Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I was glad he couldn’t ask me questions. Because I had no answers.
Two days later, and Blaise hadn’t returned. Saxon didn’t mention giving me lessons, and I didn’t ask. It had given me time to get my head on straight. I’d been able to think through my reaction to Blaise and him kissing me. Sure, it still made no sense. He had made it clear he didn’t approve of me. Why he wanted to be the one to teach me how to ride was still confusing. Garrett had mentioned it at the gala, but Blaise didn’t appear to do anything his father told him. From what little I had seen and heard, their relationship wasn’t the best.
I finished up for the afternoon at the stables and began walking up to the house when Saxon came running up from the main arena toward me.
“Hey!” he called out, and I stopped to wait on him.
There were a few times today I had thought he would offer to give me a lesson, but he hadn’t. If Blaise didn’t return tomorrow, then I was going to ask Saxon to teach me. I just wished he’d offer first.
He was grinning when he reached me. “I got an idea,” he said.
“Okay,” I replied, returning his smile.
“You need to learn how to swim,” he said. “And it’s been blazing hot today. I think it’s a good time to learn. You’ve yet to get in our pool.”
“As long as we stay in the shallow end,” I replied.
He laughed. “We will today. But eventually, you’ll have to move to the deeper water.”
“Deal,” I agreed.
He lifted his arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “I’ll meet you out there in thirty minutes.”
While I headed up to get changed, I decided I’d bring up the riding lessons while we were in the pool. I wanted to ride again. I’d enjoyed it, and if I had to wait on Blaise, I might never get that chance. I doubted he was coming back.
Nineteen
Within the thirty minutes since I had agreed to let Saxon teach me how to swim, we had managed to add Trev to our small gathering. He showed up, asking if we wanted to go to the springs tonight to a party one of their friends was having. Saxon told him he was teaching me how to swim and that the springs wouldn’t be a good idea for me until I could swim.
Declan had sent Saxon several texts about the party, and he hadn’t responded.
We had just gotten to the pool when she arrived at Saxon’s, clearly angry. Trev looked over at me and wiggled his eyebrows as Saxon took her inside to talk to her.
“He needs to break that shit off,” Trev said as he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the closest lounge chair.
I agreed, but didn’t say anything.
Trev ran and dived into the deep end of the pool. I watched as he swam up and then stuck his head out of the water. He shook his hair out of his eyes, then grinned up at me.
“You can’t learn how to swim out there,” he informed me.
I looked down at the towel wrapped around my body and sighed. He was right, but Saxon was supposed to be teaching me. Not Trev. I wasn’t sure I trusted Trev enough for that.
“I won’t let you drown, I swear,” he said. “Just ease into the shallow end.”
Glancing back at the house, I wasn’t sure how much longer Saxon was going to be. There was a good chance Declan would be joining us tonight. Which meant he wouldn’t be able to teach me how to swim.
I looked back at Trev. “Promise?” I asked him.
He swam to the shallow end, then walked toward the slanting entrance of the pool. “On my life,” he assured me. “Get in here.”
I took the towel and laid it on the table beside me, then slipped off my flip-flops before walking over to the water. I went in just deep enough that it hit my knees, then stopped. It was hot outside, and the cold water was a shock.
“How did you just dive into this?” I asked and shivered a little before moving slowly in until it hit my waist and I felt moderately covered up.
“Get in and get it over with—first rule. Easing in like that is harder,” he says.
I started to argue that I doubted that when he moved his hands against the water, splashing my formerly dry upper body. I squealed as the icy water ran over me.
“Trev!” I yelled, moving to get out of the water.
He was laughing, and I glared back at him.
“I’m sorry! Don’t get out. I was trying to get you used to the water. I won’t do it again.”
“Uh-huh,” I replied, not moving up too far, just away from him.