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“You know what?” I say, lifting up and brushing my hands down the back of my jeans. “I don’t have anything to do. What did you have in mind?”

He turns back to me, his eyes full of... something. I can’t tell if I’m reading too much into it or if there really is something between us. “You got a swimsuit?”

“Erm...” I swallow. I haven’t worn a swimsuit since I was taken and I don’t want him to see the scars. I know he’s seen them before but not since they were new and raw. They’re different now, I hate the way they’ve healed; how puckered the skin is.

“Change into shorts and that’ll be good enough,” he says, sensing my unease.

I smile, thankful that he knows what I’m thinking without me having to say anything and I go back inside and change into some shorts then shove my feet into my sandals.

Grabbing my cell, I meet him back out front, nearly stumbling when I see him leaning against his car.

It isn’t one of the usual trucks that most of the guys drive around here. No, this is one of those old sports cars that he’s done up. I have no doubt that he loves that car, the shiny red makes it stand out in the crowd and I can almost smell the leather seats from here.

“So,” I clear my throat, walking towards him. “Where are we going?”

He smiles wide. “The lake.”

It takes all of my strength not to touch her leg as we drive, my eyes can’t stop wandering over to her creamy white skin.

When I’d heard that she was all alone, I knew straight away that I wanted to take her out. My mind immediately went back to our conversations all that time ago, remembering how she said she always wanted to go to the lake.

Now that I’m back, I fully intend to make sure she gets to do all the things that we talked about. I’m almost grateful that I remembered because it gives me an excuse to see her again. When Kay had said that she was on her own, I jumped at the chance of seeing her and went straight over there.

Now though, I’m kind of regretting it because telling her to change into shorts was a huge mistake. Just the site of her legs has me squirming in my seat, I shouldn’t be looking at her like this, she’s too young and been through too much. She doesn’t deserve me looking at her in this way so I turn my eyes to the road and concentrate on driving, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.

“So...” I clear my throat. “How’s college going?”

“Yeah, good,” her melodic voice replies, not missing a beat.

“Kay said that you were seeing someone, a therapist?” I almost face palm myself, way to bring that up asshole.

I see her squirm in her seat out the corner of my eye and open my mouth to change the subject but she beats me to it.

“I was... seeing someone but she talked about me to one of the lecturers so I don’t see her anymore.” I nod, thinking she’s about to stop when she carries on saying, “To be honest, I didn’t get anywhere with her anyway. Nothing was changing so I’ve been going it alone.”

“Yeah?” I smile, proud that she’s doing what she needs to and that she knows she’s the only one who can truly make a difference to herself. “And how’s that been going?”

“Good.” She tells me. “I go to the gym a few times a week and I meet Jackson at work as well. The only place I would go to before was to class and work.”

“Wow,” I say, my brows lifting. “Looks like you’re better off on your own.”

I pull the car to a stop in the make shift parking lot and see the water in the lake glistening from the sun. I love it here and I knew as soon as she said about the lake all that time ago that I’d bring her out here one day.

“I am. I mean, don’t get me wrong,” she says, spinning in her seat to face me. “I still have a long way to go but I’m getting there.”

I swallow as my eyes dip to her full lips, wanting nothing more than to press mine against them.

Dammit, I’m going there again.

Pushing open my door, I step

out, needing to get a little space to clear my head because she’s been firmly in it for the last eighteen months and it’s only got worse since last night.

I can’t get her off my mind, I can’t get the image of her sweet face out of my head or the shape of her lips and how soft they look and now, to add to that, I have to watch her in those shorts all day.

I’m not meant to be thinking of her like this, that isn’t in my plan.

The plan was to protect her, like a sister. It had been my plan from the first moment I saw her but I can’t deny that something draws me to her and I need to get over it... fast.