𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 ✓

34

"Whose fucking idea was it to bring twister?" I yell out throughout the beach house as I'm unpacking some of the bins that the girls put together. I pull out the game from hell and try to hide it by setting it on top of the fridge when nobody is looking. Lexi comes around the corner with a smirk and helps me unpack while everyone else brings the bags upstairs.

I hadn't ever taken, or wanted to take, anybody to my family's beach house before. My father hasn't used it since my mother died, so I'd been the only one to come here, always alone. Housekeepers still come here often to clean and re-stock the fridge for me. Everyone here assumed that we'd rented the place out and I used their money to buy the food and drinks.

We decided to keep the group small, limited only to close friends consisting of Aurora, Lexi, Chase, Faye, Reece, Luke, and Aurora's friend Kiki. There are four bedrooms so most of us will be able to sleep comfortably. The master bedroom is the only one on the lower level, and I make sure to claim it, knowing Lexi and Chase might try to take it. They may be the only couple but this is still my house. Not that they know that.

Aurora comes down the stairs, wearing a pair of black cotton shorts that cling to her ass and a plain white t-shirt. She wanted to be comfortable for the drive up, but the entire time I was trying so hard to look at the road and not in the mirror at her shorts riding up her legs while she slept. "How do you play Twister? I heard you barking about it from upstairs." She asks, padding over to me, barefoot and watching me unload everything.

"It's nothing." I brush off, trying not to catch her interest and she drops it. I glare at Lexi when she walks into the kitchen with a smug smile on her face.

"Twister happens to be a really fun game that I brought for us to play. But it seems to have gone missing." She says accusingly and points her glare at me. Aurora turns to me and pouts.

"I want to play, have you seen it?" She asks and I roll my eyes, not falling for her puppy-dog face.

"I'm not giving it back," I say with finality, and they both pout when they don't get their way. Everyone else comes back downstairs and since it is still light out, we all decide to go outside and chill on the beach. The sun is high and it is the perfect day for a swim, the heat is almost unbearable the second that we open the door, surprising for late winter.

The house is right on the ocean, a private beach included in the property and the nearest neighbors are four-hundred feet away on either side. This group of houses is located in an inlet, meaning the water is mostly still depending on the weather. It might as well be a saltwater lake. The back door opens onto a porch that sits just above the sand and I walk out, standing where the water reaches my feet while everyone goes to change. I wore my swim shorts on the drive up, knowing that I'd want to swim as soon as possible.

Swimming as a kid was always special to me, a way to escape everything including all the noises of the world, and be truly alone beneath the water. I'm going to use this weekend as an excuse to teach Aurora how to swim.

I hear the voices of my friends emerge from the back door and I turn to face them. Aurora walks beside Reece, chatting animatedly while wearing the same clothes as earlier. I stand up to walk over to them.

"Can I borrow her for a sec? Thanks." I direct towards Reece and spin Aurora around to march her right back through the doors and into the house. She doesn't bother struggling in my grip and I let go of her when we reach the base of the stairs. I motion for her to walk up and she obeys. I follow her into her and Kiki's room and sit on a bed. "Change," I order, and she just crosses her arms across her chest.

"Why? I'm not swimming, and I'll burn." She says and I roll my eyes.

"You will swim, I'm going to teach you how. And that's what sunscreen is for. Now you're out of arguments, so change." She grumbles but reaches for her bag to set it on the bed, rummaging through it and bashfully hiding her bathing suit from my eyes. I smirk as she walks out of the room and emerges once again wearing her clothes, but this time she has her underwear bunched in her hand and a raging blush across her fair skin.

I leave her alone, wanting her to be comfortable with me. Especially if I'm going to get her into the water. So I relent, waiting outside her room so that she can get her bearings. When she emerges, I grab her hand in mine and lead her back down the stairs, letting go once we get outside so I can take my shirt off.

She stares at me so I turn around, giving her a view of my back. I never would have thought that an innocent girl like her would be into tattoos, but I know she loves mine by how much she stares, so I give her what she wants, walking ahead of her and waiting once my ankles are submerged in the water. Everyone else is either playing in the water and swimming or sunbathing.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Aurora hesitantly step out of her shorts. She doesn't meet my eyes as I take a step closer to her. I reach for the hem of her shirt and she allows me to lift it up over her head, making me gulp as her gorgeous body is bared.

I take a deep breath in through my nose as my eyes follow the path of her shirt. Her bikini is blue with ruffles all around her hips. When she looks up at me with wide, vulnerable eyes, I try to hide the lust in my mine as I take her hand and lead her into the water. I walk backward and she doesn't look anywhere but at me. Trying to take her focus off of the water as it rises to her hips, I place my hands on them. Aurora's eyes flicker to my lips and I smile, still leading her further into the water until she can no longer touch without her head being submerged.

I hold her above the water and she relaxes. "Just focus on me. Do you think I'll let you go?" I ask and she immediately shakes her head. Her arms try to wrap around me but I hold her out farther away. "Kick your legs and use your arms to propel yourself above the water. If you push down on the water, you'll move up." I direct her and she nods and does what I say.

Her eyes widen and she smiles, giving me a look of delight when she manages to push herself higher out of the water. I let her get used to it before speaking up. "How do you feel about me letting go?"

"Okay." She says hesitantly and continues her movements when I let go of her waist. She almost goes under a few times but doesn't let me help her. That's my girl.

After a little while, Aurora is swimming circles around me but still nervous to go out any further. "Look at you!" I hear Chase's voice speak up and Aurora grins. When she gets tired, instead of going back inside, I hold her and swim for both of us, playing around with her. Chase comes out to us to hand Aurora an adorable bucket hat to cover her face and she blushes while she thanks him. He sends me an appreciative smile and I nod.

After the sun sets, we dry off on the porch before going back to our rooms to change. I change into some shorts and a black t-shirt, looking around the room and out the window. When I exit, everyone else is already gathered in the living room.

"Look what I found on top of the fridge!" Lexi says conspiratorially as I enter the room and I groan. She's trying to kill me.