Tell kissed her fingertips. “If I didn’t say it, I had an awesome time with you at the waterslide park. Damn near perfect day—you prancing around in a tiny bikini. Me getting to slather sunscreen all over this creamy skin.” He grinned. “I still can’t believe you went down the Turbo-Slam. Twice.”
“I almost lost my bikini bottoms on that butt buster,” she muttered. It had been a great afternoon. Tackling the various slides. Racing him to the bottom. Spinning down the white water “river” in inner tubes. Swimming with Tell was an experience in itself. His hot, wet, muscular body sliding against hers. Being weightless in his arms. Kissing him underwater.
“Earth to Georgia,” he said silkily.
“Sorry. Just flashing back to some of today’s high points.” She smiled. “Anyway, I heard strange noises in the guest bedroom. When I went upstairs to check, I caught my mom and dad banging the holy hell out of each other.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. I asked if they were getting back together and she couldn’t answer. But she had no problem admitting she still loves my dad. And evidently she still loves having sex with him.”
He rubbed soothing circles on the base of her thumb. “Are you freaked?”
“A little. She said some other things about the time after RJ died that caused me to wonder if I didn’t see things clearly because I was in shock. Not Deck stuff, but family stuff.”
“So you needed a dose of fun today.”
She shook her head. “I needed a dose of you today.”
“Anytime.” Tell placed a gentle kiss on her lips. His eyes were all soft and she felt that melting sensation again.
“Do you ever wonder what it’d be like if your parents got back together?”
“Ain’t happening. My folks hate each other. Even when things were shitty at home, they never said the kind of mean crap to each other that they let fly in public now. My mom went through a major transformation and she’s happier, but she’s also very self-involved. I understand why she’s that way, since she did everything for everyone else for so many years and little for herself. But she’s not the same person. Makes me sound like a bratty kid, but sometimes I miss the mom I used to have.”
“I know what you mean.” Georgia’s mother had gone from a reserved Christian homemaker who deferred to her husband in all things to a Russian interpreter with the INS and a vocal supporter of MADD.
“I figured you of all people would.” He tugged on the bikini string hanging around her neck. “Do you know how much I love bein’ able to talk to you? About anything? You never tell me to grow up or chill out.”
Georgia’s stomach flipped at Tell’s admission, and it scared her too because she was starting to rely on him. She’d sworn she would never be that type of woman again, even when her subconscious reminded her she’d never relied on Deck. It hadn’t been love for either of them; it’d been a marriage based on convenience and family expectations. She steered the conversation back to where they’d started. “So do you think all our familial issues could’ve been avoided if we’d had a trampoline?”
“Possibly. After seein’ your mom and dad doin’ the nasty, there’s all the more reason for you to go crazy and bounce that image right out of your head.”
“How often do you jump on it?”
“All the damn time.” He grinned. “Especially if I’ve had a shit day. Hard to be in a pissy mood after bouncing around in the air for a while. So whaddya say? Hop on up. Show me some of them cheerleading jumps.”
“If I pull something, you’d better be willing to rub out any kinks.”
Tell’s blue eyes went from flirty to fiery. “Oh, darlin’, I can get all the kinks worked outta you and then some.”
Her heart rate spiked when he lifted her arm to his mouth and kissed the sensitive skin of her inner forearm. Tell kept his panty-melting gaze on hers as he licked the bend in her elbow. Just the tip of his tongue tracing the crease of her elbow like he was tasting her slit and Georgia felt the answering pull in her sex.
“I wanna see you.”
See me what? Come unglued from you licking my damn elbow? Sure. I’m already there. “See me what?”
“Letting go.” Tell angled forward, dragging his mouth down the side of her neck. “You taste good. Like sweat, sun, suntan oil and chlorine. And wait… Do I detect the taste of…fear?”
She shoved him. “Not funny. I’m not scared. I have been on a trampoline many times.”
“Trust me. I know. But I ain’t gonna believe you’re not scared until you hop on up there and show me some hot moves, hot lips.”
After expelling a heavy sigh, Georgia crawled onto the springy surface. The sides of the trampoline were enclosed with flexible posts and netting to keep bouncers from flying out.
Tell hung on the outside of the net, a silly grin on his handsome face.
