Page 55 of Rootbound

Fuck.

But I know that if I pursuedthatnow, it would be easy to make whatever it is between us all about sex, and I know that that’s not what she deserves. Not in the midst of reacquainting with her family.

So yeah, I mean it. I want to be a friend. Which means that I should tear my eyes away from how her swimsuit bottoms have migrated, one cheek much more exposed than the other. I absolutely should stop wondering what it would be like to be on my knees behind her. To slides my hands up the back of her thighs, kneading them as I go, until I could sneak my thumb in and slide those bottoms all the way to the side, to see just a peek of her pussy.

That is probably a bit too friendly.

Thank God for Grady and his ability to monopolize a conversation. He’s been yammering on, asking about what Tait’s seen and taken pictures of so far… I’ve been unable to contribute much to the conversation. I’m darting between my attraction and the knowledge of just how much Tait needs a friend, how much I want her to take this time she has with everyone. I feel the need to show her the best of this place, in the hopes that she sees the best in the people here, too.

Her smile is beatific as she takes in the view, ignorant of my warring thoughts. She snaps multiple photos, some including me, but she thankfully doesn’t ask me for any poses or faces. Eventually she lets out a little satisfied sigh, gingerly stepping over to her bag to put her camera away before she joins me in the upper pool.

“I never knew this was here,” she says, quietly, and Inotice how she can’t seem to suppress a smile despite some obvious effort.

“Mmm? Yeah?” I say, because my brain lacks any more duality at the moment.

“Yep.”

I nod, grateful for the water’s cool temperature. Any other year, this would be far too cold for comfort. It’s pure relief in this heat.

When she gets back up, my eyes snag on the crease where her upper thigh meets the front of her hip, and for the life of me I can’t remember what that’s called. Does that part of a woman even have a name? Hip cleavage? It’s fascinating. And I’m tempted to punch myself in the balls so I can focus. I should feel sobered by today’s information. Instead, I feel more urgency, and it’s all centered around the woman walking across the tree trunk, laughing as she cannonballs into the pool below, splashing Grady and Caleb.

That’s when it finally clicks in my thick skull. I really do need to hold off. To be a friend in the capacity she needs, but, regardless, in a non-distracting capacity. She needs the space to get to know this place and her family and I need to keep my dick in check. I blow out a breath when she gets out again, the sun throwing shimmering ripples off the water and making her seem even brighter than everything around her. I grind my teeth when I notice her nipples pebbled beneath her black bikini when she slides her thumbs down the sides of her bottoms to right them. I should probably get a medal for the effort it’s going to take.

I get out and grab my phone, coming up with an idea that will provide both a buffer for me and an opportunityfor her. Charlie texts back right away, freeing me to join Grady, Caleb, and Tait for a few more hours of fun.

We swim and float and mess around like kids, completely separated from the adult, outside world. We start a harmless game of Impossible Questions. I tell her about my friends on the Range, Duke Wade being the most recent, and a surprising one at that. A real, true-blue Texas cowboy who also acts. Then there’s Marshall, an advisor for the show, and also Duke’s cousin, the far rougher of the two. We make loose plans to all go out sometime when they get back on set.

Grady falls asleep, lying on his towel as Caleb sleeps with his head resting on his back. I’m splayed against the warm stone and would be slipping off to sleep myself if Tait weren’t here.

Her presence is a laser pointer; I am the cat. As much as I’d love to curl up in the sun for a nap, I can’t seem to resist her pull.

“Do you mind?” she asks me, holding up a bottle of sunscreen.

“Seriously?”

“Uh, yeah. I take the UV indexveryserious, in fact.”

“That is the most ‘California’ sounding thing I’ve heard you say.” I snort. She laughs and sits in between my spread legs with her back to me, lifting her hair.

I swallow forcefully, squirting the sunscreen into my palms. It spurts out way more rapidly than I’d have guessed, and I end up with a small mountain of it. My hands hover above her shoulders helplessly, feeling the warmth radiating off of them even before they meet her skin.

“I didn’t ask if you were serious in regards to the skincare aspect, Tait, and I think we both know that.”Imeantareyou seriously asking me to put my hands on you, knowing what it will do to me.

We make eye contact over her shoulder, just as my hands land on her and I begin to rub. It would take nothing to pull her back to my chest, to curl my neck around hers and taste her lips. For a brief moment I see it on her face when she registers this, too. I think I hear the hitch in her breath.

And then I recall who she is, why she is here, and I reel it the fuck in, knowing that she will have to take the reins for this to go any further. I tear my focus away from her and put it to my hands, kneading and stroking and massaging. It takes way too fucking long—sunscreen mountain and all—so I’m not surprised when she jumps up and away as soon as I’m done.

“I’m starving, aren’t you?” she practically yells, scaring Caleb awake.

“I could eat,” I reply with a smile.

Twenty-Eight

Tait

Charlie rides up over the hill just as I’ve finished the last of my chicken and broccoli salad. I had been blissfully content: full, warm from the sun but easily cooled by the pool below, calm settled over me like a soothing blanket, despite the frenzy of sensations that had surged under my skin during the sunscreen application.

I only had myself to blame. I knew what I was doing to myself, finding a reason for Henry to put his hands on me like that. I’m certain he was on to me, too.