Page 59 of On the Run
“Is it, Beale? Is it really?” Toby set his hands on his hips. “Is your ultimate goal in life to besoothed,precious? Do you live to be told you have the energy of one of your cups of Sleepytime tea?Soothing. Fuck that. A clarinet solo is soothing. My energy israw, and it’scarnal, and… and… and… it’slustful. Almost entirely lustful. Understand?”
I pressed my lips together against laughter, but I was pretty sure he could see it spilling from my eyes. “Maybe soothing was the wrong word,” I agreed. In reality, being around Toby was more like existing on a continuum between amusement and frustration, arousal and annoyance, but it was really fuckingfun.
I’d always been a content sort of person by nature, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt as much as I did with Toby. Want and need and protectiveness and anger and… joy.It threw me off balance, but in a good way. It made me feel awake and aware and really alive.
“Finish up fast, okay?” I rolled to my feet and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before heading for the door. “Then put on your bathing suit and meet me outside.”
* * *
“I don’t knowhow else to say this but in English, Goodman. No fucking way are you teaching me to swim.”
Toby stood on the cement at the edge of the pool, looking sexy as anything and wearing nothing but tiny red swim trunks and a pissed-off expression.
I pushed my wet hair back from my face and tucked my tongue into my cheek. “But you said we could doanythingI wanted.”
Toby shook his head. “Beale. Precious.Angel. Sweetness. There was a distinct sexual overtone to my agreement, because I felt there was a sexual overtone to yourproposition.” He pursed his lips. “Or there fuckingshouldhave been. I have so much to teach you, my Virgo.”
I grinned. Before this week, I’d never really understood how Mason and Fenn’s constant teasing seemed to make them both better—stronger—but now I got it. There was no judgment in Toby’s teases, and it was hard to be offended when I could sense so much genuine appreciation every time he looked at me.
In fact, Toby was a lot like Marjorie—all hisses and side-eyes, bone-deep loyalty and a need for affection… which was another thing I wasn’t gonna tell him on pain of death.
“In retrospect, I don’t have time for… water frolicking.” Toby stared down at the water balefully. “I have work to do.”
“Work, huh? Because you maybe mentioned once or a hundred times that you were going to be in the Maldives this week. On vacation.”
He licked his lips. “Yes. Well. Iwas.But since I’mnot, I should probably use my time wisely and get ahead. Besides, imagine if I were to sink to a watery grave right here in the pool this morning, and all those letters went unanswered?” He shook his head once in the negative. “I couldn’t live with that on my conscience.”
I rubbed my chin. “Mmhmm. I can see how that would be a real concern.”
“Excellent! Then we agree—”
“Except you wouldn’t have to live with it on your conscience, ’cause you’d be dead.”
“Oh.” He frowned. “Then I would be a very malcontented spirit. A poltergeist, I expect. Or—”
“Toby, I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you,” I promised. “And you know what’s great about the water? You can think about your Hagatha responses while you float. Kill two birds with one stone.”
Toby sighed and took a single step down into the water so it lapped at his ankles. “No more metaphors about killingand ghosts when referring to my pool-based endeavors, Goodman.” He swallowed. “Fine. I’m in. Now what?”
I bit the inside of my cheek hard, because I wasnotgoing to laugh about this. Not yet, anyway. “Now you get all the way in. Until your feet touch the bottom.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.” He took a step down, and then another, clinging to the railing beside the wide steps. But when he was nearly ass-deep, he hesitated again.
“One more.” I held out a hand to help him down. “Come on. It’s so refreshing in here.”
“Nonsense. It’swet.” He grabbed my hand. “Off-puttingly wet.”
“It is very wet,” I agreed solemnly. “That’s an unavoidable part of the swimming experience.”
Toby took the final step, and when his feet touched bottom, he shivered. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around him to warm him, though the sun was so hellishly hot, I knew he wasn’t really cold.
“You’re doing really well,” I whispered.
Toby’s nostrils flared. “I’m being ridiculous. I’m well aware that I’m being ridiculous. Don’t coddle me, Beale.”
He tried to push out of my arms, but I held him tighter. “Whoa! You’re not being ridiculous. Christ, baby, everyone has things they’re scared of. And unlike house pets and rogue microwaves, water is a thing that’s actuallygoodto have a healthy concern about. Did you ever fall in a pool or something? Maybe as a kid?”
He mumbled something against my chest that sounded like, “My dad pushed me in.”
