Page 33 of My Grape Crush
The stairs end on a strip of fine sand dividing the land from the lake. All the magical sounds and scents of Eau de Summer hit me at once—water lapping on the shore, air spiked with the smoky tang of grilled burgers and charcoal briquettes from a distant campground. Rowdy voices echo across the water, their crispness tricking me into thinking they’re closer than they are.
But this end of the lake is deserted—a moonscape.
“Is this all part of Evelyn’s property?” I ask.
“If she had her way, Evelyn would own the entire town.” Dani shoots me a cryptic smile. “But, yeah, everything up until to that marker is Nero Vino.”
She indicates a small sign hammered deep into the sand and marked with PRIVATE PROPERTY.
“Not exactly the great wall of Trump,” I say with a smile.
“I run into the odd person,” she admits. “Dog walkers mostly. But tonight, we have it all to ourselves.”
I meet her eyes, wrestling with the idea that she’s acknowledged we need privacy to hash things out. Then she pops her cover-up off in one smooth motion, and, goddamn, I can’t acknowledge shit.Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Editionmissed the boat with her.
I drop the bag and kick my flip-flops off, dragging my eyes from her to the lake. “Is that our destination?”
Twenty meters offshore, a raft bobs in the gentle current. It’s twelve by twelve, give or take, with a handrail mounted on one side and supported on rusted-out oil drums.
“Do you want to race?” she asks.
“Is there a prize if I win?”
Dani stands there, hair flowing in the breeze, a challenging glint in her eyes. “What makes you so sure you’ll win?”
“I swim every day.” I’m not trying to sound obnoxiously superior. But also, fair warning.
“Are you willing to wager your glory?” She bites back a smile, no denying she enjoys teasing me. Not that I had much to begin with, but she throws me so completely off my game.
I peel off my t-shirt and toss it onto the sand, feeling a tiny hit of pride as she drinks me in. “On the count of three?”
“I'm ready when you are.”
Dani sways from side to side with a smile I’ll recognize later as downright duplicitous. I should have seen it coming. She bolts before my countdown ends, crashing through the water with awhoopbefore disappearing beneath the surface in a smooth, clean dive.
So much for following the rules.
I give her a small head start, then surge for the gold, my feet sinking into the soft mud of the lakebed before I plunge into the shallows. Without ocean currents to battle, I reach the colder depths in record time.
Up ahead of me, she's focused on only one thing: beating my ass.
Not a chance.
With wheels and the engine to swim all day, I power past her. Seconds later, I hoist myself onto the raft and strike a victory pose.
Dani pauses to tread water and watch me preen. “You’re such a guy,” she says, laughing. “Can’t handle a woman beating you.”
“I’d say my inability to handle you was made pretty clear,” I correct. “I had to redeem myself.”
Dani’s expression doesn’t change, but her eyes cloud, and she breaststrokes the remaining distance to the handrail in silence. Silhouetted against the hot-pink sunset that stains the sky, the outline of her glistening curves rising out of the water takes my breath away. All that damp, dark hair clinging to her like a wetsuit, her body designed, so it seems, to test my personal weaknesses.
Dani squeezes water from her hair, scouring me with a look that storms through my blood.
“Speaking of redemption,” she says, “what I did today was wrong and stupid. I fucked up, pardon my French. I’m sorry.”
Wow. Straight up owning it. But the look on her face conveys the effort it took to get there.
I bow my head a touch to acknowledge her endeavor. “Apology accepted.”
