Living In The Shallows (UK Crush #1)

Chapter Forty Eight

We arrived at Keith's house, which was very beautiful and old. Apparently, he made quite a living as a producer or writer or something, in between touring with his band. It had turned into a blazing hot day, so the idea of a swim sounded really good, and there were only a few cars parked in front of his house, lending credence to the idea that this was indeed a small get together. We went through the house, which looked as though a regular house and a studio had collided and stayed mixed together, and into a huge backyard, which contained what had to be the largest private swimming pool I'd ever seen.

There were five or six guys swimming, with two or three more hanging out on lounge chairs with beers. They turned at our entrance. "Hey, Theo!" they called. "Long time no see, buddy! How was Japan, dude?" One guy with long black hair stepped forward to hug him and said, "Grab yourself a cold one, man, and pull up a chair." He turned to me for a one armed hug. "Who's your lady friend, Theo?"

Teddy turned to me. "Keith, this is Tinker Bell. Tink, meet my good friend, Keith."

"Hello, Keith, nice to meet you," I said with a smile.

"Before we do anything, Keith, we'd really like to take a dip and cool off, if that's okay," Teddy said with a smile.

"Of course, of course, changing rooms are right over there, towels are right inside the door," he answered with a smile. Keith was just a bit shorter than Teddy, and a very good looking guy himself.

As we were heading toward the changing rooms, I said to Teddy, "You said there wouldn't be a lot of girls, you didn't say there wouldn't be any girls. I feel kind of out of place."

"Yeah, you do sort of stick out a bit," he said with a chuckle. "What do you want me to do, call some to come over?"

I just gave him a look.

As we were changing I realized I'd left my other suit back at the hotel, so if this one didn't fit or just didn't work, I was out of luck. Fuck. I tied the back and turned to look at myself. Wow. It wasn't that it covered less of me than my other suit or anything, but it sent a different message. And it showed a lot more cleavage. I'd always considered cleavage to be my enemy, and avoided it at all costs. I hated it. People stared at it. People treated you differently because of it. And it was stupid. It didn't change the size of anything, but because of that one little line, so many things were different. My workout bikinis made me look sleek, efficient, professional. This yellow suit with the little magenta flowers made me look curvy and soft. I looked like a pin up girl from the 1950s or something.

"Birdie? You ready?"

I didn't know. Was I? This was stupid. This was a fucking bathing suit, and Teddy was right. It was cute, and I looked cute in it. How could I ever play Rachmaninoff or Beethoven when I was afraid to walk out of a changing room in a two piece bathing suit?

"Yes. I'm ready." I turned the knob and stepped out. I met his gaze and returned it, biting my lips and not blinking.

"I knew—" he swallowed. "I knew that shade of yellow would look good on you. It makes your skin look like it's glowing. And your abs, you know, well, they're, you're, um, ripped. And your, um, well, your, that top, it's, well, you have a really gorgeous figure, I mean, I always knew you did, and now it shows, I mean you can tell, that well, you know, oh holy fuck, what am I saying, Jesus god—" He shook his head in that wet dog way he had and motioned for me to come to him.

He enfolded me in his arms, one all the way around my waist, one beginning around my waist but going up my back so his hand could end up at my neck. "You just take my breath away, you do, you really do. And I don't need some stupid bathing suit to know that about you, I want you to know that, okay?" He kissed my scar, making my whole body quake in a way he could surely feel, raising goose bumps all over me in a way he couldn't fail to notice because his flesh was touching mine nearly everywhere.