Page 28 of Irreconcilable Attractions (Westwend Boys #1)
The silence between us was comfortable as Derek’s fingers ran up and down my back.
Blinking slowly, I felt myself sinking further into his warmth, the exhaustion from the day finally catching up to me.
When his fingers ran up to run through my hair softly, I hummed in contentment, my body growing heavier by the second.
Before I knew it, I’d drifted off to sleep, lulled by the sounds of Derek’s heartbeat and rocked by the rhythmic nature of his breathing.
“Derek Hammond, you dog!” Chris squealed, smacking him on the shoulder with a devious smile. “The girls in town are going to be absolutely heartbroken!” She cackled, pushing Derek’s face aside to expose the prominent hickeys on the side of his neck.
Derek shoved her hand away with a playful laugh and rolled his eyes as she continued to rib him. “You’re acting like you’ve never seen a bruise before.”
“Those are more than just some simple bruises, mister!” Chris attempted to maneuver his face again but Derek swatted at her. “You look like you got choked out by an octopus!”
Brown eyes swung to me, the obvious humor in his smirk reassuring me that he wasn’t upset someone had noticed the marks.
I had felt pretty bad this morning after we discovered I’d left several bruises on Derek in the heat of the moment.
But he’d just stood before the mirror, admiring them with such reverence a primal part of me had almost purred in contentment.
The way he had delicately traced over them with his fingertips made me want to leave more all over his exposed flesh.
And if it hadn’t been for our plans to meet Chris at the river this morning, I would have done just that.
We’d briefly considered hiding them, but ultimately decided that using anything to cover them would be just as suspicious as the actual hickeys.
Secretly though, I was irrationally pleased that he was walking around with such an obvious sign of our encounter on display.
Trailing after Chris and Derek as we made our way along the street, I couldn’t stop picturing the way Derek’s eyes had darkened when he first caught sight of the discoloration along his neck. Would he let me leave my marks in other places?
I wanted to sink my teeth into that bubble butt of his and leave bruises of my fingertips along his hip bones while fucking his brains out. Discreetly, I adjusted myself as my cock sprang to life at the thought. Now was not the best time to be getting a raging hard on.
We were currently on our way down to the water in a secluded section of the Cypress River that most of the locals used when they wanted to get away from the tourists.
The spot was kind of hard to get to since the path was steep and sloped in weird angles, but it was well worth it if you could brave the trek.
Chris and I had made the decision to close the cafe today weeks before Derek had come to town.
We’d wanted some time in the river, and the loss in revenue wouldn’t be that great, given that today was a Sunday after a holiday.
Most of the tourists that came to Westwend for the Fourth would already be long gone by the time the cafe opened anyway.
We had extended an invitation to Mitchel, but he’d politely declined.
After trekking down the incline, we got ourselves settled when we got to a flat portion of the river bed, laying out some towels.
Chris brought a portable speaker that she quickly set up with some ‘summer’ playlist blasting.
Her music taste was pretty broad, so the song choices weren’t in one set genre.
One of the nearby trees had a make-shift rope swing attached to it. The rope was frayed and knotted in weird sections all the way to the branch, but it was still sturdy enough to hold the weight of a grown man.
The three of us relaxed into the cool spring-fed water, chatting and drinking, while we escaped from the sweltering Texas heat.
Floating lazily in the middle, Chris hung off the green inner tube she’d brought while sipping at one of her wine coolers.
She was watching Derek as he backed up the riverbed, holding onto a low knot of the rope-swing before he jumped up and held on as momentum brought him over the open water .
He let go without much preamble, splashing loudly into the blue water below.
Chris let out a loud boo as he surfaced. “No creativity!” She cried, lifting her drink in protest.
Derek ran a hand through his hair, swimming over to her on the tube.
“What? Were you expecting some daredevil shit?” He wrapped an arm around the float, slowly kicking to pull them back to the middle.
“Of course! No one wants to watch people just dropping off the rope like a dead body.” She shifted up, the rubber of the tube squeaking loudly as she attempted to prop herself in a different position. “If you don’t risk paralysis, did you even go off the rope?” She exclaimed.
Derek laughed, shaking his head hard, sending a spray of water all over her. She squawked, using the arm with her drink in it to shield her face.
I sat in the shallows, watching the exchange with a huge grin on my face. There was something about seeing the two of them get along that filled my chest. Chris was my best friend—the person I trusted the most in my life outside of my family.
