Easy to say... Not so easy to believe.
Dammit, girl, you can do this.
I squared my shoulders, lifted my chin, and nodded once with conviction. "Yes, I can do this. Once I get my clothes on the right way."
Ollie grinned. "I can help you with that."
He did help me, and I loved feeling his hands on my body again, even it was purely to get my clothes on right. He kissed me again, slower and hotter, giving me the boost I needed to face my judgment day.
Ollie took my hand, leading me back toward the guest house---and my parents.
Chapter Fourteen
Ollie
Nothing had prepared me for walking in on Mara swimming in the hot spring in the nude. Sure, I'd seen her naked before. Once. We'd done the deed, but somehow, seeing her frolicking in the hot spring without a stitch of clothing on had hit me harder than the first time I'd seen her naked. Surrounded by the blue waters, she looked so peaceful and so damn sexy.
But her tranquility evaporated when I told Mara her parents were here. Still, she was handling the news better than I'd expected.
The closer we got to the main resort area, the more we could hear the badminton game unfolding out on the lawn. Some of the younger guests, who were in their twenties like me, had wanted to make badminton a contact sport. The guys kept bumping chests and whooping, and the girls hopped up and down while giggling.
I told them to please calm down, but I guessed as soon as I'd left the vicinity, they'd gone wild again. Their screams and whoops echoed through the open area beyond the last bit of trees at the end of the nature trail.
Mara stopped us within sight of the trailhead. She chewed on her lip, staring at the vague shapes of human beings we could see through the trees.
"You okay?" I asked. "It's cool to take a minute before we go out there."
She sucked in a breath, rolled her shoulders back, and gave me a tight smile. "It's okay. I can do this. About time I stood up to my mom, anyway."
"I know you can do it. You're one amazing woman, Mara. Don't forget that."
"Thank you, Oliver."
Every time she called me Oliver, I wanted to tear her clothes off and make her scream my name. Since I couldn't do that right now, I settled for kissing her.
More whoops and shrieks erupted beyond the trees.
I led Mara out of the woods.
Some guy shouted, "Go for it, Tad! All the way!"
Just as Mara and I reached the edge of the lawn, maybe fifteen feet from the edge of the makeshift badminton court, it happened.
"Go for it for real, dude!" someone hollered.
Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion. I saw the shuttlecock, that comet-shaped ball, fly through the air. And I saw a muscular guy with buzz-cut hair leap high off the ground, his racket outstretched, determined to whack that shuttlecock. He missed and kept sailing, sailing, sailing through the air...
The guy slammed into Mara.
My hand was torn from hers. I tripped and hit the ground rolling.
And Mara screamed.
I came to a stop facedown on the dirt and lifted my head to see what had happened to Mara.
She lay on her back on the ground.
The shuttlecock guy had landed smack on top of Mara, but in the opposite direction. His face was between her thighs, and his dick was crushed to her face.
Mara screamed again, flailing her arms in an attempt to shove the guy off her.
I scrambled to my feet and rushed to her. "Get off her, you dickwad."
The guy seemed stunned, and he didn't move.
So I thrust my hands under him and pushed the shuttlecock ass off Mara. He ended up on his back beside her, laughing so hard his eyes watered.
"Are you okay?" I asked Mara, kneeling beside her. "Did that jerk hurt you?"
She shook her head, but her lips were trembling.
I picked her up and cradled her to me, kissing the top of her head.
And I glared at the dickwad.
He was still laughing.
"Shut up," I snarled at him. "Get your shit and get the fuck out of here. You're banned from Au Naturel Naturist Resort for life."
The idiot stopped laughing. "What? You can't do that, man, it was an accident."
"I told you to calm things down and behave like grown-ups. You and your pals think it's funny to act like lunatics, but we do not condone that kind of behavior here. Your broke all the rules." I hugged Mara tighter. "Get out of here. Right now."
The guy stared at me for a moment, then got up and slunk back to the guest house. His friends followed him.
Every single one of the remaining guests started clapping and cheering.
"Way to go, Ollie!" someone shouted.
Ruth Norris gave me an appreciative nod.
Mara, snug in my arms, was gazing up at me like I'd just defeated Godzilla single-handed. "Thank you, Oliver. You're my hero."
I opened my mouth but couldn't think of a damn thing to say.
Two people, a man and a woman, stood separate from the crowd, doing their damnedest not to look at all the naked guests. The woman lifted her chin and marched straight up to me and Mara. The man trailed after her. He had auburn hair and green eyes like Mara, and the woman had Mara's golden skin coloring and almond-shaped eyes. I'd met these people earlier, so I knew who they were---Peter Severins and Sheryl Kanda Severins.
They were Mara's parents. If I hadn't met them already, I would've guessed who they were based on their clothes. Mrs. Severins wore a navy pantsuit that I figured was designer, not that I knew squat about women's clothing, and her husband wore a gray suit and tie.
It was eighty degrees today.
Mrs. Severins puckered her lips, narrowing her gaze on me. "What have you done to our daughter?"
"Uh, I was just helping her---"
"She's filthy. And wet."
Yeah, Mara's dip in the hot spring had gotten her
