BOOK II.
Four months have passed since Ashton and Ria's relationship fell into ruins. He's convinced that she hates him and she believes he never loved her. Giving up on each other, they attempt to mend their loneliness in the arms of their past; Ch...
❝Being your friend is getting harder and harder every day.❞
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"JUST BEING CLEAR, you don't know how to swim, right?"
Vivian bobs her head and stares at the waves crashing against the pale sands. Innocent thrills race up her spine. It's taking every fiber in her bones not to race into the water. The only thing holding her back is the reality that she will most certainly drown.
She tugs on the sleeves of her shawl, wishing she could take it off. If it weren't for the horrific scars clawing up her arms, she'd be basking in the glory of the sun above their heads.
"Okay." Jared inches towards her in nothing but black swim trunks. The heat of his body becomes a major distraction. "Let me hold you."
"What?" Without thinking, Vivian looks right at where the sun bears down on his tone physique. There's no time to hide the sudden flush in her cheeks. She tears her eyes away from the body he's asking her to get so dangerously close to and stares into his kind eyes, free of their spectacles.
"Yeah." He grins and holds a hand out. "We'll go in together and I'll make sure you won't drown."
But you're naked. Your body is going to be touching mine. We can't be so close. You're making me so nervous I think I'm going to die.
Vivian grazes her teeth over her bottom lip and wishes she could run like hell away from this situation. Though if she did, the others across the beach - the very few that are here in this lukewarm weather - just might think she's crazy. She never thought she would feel sexual attraction again. In fact, the thought of being sexual again is horrifying. Just the concept of letting another man hover over her and use her for pleasure makes her sick to her stomach.
Then there's Jared. She wants to touch him, feel his hot skin and admire how well formed he is. She wants to kiss him so bad it drives her insane. Jared is only twenty-one and soon she'll be twenty-eight. Feeling these things for him should be wrong.
"I-I don't know," she whispers.
"Oh, come on." He nudges her arm with a boyish smile brightening his young face. "How are you supposed to get the full effect if you don't actually get deep into the water?"
"But you're going to be touching me" — she drops her gaze to the sand and digs her toes into the rough texture — "in a not friendly way."
When Jared doesn't respond, she looks up to see his face as red as hers feels. He turns his head to the side and rubs his neck. "I mean, I won't be touching you like that." His voice softens. "I'll just be...protecting you."
Protecting me. The pounding of her heart increases, sending her to fold her fingers over her chest. It's not weird. She peers at her swimsuit, suddenly wishing it weren't so tight and that her breasts didn't look so provocative in the light blue one piece. What if his arms accidentally touch me there? Breathing becomes impossible. Her stomach flips imagining his strong arms wrapped around her. What if he doesn't like how I feel?
