Page 41 of Break Away
I lifted a brow. “Feet guy?”
His eyes returned to mine. “No.”
“Defensive.”
“Concerned.”
“About my feet?”
“About how many weapons you can turn your body into during one conversation.”
I laughed and moved closer to the water, where the sand was damp and firmer beneath my toes. “That might be the nicest thing you’ve said to me.”
“You set a strange bar.”
“You keep clearing it. Embarrassing for both of us.”
He followed and stopped beside me as the lake rolled in tiny dark waves near our feet. For a few seconds, neither of us spoke. The air had cooled enough to raise bumps along my arms, but I refused to shiver because shivering in front of Easton felt like surrender, and I was not doing that in a bikini.
His attention moved over my arms anyway. “You’re cold.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re covered in goose bumps.”
“Maybe I’m thrilled by your conversation.”
“Then your standards are lower than I thought.”
“Don’t flirt with me using humility. It’s manipulative.”
“Everything is manipulation to you.”
“Only when men do it.”
His gaze stayed on me, steady and too perceptive. “And when you do it?”
“It’s strategy.”
“Convenient.”
“Efficient.”
He looked toward the water, his jaw tightening like he was fighting a smile. “You ever get tired?”
The question landed wrong, although it wasn’t hard or cruel. It was simply too close.
I turned my head slowly. “Of what?”
“Keeping every answer sharp enough to draw blood.”
The fire cracked behind us.
For a second, I saw a bedroom instead of a shoreline. Bright lights. A phone angled low. Darian’s friends whispering like they were disgusted and delighted at the same time. All of them touching me like they owned my body without permission. Darian’s face when he told me I was overreacting. Darian’s mouth saying my name like an apology he had already decided I didn’t deserve.
Aura.
I shoved the memory down so fast it almost took my breath with it and smiled. “Careful.”
