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He fooled me. Lied, pretending he gave a fuck about teaching me how to swim.
He tapped into my fear of water, of how I always thought I’d forget how to swim and drown. Marcus pretended as though he was strictly a psychiatrist caring for his daughter’s best friend.
I was so nervous the water would fill my lungs and never get out. He’d heard me say it over dinner once and he used this information to draw me to him.
And it worked. When he offered to guide me through it for the first time, I wanted to say yes. Choked, I looked between his open arms and his face.
“You can trust me. I won’t let go,” he promised, his voice shifting into kind yet firm one. A trustworthy one. The liar. “I’ll just walk while I hold you up in the water. Nothing more, nothing less. You won’t even have to kick your feet at first. I’ll make it easy and comfortable for you.”
The scene felt so surreal to me. For years, I’d been so infatuated with this man.
I couldn’t let him touch me. It would end in a disaster. I’d die. Dissolve into nothing and melt into the water.
My inexplicable fear took second place. Because the insistent fluttering in my stomach wouldn’t let me be.
Marcus dipped his chin, his gaze inviting.
“I won’t be swimming, though.” My teeth grazed my bottom lip. “I’ll lie there like a corpse. I’ll fail you.”
“You could never.” His face hadn’t warmed, but every part of him was an invitation. “It’s okay to say no, Leighton. Considering it is a huge step too. I’m proud of you, no matter what.”
His words liberated me. Empowered me. No one had taken that approach with me. Suddenly, the thought of floating in his arms scared me a whole lot less.
I could do it.
“Um, okay.” I placed my hands on the floor, pushing and arching my back. Preparing to slip into the deep water. Into the arms of the man who’d catch me.
I was slow and hesitant, and thank fuck for that. I would’ve drowned otherwise.
As wet footsteps approached behind me, Marcus dropped his arms in a heartbeat. He drifted back, back, back to the far end of the pool.
Away from me.
“Rylan.” He cast his gaze behind me.
At the time, I chalked it up to his love for Rylan. I was sure he wasn’t into me. I just assumed he didn’t want her to see anyone but her receiving his undivided attention.
She’d always been territorial of him. That much had been obvious to the three of us.
“You were right. I am old, Ry.” Marcus pulled his toned body out of the pool, quickly grabbing a towel to tie over his teal swim trunks. “We’ll do this again tomorrow?”
“Nope.” She chuckled, messing my hair as she took her place beside me. I looked up, but she was smiling at him. “Tomorrow, Leigh and I are going to the beach.”
My eyebrows lowered. “We are?”
“Yup. I need some fresh air.” That comment was weird since Rylan hadn’t complained about her dad smothering her before. “We’re joining some people. We’ll be back late.”
“Cool,” I agreed.
“Okay.” Marcus’s gaze shifted to the garden behind him before he looked at us. “I’m heading into town now. See you at dinner. Goodbye.”
“Bye.” Rylan and I waved at him.
Since that strange day, he hasn’t been offering me swimming lessons. If our hands brushed, it was—stupid me thought—by mistake.
Everything’s turned back to normal.
“Normal, my ass,” I whisper in anger.
