Page 51

“Sabrina,” I call.

Silence. I start walking toward the tree line just as she comes bursting through it.

“There’s a lake down there,” she bursts out. “ I want to go swimming.”

“I don’t have a suit.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I grabbed one for you.”

She goes past me and starts pulling Walmart bags from the truck. The suit in question is a pair of black and blue trunks. Luckily, she didn’t pick out anything too silly, but I don’t have time to dwell on it, because she’s walking right past me and into the tent. Zip—and she’s gone.

“I’m getting in my swimsuit,” she calls, zipping it up. “Don’t come in.”

I don’t point out that I’ve seen her naked. I’ve had my whole face between her thighs twice, but that’s fine. I take everything else we’ll need for the night out of the truck, including the little camp stove I bought and some canned food. When I turn around, she’s coming out of the tent. My body tingles, head to foot.

God, she’s pretty.

She’s in a little yellow flowered bikini. The top ties between her breasts, ones that I’m thinking about how it felt to touch, to put her nipples in my mouth and curl my tongue around them. My gaze runs over her stomach, to her navel, past it to the tiny bottoms sitting on her hips. She comes to a halt on the edge of the platform, pulling her cowboy boots back on.

I swallow hard.

Every time she takes a step, I can see the perfect seam of her pussy through the yellow and flowers. My mouth parts. I’m staring like I’ve never seen a woman in a swimsuit before. She’s always so covered up on top. I didn’t realize she was going to look like that in a bikini.

“You want to swim right away?” I ask redundantly.

“Before the sun goes down.” She pops her hip out, making the struggle to keep my dick down even worse. “You better hurry up and get your shorts on.”

I’m not about to turn down the hottest woman to ever ask me to go swimming. Moving past her, I duck into the tent and zip it up. I don’t know why we’re both being so private about our bodies when we’ve had sex twice. There’s just this…formality between us that I would love to shake. Maybe after the sun goes down and everything is a little less strait-laced, I’ll see if I can’t break down some of those walls.

I strip and pull my shorts on. Unfortunately, my dick got hard thinking about messing around with her later.

I wait. It’s stubborn.

Carefully, I unzip the top of the flap and peer through the crack. She’s loitering by the edge of the platform, on her phone. There’s a faint frown on her face, and she’s not scrolling, just staring at something. Her mouth tightens, shifting as she chews the inside of her lip. I hope her father isn’t stressing her out again.

Bill isn’t a bad guy. I trust Jamie’s judgement on him.

But there is something I’m missing about the Maxwells. Perhaps I’ll give Jamie a call tomorrow and see if he’s got any ideas. I pause, thinking that over as I realize that will mean me telling my agent I’m taking the slowest possible route back to Nashville with one of Bill’s daughters in tow. And that I’ve slept with her twice already. That’s an added complication he won’t like.

I glance down. Alright, we’re good to go.

Stepping out, I clear my throat. She glances up and looks away, and then a little smile appears.

“Looking good, cowboy,” she says.

“I could say the same for you.”

“I saw you looking a minute ago. It’s alright, I won’t tell anyone.”

She comes over, tucking her hands behind her back, and tilts her chin to look up into my face. A little breeze picks up her hair, skimming across her cheek. My pulse picks up. Gently, I brush the hair away, and she scrunches her nose. Her skin is so warm, so soft against my fingers.

I can’t think of a word to say. I’m not sure I can even think.

“So you want to go for a swim?” she whispers.

I nod, clearing my throat. “Yeah, we can go.”

Neither of us move. For a fleeting second, I consider kissing her or grabbing her like a caveman, throwing her over my shoulder and taking her into the tent. I glance over the campsite and decide the latter isn’t a great idea. The former probably wouldn’t cause too big of a stir.