Page 30 of Love Lessons
She sniffs. “I’d like to paddleyou.”
“Now, now. I’d prefer ifyouwere the submissive. But hold that thought.” I kneel down on the dock and steady the larger board in the water. “Sit down on this. Piece of cake, contessa.”
She tiptoes toward the edge of the dock and looks down. “Push me in and die.”
“Noted.”
She crouches down and then gingerly transfers her hot little body to the board, until she’s seated with one leg dangling into the water on either side. “There you go.” I hand her the paddle and nudge the board away from the dock. “All right. Stand up and paddle. These are nice, sturdy boards.”
I watch as she rises to one knee. But then, biting her lip, she shakes her head and sits back down. “I like the view from down here.”
Making atsk-tsknoise, I lean out and grab the tail of the board before she’s out of reach. “Come back. We’ll do this together.”
“We will?”
I slide myself down onto the board behind her, and it rocks under my weight.
“Whoa!” Vera grabs my knee with her free hand. “Don’t do that!”
“Simmer down, we’re fine. And now you can stand up, because I’m providing ballast. The board won’t move at all.”
She must believe me, because she slowly draws her feet out of the water and onto the board. And—although I’ve seen ninety-year-olds move faster—she rises to her feet, holding the paddle in two level hands like a tightrope walker. “I’m doing it!”
“You are,” I agree, trying to keep the laughter out of my voice. But she’s just so fucking cute. “Now try paddling.”
Carefully, she dips one end into the lake, and then the other, while I try not to get a face full of water. It’s a kindness to say that her stroke is not very efficient. We’re about three feet from the dock.
In one smooth motion, I tuck my feet under me and stand up.
“Oh God,” she cries. “You made us wobble.”
“And yet we’re still breathin’,” I point out. “Here, girl. Like this.” I step forward until my chest is touching the knot in her bathing suit, and I reach around her waist to take hold of the paddle. Then I take a couple of nice, clean strokes to move us away from the dock and out into the lake.
“Okay, wow. We’re moving now.” She grabs the paddle from me and takes over. All I’ve got to do is stand here in the sunshine, breathing in the coconut scent of her sunscreen and admiring the smooth, kissable skin of her shoulders.
The wind picks up, and Vera struggles as the rowing gets a little rougher. She has to exert more effort, and she does this by bracing her feet carefully on the board and leaning back against my chest ever so slightly. “This is fun,” she puffs. “I get it now.”
“I bet you do,” I murmur. If it were up to me, she’d be getting a hell of a lot more than paddle board lessons. “So you’re ready to race me?”
“No!” she squeals. “Fat chance.”
I laugh and turn my face toward the sun. The only thing that would make this vacation more perfect is if she would sneak into my bed later.
As if.
“How far can we go on this thing?” she asks, suddenly an expert. “Could we check that out?” She points at a marble statue peeking out from a niche on the shore.
“Sure. When you want to turn, you take extra strokes on one side. Like this.” I grasp the paddle, and we stroke together. Soon enough, we’re pointing toward the statue.
“Ooh, yes. We got it now,” she says cheerfully. “Okay that’s… Which goddess has a helmet and a snake? Athena?”
“No idea, contessa. That’s your department. I’m just here for the swimsuit competition.” I run one finger over the thin little strap that’s tasked with holding her bathing suit up. “This is a particularly nice specimen.”
She shivers. “Stop. If you do that, I won’t be able to concentrate. We’ll fall in the lake.”
Because I’m me, I do it again, running a finger up along her sun-warmed skin. “You hate that, huh?”
“No,” she says with a wiggle. “Didn’t say I did. But you’d better knock it off all the same.”
