Page 35 of On the Way to You

“Always have been. But you know… I think I know a way to get us both cleaned up quickly…”

A mischievous grin was painted on that gorgeous face of his as his hands wrapped around my wrists. He slowly started walking backward, tugging me with him, and I just looked at him, confused.

Until I realized he was steering us toward the pool.

“Ohhhh, no,” I argued, trying to pull away from his grasp. “Don’t even think about it. I’m not the one covered in sauce.”

Emery launched at me, wrapping his arms all the way around me and crushing me to his chest as he picked my feet up and walked even faster. “You are now!”

The sauce that had previously been only on him smeared on my clothes and skin, too, no matter how I tried to wiggle away. I shrieked, laughing and protesting with my tiny fists hammering on his chest, but it was no use. With just enough warning to hold my breath, we tipped over the sidewalk and into the cold water, his arms still wrapped around me until we both went under.

The cold of it was a shock to my system, and it took a second to actually get my body to inhale once I emerged again, eyes and mouth wide. My glasses had come off in the tumble and I slapped at the water frantically until they were in my hands and back on my face, the heat from my face making them steam up a little.

Emery just laughed.

“H-h-hate you,” I chattered, but I couldn’t fight off the smile. “You’re d-d-dead.”

“Yeah? You’re going to do the killing?”

I nodded, which only made him laugh harder, so I splashed him.

It was so cold I couldn’t think. I needed to get out, not only to find warmth but to dry my leg, which wasn’t exactly built for water sports. But my feet wouldn’t carry me toward the ladder to get out, because at the exact moment I went to move, I noticed Emery’s tight, wet t-shirt.

It was just a heather gray t-shirt with a simple logo in the top right corner, but now, it was clinging to his chest, hugging his arms, outlining the defined ridges of his abdomen beneath it. His normally messy hair was wet and dripping, one strand of it falling in a slant over his left eye as he moved toward me. Those eyes were locked on mine, the smile he’d worn before fading more and more with every inch he closed between us.

“Cold?” he asked.

I swallowed, which was enough of an answer I supposed, because he didn’t stop until our chests were touching. His arms wrapped around me again, pulling me into the heat of him, and I just stared at the wet fabric stuck to the middle of his chest, breath as shallow as a rain puddle.

“Cooper.”

He rasped my name, the sound of it vibrating his chest still pressed against mine. My arms were crossed tight over my stomach, which meant they were brushing his abs, and I felt his breaths coming strong and steady, like the fact that we were wet and touching didn’t bother him in the slightest.

My eyes followed the crease lines marking his soaked shirt up to his neck, his set jaw, until I met his gaze.

Emery looked so dangerous in that moment, like a warning sign on a barbed wire fence.Keep out, his eyes warned, but my hands grazed the hard muscles of his abdomen under the water, anyway. I was drawn to that wire, my skin not yet shredded from the barbs, from thinking I could climb over, the lesson not yet learned.

“You were jealous last night, weren’t you?” he asked, voice low and rough. “Of Emily.”

My fingertips twitched to reach up for my hair, but they were still pinned between us. I couldn’t hide from him in that moment. I wasn’t sure I ever really could before.

“A little,” I breathed.

Emery swallowed, and then the eyes he’d had fixed on mine fell slowly to my lips, and my stomach fell quickly to the bottom of the pool.

“Don’t be.”

The inches between us turned to centimeters, his gaze still on my lips, and all I could do was inhale a breath and close my eyes. The water, so icy cold before, was hot and still around us, the mere proximity of him serving as a heater. Time seemed to stick, the second hand caught in a glitch, unable to move forward until the next move was made. And I waited — thought I wasn’t sure what for. A kiss? A new breath? A promise?

But none of them came, just a pained sigh as Emery’s forehead leaned against mine, and I felt the air leave his lips and touch my own, though nothing else did.

“Come on,” he said after a moment, pulling back until it was only his hand that grasped mine. My eyes fluttered open, lids heavy, heart like an anvil in my chest. “Hot showers, cold beers, and new plans. In that order.”

Emery smiled, though it seemed strained to me, and then he turned, guiding me out of the pool in what felt like slow motion.

We were both shivering when we stepped inside, Kalo bounding up to the both of us immediately and licking at the water dripping from our clothes. Emery told me to take the first shower and all I could do was nod, still in a daze. When the bathroom door was a barrier between us, I pressed my back to it, letting my head drop to the wood, and took one long, deep breath.

As if oxygen could save me.