Her heart skipped a beat. Heading into dangerous territory, Georgia. This was starting to feel like more than just a summer fling.
Wow. You’re just figuring that out now?
The black material was taut and warm beneath her bare feet. She’d bounce a couple of times to get her bearings. Perform a few basic jumps and call it a day. But once she started jumping, she wanted to keep jumping. Seeing how much more air she could catch. Using each landing to propel her higher. Testing her limits.
She threw her arms up like she was diving into the sky. Then she threw her arms out into a T. She bounced and spun a circle in the air. She bounced and landed on her knees, quickly twisting her body before the next bounce so she landed cross-legged. Performing that move faster and faster so she looked like a Cossack.
Tell watched her, his fingers threaded through the mesh barrier.
As Georgia bounced and twirled, she felt light as a feather. Carefree. Happy. Especially when she looked at Tell, knowing if he hadn’t pushed her, she’d still be sitting at the table, yammering on about family problems she had zero control over.
“Show me some cheerleader jumps.”
“What kind?” she asked, breathing hard.
“My favorite was those splits in the air.”“Yeah? Like this?” Georgia bounced twice, extending her arms and her heels simultaneously.
Tell whooped. “Goddamn. That was perfect! Do it again.”
Grinning, Georgia bounced harder and caught more air as she stretched herself out like a starfish.
With Tell egging her on, she performed a couple herkies, pikes, figure nines and back flips, ending with a backscratcher and a reverse twist.
Feeling lightheaded and giddy but amazingly juiced up, she slowed the bounces and crawled on her knees to where Tell stood. On impulse, she kissed him through the netting. The only places they touched were mouths and fingertips. Erotic and somehow intimate.
But he broke the kiss far too soon. He rested his forehead against hers. “Will you do something for me?”
“What?”
Then his fingers were on her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Take off your bikini.”
“Right here? Why?”
“Because I have another fantasy involving you.”
“Which is?”
“Very adolescent.” There was his sheepish grin again. “But I’ve always been a simple guy.”
“So tell me this simple adolescent fantasy.”
“You. Jumping on a trampoline. Nekkid.”
It took a beat for that to sink in. “Omigod. You cannot be serious.”
His dimples winked when that bad-boy grin emerged. “I’m totally serious.”
“But…why?”
“It’s fuckin’ sexy as hell. Seeing all those nekkid girl parts bouncing. Makes me crazy to think of seein’ every bit of your sweet pink pussy when you do a split jump.”
She was pretty sure her eyes bugged out of her head.
He laughed. “Shocked?”
“Yes. My God. How long have you been thinking about this?”
“For. Ever. Since the first time I saw you in that itty-bitty cheerleading skirt getting thrown in the air, givin’ everyone in the stands a glimpse of your sweet little ass cheeks. I jacked off to that image more times than I can count.” He actually growled. “So yeah, I’ve been dreamin’ about this a long damn time.”
“So you’ve been out here in the buff on your trampoline with your dangly male bits bouncing?”
“Hell no.” He smirked. “I could hurt myself. Bruising my chest when my hard-on bounced against it.”
She snickered. “Your chest? Cocky much?”
“Haven’t heard you complaining much about me bein’ cocky.” Tell just grinned. “Look, Georgia, darlin’, I wasn’t gonna ask you.”
“Why? Because you know it’s a ridiculous request?”
“No. Because I knew you’d say no.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. This was one sneaky-ass man.
“What?” he said with such an angelic expression she had to laugh.
“Oh, don’t try and pull that innocent look, McKay.”
“What?” he said again. “You’re the one who said you’re not very adventurous.”
“I’m not.”
“So? I’ve made my case and my point. You won’t do it.”
Do not fall for this. Do not.
She poked his chest. “You know what, cowboy? I’m about to get daring. Very daring. Like Criss Angel kind of daring.”
“That right?”
“Yep.” She shimmied her swimsuit bottoms off and threw them at him. “But…if you want me to strip the rest of the way, you’ve gotta do something for me.”
“Name it.”
Georgia cocked her head and focused on his crotch. “I wanna see you whacking off like you did more times than you can count when you were thinking about me bouncing on a trampoline.”
Tell’s cheeks turned pink. “Funny, Georgia.”