Page 76 of Fresh Canvas
Rolling my eyes to the ceiling, I cursed again. I was acting like a wimp, and I knew it. Val had already seen me with no make-up, wearing sweats, and still kissed me like the world was on fire. So I instructed myself to get over it, wrapped my near-nakedness in a towel, tossed back my paint-splattered hair, and marched outside.
Val had just finished a lap, still somewhat freckled from the paint pods. His dark, wet hair was glossy and slicked back. My eyes took in the rivers of water that were, in fact, dripping overhis six-pack. Poseidon himself was probably cursing somewhere and dropping into a pushup.
Val frowned, taking in my expression and towel-clad body as I sat on the edge of the pool.
“What’s wrong?” He moved through the water, stopping and framing my bare legs with his hands on the pool’s edge.
“Can I be honest for a second?”
“Of course.” He lifted one of my hands and kissed it. My heart tripped over itself.
“You look like…” I gestured to Val’s torso with a lingering look. “That.”
Puzzled, he looked down. “Okay?” He squinted. “You’ve already seen me half-naked, remember?”
“Like I could forget! But... you haven’t seenme.” I bit my lip.
Realization dawned on his face, which softened into a sincere smile.
“Amantha,” Val said gently. “You don’t understand how wildly beautiful you are. Whatever’s under that towel isn’t going to change that. If anything”—his voice darkened—“I’m positive it’s going to confirm what I already know.”
“Which is?”
He kissed me then, slow and hard, before whispering against my cheek. “That you are one of the most infuriatingly magnetic, confusing, alluring,sexywomen I’ve ever met.”
Goosebumps spanned the length of my body as I tried to inhale and exhale properly.
Val held my gaze as he reached toward me, eyes asking permission, until I nodded. He tentatively tugged the top of my towel, pulled it down and across my body, and laid it behind me.
My nerves were on fire as I watched him.
Val’s gaze roamed my body as if it were a work of art in the museum. His lips pressed to mine again for a long moment before he pulled away. “You’re incredible.”
Val wrapped his arms around my waist and hips, easing me into the water against him. He sank deeper, pulling me down until water lapped at our shoulders. I hadn’t noticed before, butfields of scattered freckles graced the top of his. I traced the constellations with slippery fingers, trying to ground myself. The feeling of his bare skin against mine was an entirely new sensation. I shivered.
“Are you okay?” His eyes hadn’t strayed from my face.
“I will be. After having Anthony, it’s always been difficult for me to feel confident…like this.” I gestured to my bikini.
Val nodded, though his eyes blazed with an intensity that sent heat prickling up my neck.
“I can respect that, even though my perspective of you is, well, entirely different. You are—and this is putting it weakly—insanely attractive to me.”
He closed the space between us with a kiss that tasted of sunshine and chlorine. His hands grazed my lower back, equally teasing and tantalizing. Gathering a fistful of my damp hair, he gently tugged backward to expose my throat, which he fervently kissed.
A gasp escaped me. “Okay, okay, I get it.”
“Get what?” Val rasped, his lips traveling to my bare shoulder.
“You think I’m hot.” I tried to regulate my breathing and failed.
“Smokinghot.”
I breathed out a chuckle and unwound myself from him. I gave three feet of space between us for good measure and splashed a handful of water at his face.
Val gave a wicked smile before disappearing beneath the surface. Seconds later, he lifted me and slung me over his back.
I shrieked, laughing and kicking.
