Page 33 of Dove
Eddie, my obnoxious best friend, bellowed, “Skinny dipping!”
“Fuck yeah,”came someone’s enthusiastic curse in reply.
“Woah,” I barked out sternly, like I was the warden of tonight’s activities. In a way, I supposed I was. I leveled a glare at the group. “No skinny dipping!”
“Don’t be such a party pooper!” A female voice giggled from somewhere in the crowd gathered in the dark treeline. I squinted, barely able to make out the shift of bodies in the shadows, but the tossed fabric of someone’s clothing was unmistakable as it fluttered to the ground.
A girl broke from the group, streaking past us in a flurry of skin and little else, toward the lake. Her bare feet slapped against the dock as she ran, diving into the water at the end with an impressively quiet splash.
That only seemed to encourage the guys more.
“Solid nine point five!” a gruff voice judged. When my glare switched to him, I noticed it was someone from the football team, likely invited by Eddie. He was leaning against his truck, one hand holding the neck of a beer bottle, the other wrapped around a girl I vaguely recognized from the cheerleading squad.
Which meant?—
“Let’s see them titties!” Torrence Weller, captain of said football team, whooped excitedly as if he were spectating a particularly interesting game. Of course, if he was here, his team surely followed.
“Tits and dicks covered!” I scowled at them, gesturing behind me. “Dove’s here.”
“Hey!” Dove objected, batting at my side with enough force a whoosh of air escaped me. “I’m not a baby, Josh,” she grumbledbefore raising her voice to address everyone else. “If anyone wants to get naked and swim in the lake, I say go for it!” In a lowered voice she added thoughtfully, “Actually, it sounds kind of fun.”
Before I could warn her that shebetter not even dare, someone gave a wild, approving hoot.
“See, your sister’scoolwith it, man!” came Torrence’s taunting reply. It barely induced the usual annoyance that coursed through me when someone called Dove my sister, not when I was too focused on what she’d just said. Whipping my focus back to her, I hissed, “You are not?—”
“I didn’t say I was!” She held her hands up defensively, soda can dangling from her fingers.
My hackles lowered. Marginally.
“But if you keep acting like you’re my dad, I just might.”
My shoulders tensed as the sound of splashes and gasping laughter met my ears, growing louder as more joined in, but I kept my unwavering focus on Dove.
Her eyes scanned the lake, considering, before her lips quirked up mischievously. My eyes narrowed, watching. She took a half step closer to the water, side-eying me as she did it, clearly testing me.
I growled out warningly, “Dove?—”
Before I knew it, the soda dropped from her hand, and she was gunning it toward the rippling, moonlit water. I cursed, taking off behind her, knowing it wouldn’t take me long to reach her.
A few quick strides, and Dove shrieked as I caught her around the waist, swung her over my shoulder, and stalked back to where we’d stood. Her soft belly vibrated with laughter against me, and her fists pounded my back.
“Put me down!” she demanded, the command softened by mirth.
I deposited her on the open tailgate of my truck. Two guys nearby chuckled, squinting at us through red eyes as they passed a joint back and forth. Dove huffed, laughter fading as her cheeks reddened with embarrassment and she crossed her arms under her chest.
“I wasn’t actually going to do it,” she griped, practically pouting. I sat down beside her on the tailgate, making the truck shift with my added weight.
I looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”
She rolled her eyes, uncrossing her arms to cup her hands around her mouth and call, “Watch out for leeches!”
High pitch, feminine squeals rang out, followed by the frantic splashing of water and the guy’s pleading shouts for the girls to come back. I averted my gaze as they ran back to shore, catching glimpses of naked, glistening skin. When I turned to Dove, she had a satisfied smirk on her face.
“That’swhat I was going to do,” she drawled, pride evident in her voice.
“You know there’s no leeches in there.”
She rolled her eyes and leaned toward me, tilting her head to the girls rapidly putting their clothes back on several feet from us. In a low voice she pointed out, “Theydon’t know that.”
