I shrug. “Humiliation is good for the soul. I deserve it.” I nod toward the water. “Come on, let’s jump.”
I don’t have to tell her twice. Underneath her clothes is a teal bikini that looks sexy as hell on her. For a moment, I’m stunned at the sight of her, but then she grabs my hand. “On the count of three. One. Two…”
Before she can say three, I jump and pull her with me into the water. She screams and I laugh the entire time. The second we hit the water, it feels amazing. I let Allie’s hand go so she can surface. When I rise to the top, she’s already swimming toward the rocks. She climbs up on them and I do the same. She wrings out her hair and the water slides down her skin. I can't help but follow it as it drips down her breasts.
“I’m so glad there’s not a bunch of people here.”
I nod and turn my focus to the pool. “Me too.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I love the beach, but it’s not my preferred vacation.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask, grinning over at her. “What is?” I’m curious to know more about her. It’s so hard getting to know someone with cameras in our faces. With Stan and Jean so far away from us, I know they can’t hear. Allie realizes that as well.
She takes in a deep breath and smiles. “Wyoming. I love the mountains out there. They’re so majestic.”
Out of all the places she could pick, that’s the last destination I would’ve expected to hear come from her lips. “Wow,” I say. “I’m shocked.”
Her brows lift. “Why?”
I bump her with my shoulder. “Didn’t take you as an outdoorsy girl.”
She laughs. “It’s been a long time since I’ve actually gone on any kind of vacation, but yeah, I love the outdoors. Hiking is my favorite thing in the world.”
That’s a woman after my heart. I haven’t met any woman who likes to do anything other than shopping in a long time. Every second I spend with Allie, she surprises me more and more. If only she felt the same way about me. There’s still time to make her see that I’ve changed.
* * *
By the time we get back to the car, we’re exhausted. We swam in the natural pool for as long as we could and ate our lunch by the water. Bouncing around in a Jeep for hours along with the sun beating down on you can really take it out of you, but it was worth it. We got to see all of Arikok National Park. If Jean and Stan didn’t have to film, I would ask one of them to drive so I could close my eyes right now and take a nap. Allie’s a trooper on our drive back. She talks to me the entire time, pointing out random things on the side of the road, keeping me awake and focused. Sometimes her exuberance is so over the top, I find myself wanting to kiss her. Who am I kidding? I’ve wanted to kiss her since last night. I’d really love for one of our envelopes to say, “Stay inside and play games all day.” We’d play doctor, strip poker, and seven minutes in heaven if I had my say.
The valet greets us when I pull into the hotel. Both doors fly open and we’re helped out of the car. As soon as I step into the lobby of the hotel, I stop and lift my face to the blowing air. Allie’s arm touches mine and when I look over at her, she’s doing the same thing.
“This feels so good.”
“It does. I can’t believe how hot it was out there today.”
“I can’t believe we couldn’t swim in the ocean,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, the natural pool was awesome. At least we got to cool off there, but it would’ve been nice to swim during our stops in the park. They better give us a snorkeling trip.”
“Give your sister a list of places we want to visit and things we want to.”
“That’s a great idea,” she says through laughter. “I should get preferential treatment, especially since—” her eyes drop from mine.
“Since you were stuck with me?”
“No, I wasn’t going to say that.” But she was. I can see it in her eyes. I should laugh it off and act like it doesn’t bother me, but it does. Clearly, I’m not doing enough to show her how sorry I am for what a jerk I was in high school. Thing is, I never meant to be a jerk. It was just anytime I was around her, I was a dumb jock and didn’t know how to act or stand on my own two feet.
“I’ll meet you at dinner,” I tell her as I walk away. Instead of heading toward the elevators I veer off toward the bar. The thought of staying in there until dinner is appealing, but I want to take a cold shower and try and put some negative thoughts behind me. I find the stairs and take them two at a time until I reach my floor. Thankfully, the door is close to my room and I don’t have to sneak by Allison’s room to reach mine. I’d like to think she’s standing at her door, staring out the peep hole and waiting for me to walk by.
Back in my room, I go right into the bathroom and strip down. I don’t bother looking in the mirror to see my temporary tattoo as turn the shower on and step in. The cold is a shock to my system but a welcome one. I stand there, letting the water rain down on me, numbing my thoughts. By the time I shut the shower off, my teeth are chattering. Of course, it
