Page 43 of Sweet Summertide

The outdoor areas at the Foundry were deserted, compared to the previous night when the firefly parade had the whole property abuzz with action. No, tonight, they had the cove to themselves. He brought her down the shore past the dock to a section that was surrounded on three sides by clumps of dense bushes. The area was dark, and but for her blind trust in him, she should have been apprehensive but didn’t appear to be.

She held onto his arm and huddled near him as they shuffled down the short embankment. “Teddy, what are we doing down here?”

The cove water was like glass, reflecting with an artist’s accuracy every single star from above. The crescent moon shone like a beacon near the horizon and created a long shadow behind Holly. Theodor stepped into the water first and a hundred ripples burst out from the disturbance. Without speaking a word, he slid his shirt over his head and tossed it over to a nearby fallen tree.

Holly giggled again, and he desperately wanted to find the spot on her neck where the delicious sound originated.

He unbuttoned his shorts and slid them down his legs. They ended up beside the shirt on the log and he walked backwards into the water wearing only his blue boxer-briefs. “Your turn.” He teased, knowing full well that she wore nothing but light-pink lace panties beneath his shirt.

“Turn around,” she said and all he could hear was the sound of cotton rustling against her skin and hair and landing on the tree with his. Her toes splashed in the water’s edge and a large ripple came around his upper body. She was in the water, and she was nearby. “Alright. You can look now.”

He wanted to see her; he was a man, after all, who wished she wasn’t wholly submerged. But he took a deep breath and let the moment rest. From the way the current hit him below the surface, he came around to where he knew she would be waiting for him. To his displeasure, Holly was well hidden to her shoulders by the water’s shell, but a smile graced her pretty face.

Her eyes were closed, and she bobbed up and down. “This feels really good on my burn.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you today. If I had been, maybe none of this would have happened.”

Her eyes flew open. “Rinaldi still would have happened. And I had already been out in the sun for too long before the whole car thing?—”

“Ended up in a ditch and forced you to walk here for hours?”

“Yeah. That.” She laughed. “Don’t feel bad that you weren’t with me at the farm. You’re here for me now, that’s what matters.”

Theodor was careful to keep his distance from her naked body. Even though it was dark and private. He didn’t want to push his luck when they were finally on the right track. “Can I be honest? I thought you stood me up earlier.”

“And that made you feel mad?”

“Sad. Hurt. I guess I just like you more than I wanted to admit.” Because he thought he might love this woman. “And now, knowing what you went through this afternoon, I feel terrible about that.”

“You really like me?” she asked and came closer to him. He backed off but she pursued him further. “You’re not just saying what I want to hear and making me fall in love with you?”

“Are you?” he asked as her hands swiped up his arms. His heart was beating so fast he could see new ripples forming on the water around him. “In love with me?”

“What if I am?”

“Then I’d say we probably shouldn’t be skinny-dipping in the dark.” Because his body craved her touch, and she deserved a man who wouldn’t use her body to manipulate her emotions.

“I don’t know if I can say that I’m falling in love with you, Theodor Black, but I can tell you that I love the way you make me laugh.” She kissed his cheek, and his eyes closed to savor the sensation. “I love how we share a passion for sugary things.” She licked his lip as if she would find something sweet there. He was frozen. “I love how you think I’m a better person than I am.”

He captured her face in his hands. “You’re the most frustrating person I’ve ever met, Blake Holly Hollis.” They paused, reading each other’s next move. The night seemed to stand still but for the chirping crickets filling the air with music. He could take her right there. He could have her in his arms and make her forget about Rinaldi or any other guy she’d ever known. He could fill the night air with her moans and sounds of his name. But … he backed off. “I think?—”

“We should slow down a bit?” she finished.

“Yes,” he said and stood up and walked out of the water. He tugged his shirt onto his wet skin and slid his shorts back on. Holding his other shirt up to her, he said, “Come on out of there.” He turned his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

Holly took the shirt, and he hoped she would put it on in the interim time. “Can I sleep over?” she asked, and he cracked an eye at her. “No funny business,” she added.

“I’ll take the floor.”

CHAPTER 22

With a sunburnas bad as Holly’s, she had little hope of finding a comfortable sleeping position. She had at best, entered that state between sleep and awake, when the mind wanders through a slow world. She was acutely aware of the man sleeping feet away from her on the floor. Teddy’s breathing acted as a calm reminder that she was in a safe place, while the throb of her skin kept her mind planted on the wrong side of slumber.

Waking meant she would have to go. Back to Millie’s. Back to work. Back to the place where she struggled with trusting anyone. She cracked an eyelid, not enough to see the room, but enough to let the first blue shades of dawn in. It was morning, and it was the first day of her new life, resigned to the fact that she was a capable woman who could make her own way in life.

The best part of her new beginning was that she wasn’t truly alone. She had gone to the farm under the false assumption that her mother wanted what was best for her and left feeling alone in her ambition. Now, from her position laying on her belly, she peeked over the side of the bed at the man she was falling for, and knew she wasn’t solo anymore. She had Teddy. She had Millie, Alfonso, and even her dad would cheer her on.

Most of all, she just wished she had treated Teddy better from the start. Weeks had gone by, wasted, when they could have been building each other up, and all she did was work against him. It had been fun at first. She sneaked around, painted his sign, stole his workers, and taken her pranks too far when she attempted rerouting his product delivery. Regret was evident in her bones that ached just looking at the sweet man and his pinched brows.

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