer still, "hot."

He leaned back. "Of course," he continued in a normal tone of voice, "Gethin being the one doing the touching sort of ruined the moment." He smiled at me. "But a fellow's got to take what he can get, right?"

"Take your hand off my tummy, I can't think straight when you touch me like that," I pleaded.

"Oh really?" he said with a flirty little smile. "Interesting." And he started moving his hand, half tickling, half just turning me on. Christ. I looked around to see if anyone was watching, and there were the boys, looking at us, Gethin with bemusement, Ronan with his usual grin, and Matty with despair.

As we were standing around waiting, I heard the announcement in Japanese that the afternoon's filming had been cancelled, due to extreme haze and particulate matter in the air, which made filming difficult.