Page 37 of Sit, Stay, Love
‘It’s called Oxford Falls for a reason.’
‘Yeah. But…’ He dropped his backpack to the ground, placed his hands on his hips, and looked skyward. ‘I guess I’ve never thought about it.’ He turned towards her. ‘Is it safe to swim in the creek?’
‘I used to swim here when I was a kid,’ she said. ‘Not so much anymore. It has to be a super-hot day because the water’s freezing.’
He nodded. ‘Can I go for a swim?’
‘Did you bring your bathers?’
‘No, but I’m not going commando over here. I have underwear on.’
‘Oh… uh…’ Why was her brain suddenly picturing him commando?
‘Would you mind?’ he asked. ‘It’s no different to wearing a pair of speedos. Or very tight boardies.’
‘I… um… you don’t have a towel.’
‘I can drip-dry. I’m tough.’ He threw her a lazy grin. ‘Is it okay?’
‘Mm-hm,’ she squeaked, nodding a little too enthusiastically.
His grin widened and he pulled his t-shirt over his head.
Sera’s breath caught in her throat as somewhere in the recesses of her mind she realised she’d seen him like this before, fighting, swinging a sword above his head, shirtless and covered in mud. Except that was on a screen, and this was in the flesh. The well-toned, tightly muscled, tanned and glorious flesh. She swallowed. Then swallowed again as her gaze dipped down and up his body. His nipples were perky, already reacting to the chill in the air, and pointing right towards her. He had a small patch of dark hair on his chest, and another tantalising strip that disappeared into the waist of his jeans. Her teeth dug into her bottom lip before she could stop them. She wanted to reach out and touch him. To run her hands overhis well-packed abs, to dust her fingers across the V-shaped muscle above his hips, to kiss his collarbones… and more.
Her gaze lifted to find his eyes watching her, and the world stilled. The breeze in the ferns, the chirping of the birds, the sounds of the water – it was all quiet.
His tongue darted out, moistening his lovely pouty lips. His chest was rising and falling almost as fast as Sera’s, and his fingers were twisting the t-shirt in his grip.
Her heart hammered against her ribs, thumping in her throat, almost making her eyes vibrate from its pounding beat.
She had to stop watching him. She had to stop staring.
Say something!
‘Have you chickened out?’ she heard herself ask.
He cocked his head to the side. ‘Nope.’ He popped open his jeans, and the sound seemed to echo through the trees. ‘But I’m going to regret it, aren’t I?’ He hopped up and down and pulled off his sneakers.
Then he peeled his jeans off one leg at a time, tossed them towards his backpack, and stepped gingerly across the ground to the edge of the creek. He was wearing black boxer briefs which hugged every delightful curve of his tight arse, and sat high on his muscular thighs, revealing a tan line just below them.
Sera was in the middle of mentally telling herself off for being such a perv when she noticed his scars. There was a deep indent on the side of his right leg, another behind his knee and a third wrapping around his calf. And now that her eyes were looking at more than his muscles, she could see a scar on the back of one of his arms.
‘I’m going in,’ he called.
‘It’s not very deep, so don’t jump. And the rocks are slippery,’ she added.
He looked over his shoulder and nodded.
She dropped onto the grass. This was not how she thought the day was going to go, watching Ethan James taking a dip in his underwear.
His shoulders tensed and he flinched as the creek lapped against his skin. ‘Oh shit!’
Sera laughed, watching him slowly make his way deeper into the clear water.
‘Fucking hell!’ He spun to face her, yelping, his stomach sucked in and his shoulders bunched up around his ears. ‘It’s freezing!’
She shook her head. ‘I did tell you.’
