"Sure," I breathed out, though I wasn't sure it was actually loud enough for him to hear me.
He immediately brought his attention back to me. Clearly, he had heard me. He hesitated for a minute, looking surprised before his smile returned.
Chapter 14
Sofia
"You might want to breathe," he said softly as he gently painted my face with sunblock.
"You're making that a little difficult," I managed to get out.
He chuckled and ran his hand over my neck and over my collarbones. I shivered, despite the heat of the sun beating down on us.
The sports bra covered most of my breasts, though his fingers brushed across the top of my chest, spreading sunblock. I trembled under his touch. I was both terrified I was getting in over my head and thrilled by his touch.
I gasped when he lightly touched my stomach.
"I'll stop any time," he offered.
"No, don't."
My back arched as he ran his hand over my stomach, and I couldn't help a small moan as he got to my lower stomach below my belly button. He hesitated, and I almost thought his hand shook a little. I kept my eyes squeezed shut. Doc finished my midsection and moved to my legs.
I managed to calm down by the time he got to my feet. He sat next to me on the floor of the boat, leaning his back against the side. His breaths came heavier than normal, and I held in a smile that I'd affected him too.
"Are you two coming back in?" Ed finally called.
"I need to rest. The sun feels pretty good," I managed to get out. "I'm sure you're not tired. Get back in," I said more quietly to Doc.
"Do you want to head back?"
"No, I'm fine." I turned my head toward him and opened my eyes a crack. The predatory look still burned in his dark eyes, and I was no longer calm.
He smiled and brushed some of my hair off my face. "We probably should get back soon."
I leaned into his touch a little. "We have plenty of time. It's just noon. I probably won't get sunburnt if you want to throw the guys around a little longer."
Doc actually blushed and cleared his throat. "True."
"I promise, I usually have more endurance than this. It's just getting beat up last night and adjusting to the altitude slowed me down a little."
"No one is judging." Doc grinned, and the predatory look softened to something closer to his normal easy-going manner.
He stood and lowered himself into the water. One of the guys yelped. I thought it was Ed.
My breathing slowed as the sun beat down on me, and I felt myself drifting off to sleep.
"Dude, what did you do to her?" I was pretty sure that was Allan.
"Sunblock," Doc answered softly.
I was surprised I could hear their conversation.
"She didn't react that strongly when I did her back. You had her all sorts of bothered from the moment you touched her."
How did they know? Oh, right, werewolves...
"She likes Doc," Ed sing-songed.
"She likes all of us," Allan argued.
"Yeah, but Doc has spent more time with her," Ed stated.
"You do realize she might be able to hear you two?" Doc cautioned.
"Thought she was asleep," Ed replied innocently.
"You had better hope so," Doc replied before I heard another yelp and a splash.
My face was burning, and I tried to keep my breathing even. I did not want them to know I had overheard them. It wasn't that I felt like I should be embarrassed, it was more that I really didn't know how I was supposed to feel and embarrassed won the current 'what is going on in Sofia's head' contest.
I drifted in and out of sleep while the guys played, but I woke when the boat rocked. They had all climbed back in.
"Hungry?" Allan asked when I sat up.
He sat on the bench next to me.
"Yeah, a little." My stomach grumbled, and Allan laughed.
Ed reached between us, a sandwich in his hand. I took it from him and dug in. They made me drink a bunch of water, and then Allan pulled up the anchor and away we went, this time with Ed driving.
Allan was sitting next to me, and remembering the overheard conversation, I scooted a little closer and bumped him with my shoulder.
"Have fun?" He put his arm around me.
"Yeah. Thanks."
"We enjoyed having you along. We might get a few more weekends where we can swim. Join us."
I grinned that they'd want me to, considering how much trouble I'd been lately. "I'd love to."
He tightened his arm around me and smiled, pleased.
I offered to help when we got back to shore, but they were so practiced at this that they didn't need my help. They did use the boat ramp since there were a bunch of people in the parking lot. I went with Doc to get the truck and left Ed and Allan to deal with the boat until we got back. I would have waited on the beach, but it didn't feel safe to be alone.
"Have a good time?" Doc asked when we were alone.
"Umhm."
"Good."
Shortly, they had the boat loaded and we were headed back to Doc's cabin. The silence in the truck was comfortable and though I knew we needed to start thinking about what we were going to do about the magic mafia, I wasn't ready to dive into that yet.
It didn't surprise me when Allan and Ed grabbed snacks as soon as we were back inside.
"They're always eating when they're home," Doc complained.
I shrugged. "Seems like they need to. Don't you ever eat?" I had only ever seen him drink tea.
"Yes." He didn't elaborate.
"I'm going to go clean up a little."
"Take your time. You know where the clean towels are?"
"Victoria found them." I hadn't actually been intending on taking a shower, but now that he mentioned it, it seemed like a good idea.
"When you're clean, I'll rebandage your back."
"Okay, thank you."
He headed into the kitchen, and I went
