Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73445 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73445 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
I wanted to steal those thoughts away from her. She should never feel anything but pure and perfect. She needed a distraction before the darkness ate her alive. We both did.
“Why don’t we get out of here for a little bit?” I approached her and offered my arm as I had made a habit of doing.
“I don’t know about you, but I could use some fresh air.” She silently intertwined her elbow with mine and allowed me to escort her out of The Oleander. The fragrance of magnolia, the sound of insects buzzing, and the occasional croaks of frogs set the perfect mood beneath the starry sky.
Normalcy.
Even for a few hours.
As we made our way to the pool, I said, “It’s a warm night. I think a swim is exactly what we both need.”
I didn’t have to say anything more or try to convince her because Grace instantly began stripping down.
Just as she was about to dive in completely naked, she looked over her shoulder at me. “It’s not like we haven’t been naked in front of each other a few times already. I think we’re past all that bashfulness by now.”
I chuckled. “Fair enough.” I started to undress as I watched her gracefully dive into the pool, cutting through the crystal water with her flawless body.
It was refreshing to jump into the water, but even more so watching Grace swim around me. She didn’t worry about getting her hair wet, or messing up her makeup, and I realized right then that I found she didn’t care about being manicured, have blown out hair, and being a perfectly painted woman, enticing. It was something that had always been missing in the women I dated before. Arm candy came with a price, and Grace was far from just a sweet piece of confection.
“Do you think anyone will see us?” she asked as she wiped the water from her eyes and smoothed back her slick hair.
“Does it matter?”
“I guess not,” she said with a playful smile. “I checked modesty at the door.”
“Nothing wrong with being comfortable with your body and sexuality,” I said, not caring if anyone saw me swimming naked either.
“Actually… I’m not. Or at least I never was before. I know it might sound nuts considering that I agreed to be a belle, but I’m not exactly promiscuous. I was always the kind of girl who hid my body rather than flaunting it. I don’t like the attention.”
“That’s a shame that you feel that way,” I said, swimming closer to her. “You have a beautiful body and should never hide it.”
“That’s the first genuine compliment you’ve given me.” She laughed as she swayed her arms around in the water in a delicate underwater dance. “Odd really. Everything is so backwards here. We’ve had sex before even having a full conversation. We’ve been intimate in ways… well, further than I have ever truly been with anyone, and we haven’t even kissed. We aren’t following the proper steps of a courtship, Mr. Kingston,” she teased.
“Far from proper,” I agreed, inching closer. I needed to be near her. The pull was too much. “I apologize for that.”
“For what?” Her eyes widened.
“For not giving you what you deserve. I should have voiced my thoughts which have been filled with silent compliments. And I should have kissed you before we had sex.”
“I don’t think you did anything wrong.” She tilted her head at me. “Considering the circumstances, it wouldn’t have been appropriate for you to have kissed me that night or any other time.”
Her eyes went distant for a short moment. “Kissing is about feelings. You have to care about someone to kiss them. You should want to with your heart, not just your… Well, you should just want to kiss.” Her cheeks blushed an adorable pink.
I closed the last remaining distance between us. “But what if I wanted to kiss you but didn’t?”
She looked up at me. The droplets of water on her face sparkled with the lights of the pool around us and the dim moonlight above.
“You’re gorgeous, Grace. Everything about you captivates my attention. I wish I could give you everything befitting of someone like you. I wish I could treat you with the respect I would if we weren’t locked away in this house. I wish that things were different and that I could do it the right way.”
In the midst of my world that valued false smiles and never-ending facades, it felt shockingly good to tell the simple truth.
“The right way?”
I boldly ran my fingers through her hair and nodded. “It would have been nice to take you out on a date, bring you flowers, walk you to the door and kiss you goodnight.”
“That would have been nice,” she softly said, her breath caressing my face.
Our eyes locked, and I could hear nothing but the beat of my heart.