Page 75 of Your Biggest Downfall
“In the water?” she asked, wide eyed.
“Yeah.”
She turned to me with that smile that was going to ruin me. “I don’t have a bathing suit.”
Her joyful tone was like hearing a chorus after listening to a single melody for so long.
I grinned at her, a playful spark in my eyes. “You don’t need one.”
With that, I got up and walked toward the water. Halfway there, I stopped and looked back, raising an eyebrow. “You coming?”
Nova hesitated for a moment, then broke into a jog to catch up, pulling off her top as she did. She revealed a black bralette that made my breath hitch for a second.
When she reached me, she slowed down, glancing around nervously. “What if someone sees us?” she asked, her voice a mix of excitement and concern.
I looked around, spreading my arms wide to emphasize the emptiness around us. “Like who? No one’s here, Nova. It’s just us.”
She smiled, the worry melting away, and a spark lit her eyes that always drew me in. The water was waiting, and so was I—eager to feel the freedom away from everything that had weighed us down.
I pulled off my shirt and tossed it carelessly onto the sand, the grains warm beneath my feet. With a quick motion, Iunbuttoned my pants and slid them down, leaving them in a heap beside my shirt. The cool air brushed against my skin, heightening the anticipation of the water ahead.
There was something about her—something wild and free. She paused for a moment, her gaze locked with mine, before tearing off her jeans with a playful flick, revealing a matching black lace thong that had my mouth watering.
Her honey-colored skin seemed to glow in the soft light, the contrast against the dark lace both striking and seductive. The tattoos on her arms, intricate and beautiful, swirled up her frame like a map of hidden desires. Every curve and line was accentuated by the way the lace clung to her. Her nipples peeked through the thin fabric of her bra, teasing and inviting, making it impossible to look away.
Nova gazed at me, her eyes softening, and there was something almost innocent in the way she did it, despite the fire between us. Her lips parted, and she whispered, “I’ve never been skinny-dipping before.”
31
nova
There was still so much I wanted to say and needed to tell him, yet it had been too heavy for too long between us. I needed to get back to what we were good at. I wanted to be friends with Austin first.
But his confession weighed heavily on my mind. Austin Hart loved me.
Three words that should have filled me with joy left me uneasy. Austin Hart loved me, and while part of me was thrilled, another part couldn’t shake the apprehension. Loving an addict wasn’t easy. It wasn’t the simple, carefree kind of love I had always imagined. Instead, it was tangled up in constant doubts, wondering if I was saying the right thing or handling everything all wrong.
Having this conversation with him felt like walking on eggshells. I found myself second-guessing my words. Was I pushing too hard? Was I being too cautious? It was exhausting, trying to strike a balance between caring for him and protecting myself. My therapist had told me to take it slow, to be careful with my heart, but slow was hard. Slow was painful. It felt like I was fighting against the natural current of my feelings, trying to swim upstream.
But there I was, standing in nothing but my bra and underwear on the edge of Lake Michigan, and all I wanted was to stop thinking for once. I was so tired of overanalyzing, of always trying to do the right thing. I wanted to embrace the mess, to jump in with both feet and see where it took me.
That’s why I was there, ready to plunge into the cold water without a second thought. I was done with caution, with the endless worrying. We were both young, and wasn’t that what falling in love was supposed to be about? The thrill of the unknown, the wild rush of emotions that made you feel alive?
I didn’t want to take it slow. I wanted to feel, to live, to let myself be swept away by the intensity of it all. Austin might have been a risk, but maybe, just maybe, he was a risk worth taking.
“Come on, slowpoke,” I teased him, shimmying out of my bra first, then my thong.
Holding my small chest with one hand, I sprinted toward the lake. Just before jumping in, I tossed the bra aside, letting it land on the shore. I kicked playfully in the water until it reached my waist, then bent down, letting the warm water envelop me. Was my skin flushed because there was a man wildly in love with me? No, it was the heat of the summer day.
I turned to face the shoreline and caught Austin shaking his head, laughing. Then, as if in a slow-motion scene from a movie, he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his boxer briefs and slid them down. He dropped them to the ground, and his hard, veiny cock came into view. I was far enough out that I couldn’t make out the features of his face, but his dick? It was as if the sun decided to make sure it fucking glowed.
He glided into the water, and it splashed as he swam toward me. I hesitated, not wanting to get my hair wet since it would frizz up in the humidity. But then he surfaced, water droplets sliding down his face, and he looked absolutely breathtaking.
“You were staring,” he said teasingly.
“Was not,” I fired back, but when I glanced down, his dick was no longer in view, and damn it, I actually missed it.
I’d already lost my virginity, so these feelings were perfectly normal, right? Plus, he just admitted he loved me. I was so caught up in the moment that I found myself trying to figure out if this was totally fine or if I should be more concerned about my sudden disappointment over a missing penis.
