Page 79 of Chasing You

Of course it does, because he is going to have a first class view of my ass all the way to the beach. My eyes nearly roll all the way back into my head. He’s such a little shit.

I can’t help but feel a lightness in my chest in this moment. Everything feels so easy between us right now, but it always did, I guess.

I swing my leg over the bar.How am I going to take off without sitting down?I also haven’t ridden a bike in years, I’m not confident I can get us going without tipping us sideways.

“Here.” Miles must read my silence because his left hand finds my hip and he guides me to sit on his lap. “Just so you can take off easily,” he says in my ear and goosebumps skate down my spine.

Being this close to him sets off every nerve in my system, like my body is remembering how it feels to be near him, to be with him.

I just clear my throat and start to pedal. It’s wobbly at first before my muscle memory kicks in, and I feel Miles’s grip tighten as we veer sideways, but I quickly right the handlebars and have us going in a somewhat straight line as we head down Main.

“Atta girl.” I have to force myself not to jerk the handlebars when my heart kicks in my chest.Jesus Christ.

I pull myself from his lap and stand in the gap between the seat and the handlebars pedalling harder as the sea breeze pushes against us. I let out a yelp as it whips a strand of my hair across my face and Miles’s hand jumps back to my hip to steady me, but when it turns into a laugh he relaxes his grip, but he doesn’t let go entirely. And I don’t complain about it.

We cruise around a bend and head towards the turquoise water that is glistening in front of us. It’s moments like this when Irealize just how lucky I am to call this place home. I don’t know how people come to visit and don’t end up staying for the rest of their lives, because I get homesick when I’m away from the water for too long.

I pull on the brakes, bringing us to a stop just before the hidden path. I’m puffing by the time my foot hits the ground, and feeling exhilarated by the feeling of the wind against my face as we rode.

“So you like the bike?” Miles asks.

When I turn to face him, he’s got this gorgeous smile on his face. As if witnessing my simple pleasure was worth every penny he spent on the bike.

“Yeah,” I tuck my hair behind my ears. “I like the bike.”

“Good,” he nods before sliding off the seat. “Let me hide it somewhere safe so it doesn’t get stolen.”

“Nothing gets stolen here, Miles.” He doesn’t pay me any mind as he shoves the bike into the bushes. I just snort as he comes out, a leaf in his hair.

I turn to slip down the hidden path but stop in my tracks. “Wait. I don’t have a swimsuit.”

“Neither,” he says, walking past me and down the track, using his good arm to push back the branches in his path.

I just scoff before following him down the track. “Miles Beckett, did you just lure me into coming skinny dipping with you?”

He pushes back a big branch, clearing the way for me to go ahead of him, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lip.

I just shake my head as I come to stand in front of him. I’m trying so hard to hold back my own smile, not wanting to give him a hint of my entertainment. I pluck the leaf from his hair. “What were you going to do if I said yes to the others coming?”

He raises his eyebrows, nodding his head down the path, indicating for me to keep moving. I reluctantly turn and continue down the track. “The same thing,” he responds.

I whip my head to look at him over my shoulder. I see awhisper of a smile in his gaze, but I look back ahead of me before I can get a glimpse of it on his lips. “You have no shame,” I say.

“Should I? Have shame?” I stay silent. “Based on what you saw last time we were here, have I slipped behind on my upkeep?”

I tried to move quick enough when I was in the water that day, but the tone of his voice suggests that he saw me. That he knows I was looking at his bare ass as he walked up the beach. And part of me loves it. I should be embarrassed that he knows I was perving on him, but it only makes me feel like a giddy teenager.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say.

“No?” he teases.

“Uh-uh.” I shake my head vigorously as we continue towards the hidden beach.

“Okay,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “You’ll just have to tell me after today then.”

“Friends don’t usually look at each other naked,” I say just as I step down onto the sand, the water now glistening in front of me.

“Lucky we aren’t like normal friends then, huh?” he says in my ear as he walks past me and further onto the beach, those goosebumps making their second appearance of the day.

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