And Derek? Derek was… Well, I didn’t know yet. I wasn’t sure where things between us would go, but he so effortlessly blended into my life that I was struggling to keep my brain from running away with possibilities for the future.
“Colton, show him!” Chris called out to me. Her high ponytail swished as she whipped her head toward me.
“Yeah, Colton, show me!” Derek called too, sarcasm lacing his voice. He wore a smirk on his face that told me he didn’t really think I could do better.
I raised an eyebrow, pressing my tongue into my cheek. “You do remember I grew up playing in this river, right?”
“So then show me.” He shot his arm out toward the rope swing with a teasing grin.
Oh, it was like that, huh? Well, who was I to deny him exactly what he wanted? I maintained eye contact with Derek as I took a slow swig from my drink. Then I stood to pull my shirt over the back of my head.
Chris let out a loud whoop, but the grin had fallen from Derek’s face. His eyes seemed trained on my chest and I flexed a little as I pulled my hair into a ponytail.
Wading into the water, I sent a significant look at Derek as I passed them on my way to the opposite bank.
Once there, I snagged the shredded ends of the blue rope and dragged it with me up the slope.
When the tension wouldn’t let me go any higher, I tested the branch with a few sharp tugs.
It seemed pretty sturdy so I jumped, pulling myself higher by a few knots as the wind whooshed by me.
I could hear Chris cheering loudly as the momentum swung me out over the water. Just before I reached the highest peak in the arc, I tucked my knees in while tipping my body backward as I let go. The world around me rolled as I flipped over twice just before I hit the water with a loud splash.
It enveloped my senses, biting and cold. The surface above me sparkled with rays of sunlight. I could hear the muffled sounds of exuberant yelling but I let myself bask in the reprieve from the heat.
After a moment, I kicked my way up, taking in a large lungful of air when I broke free. Derek was still holding onto the tube, a stunned look on his face as Chris pumped her fist in the air, chanting my name.
I couldn’t help sputtering out a laugh at his dumbfounded expression. I swam over to them and looped my arm around a free section next to Derek.
“Now, see! That’s how it’s done!” Chris exclaimed, looking over the side of the tube at Derek with a decidedly smug expression.
“I don’t see you doing any insane tricks!” He shot back, our shoulders brushing lightly as I settled myself.
She scoffed, setting a delicate hand on her chest. “I don’t need to prove my worthiness to you, thank you very much.” She turned her head up, faux-haughtiness in her voice.
“What she isn’t telling you is she’s scared of heights.” I winked at Derek.
His face was tinged with a pale red tone, and up close it was obvious he’d gotten too much sun. He shot me a conspiratorial grin, Chris guffawing above us.
She started going off about how she could definitely do a cooler trick than me while I pulled the tie from my hair and dipped my head back to smooth out the strands.
“No, I’m serious! Just watch me!” She placed her drink into the cupholder of the tube before slipping into the water under it.
I laughed, turning my body to watch her go. Derek turned in a similar motion but eyed me slightly.
“I didn’t think you were going to join us.” He said.
“Why?”
He shrugged a little, kicking his legs to drift us into a position that gave us a better view of Chris struggling with the rope.
“I just thought maybe you couldn’t get into the water with your… piercings.” The beat caused me to glance at him. There was a flush running up his neck and ears which was most definitely not from the sun.
I bit my lip to hold back my grin.
“They’re not a problem,” I laughed, brushing my leg against his under the water, “But they can be… distracting .” My foot grazed up his calf.
He shuddered, staring at me heatedly.
“That they are.” He muttered, brushing his hand along the small of my back.
On the opposite bank, Chris was hauling herself up the slope with the rope.
“Do you like them?” I asked, my tone casual .
He sucked in a deep breath, giving me another heated side eye.
“Yeah, a lot .”
The way he said it made me pause. He’d acted so strangely when he learned I had my nipples pierced. At the time, I’d just brushed it off as heat exhaustion or being tired from the basketball game, but, what if?
“You said last night that you’d had an enlightening experience.” I started, sending a thumbs up at Chris when she called out to us to pay attention.
“Did that experience maybe happen on a basketball court?”
For a moment, the only sounds around us were the lapping water, the music over the speaker, and Chris’s babble as she convinced herself to jump.
I thought he wouldn’t answer and was trying to wrack my brain for a way to apologize for prying when he practically whispered,
“Maybe.”
Chris’s scream as she launched herself off the slope and into the water matched the one going through my head.