Page 49 of Lumi
“Lumi Robertson, will ye stop complainin’ and start divin’ already?”
“Fine.” Taking a deep breath, Lumi dived down, and I followed. It was hard for her to swim with one hand linked to mine, but she quickly found the two first coins and returned above water to breathe.
“Two more to go.”
I could tell she thought it was silly, but she smiled and dove back down. Lumi was watching the bottom of the pool for coins while I had my eyes on her. Her long hair had untangled from the bun and was waving behind her like a halo of black silk. She moved with elegance and precision and when I didn’t follow fast enough, she tugged at the handcuffs to signal that I should keep up.
“Sixty-seven seconds,” I exclaimed when we were back up with all four coins.
“Only because you cheated with that last coin. Hiding it in the corner was bad sportsmanship,” she accused with laughter.
“I didn’t! I swear it must have moved,” I said with my most charming innocence.
Lumi laughed. “Nice try, but I don’t believe you.”
Like a seventh-grade boy, I retorted by picking her up and tickling her. “Say that ye believe me, or I’ll keep ticklin’ ye.”
Lumi wriggled and laughed, and at that moment, I felt victorious for bringing out the child in her. Even when I stopped torturing her, she had a beautiful glow about her as she lay in my arms, half-submerged in water.
My stomach felt like when you’re on a roller coaster, and there’s a sudden drop. Lumi was easily the most beautiful woman I knew, and right now, she was looking at me with an expression I hadn’t seen in years.
Was our skin-to-skin contact reminding her of our night together?
“Lumi.” My Adam’s apple jumped as I stared into her large brown eyes with those impossibly long, black lashes.
“Yes?”
“Do ye know how stunnin’ ye are?”
“No.”
I swallowed and lowered myself a little to get closer to her. “You could be in a movie.”
Her jaw tensed a little. “Damian.”
“Mhmm?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
Lumi pushed away from me. “I’m not falling for that again. I know how charming you can be, but I’m not a teenage girl any longer, and I already told you that my crush ended long ago.”
“I know. I wasn’t tryin’ to seduce ye. Can’t a fella give ye a compliment?”
“No.”
Lumi was using her free arm to try and swim away from me toward the edge of the pool.
“That makes no sense. Are ye sayin’ that ye don’t like it when men tell ye that ye’re beautiful?”
I followed her far enough that she could reach the edge, and with one swimming stroke, I was next to her. “We men aren’t blind, and it’s focking obvious that ye’re stunning.”
“I don’t have a problem with men telling me that. Your fit-cross trainer at the gym mentioned it too, but I don’t want to hear it from you because it means nothing.”
“It’s cross-fit, and what do ye mean? Are ye implyin’ that I’m lying to ye?”
“No. I know ye found me fuckable. At least you did when I was younger. You just never thought I was worthy of a relationship, and because of that, you don’t get to give me compliments.” Lumi lifted herself out of the pool and stared at the handcuffs like her eyes could cut us apart with lasers.
