LITTLE SECRET | RAFE CAMERON

28: 𝘈𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥

R A F E

The inexplicable irony behind feelings. Feelings were a thing that came in all kinds of different varieties, especially for someone like Rafe.

He knew it all too well, those sudden swings between two emotional states. One moment he could feel good, only to lose his composure again the next moment. It was like a roller coaster ride that had a low in store for him after every high.

However, there was one thing that felt quite new to him.

It felt like the first sunshine after endless midnight rain. Darkness broken by a light that Alice unconsciously carried around with her.

Alice was everything Rafe wasn't and there was nothing he was more aware of than that. She was like the first warmth after an icy winter, warmed his heart with just a look. The way she was so soft and yet let a rough guy like him get close to her showed him how unaware she was of her worth.

A beauty so fragile that he was afraid of ruining her with his ugly sides.

Rafe couldn't describe it. He barely even knew this new feeling in his otherwise miserable life and only vaguely remembered it from his childhood.

It was a feeling he shouldn't have for her. He was an idiot for falling in...for developing feelings for his little sister's best friend. And yet he was the one who let himself be persuaded to go to the beach with her today just because she gave him that sweet dimpled smile of hers when she asked him. They had already spent the morning together, a morning so quiet and peaceful that for the first time ever he felt like he could finally breathe again. So of course he couldn't say no to a trip to the beach with her to round off the day.

„Come on, you're too slow" Alice urged as she dropped the towels and the bag of beach gear onto the sand.

Shaking his head with a chuckle, he watched as she pulled the loose dress off her body and revealed the white bikini which she wore underneath. Her body shimmered in the light of the already setting sun. A body that made him swallow hard by the sight of it.

The way her breasts were hugged by the white fabric, the way the tied bows on her hips held the bikini bottoms in place.

Every curve of her body looked like a painter's brushstroke. The little dips on her hips that she saw as imperfections were one of the many perfections about her in his eyes.

Her flaws weren't visible to him, a perfect painting without any wrong brushstrokes.

While he hadn't even taken off his shirt, Alice was already running towards the water. He spread the towels out on the sand and placed the beach bag on top of them before taking off his shirt and now only wearing his swimming trunks.

His gaze fell to the water, seeing her brushing her wet hair back as she looked at him. Her wild eyes never left him as he joined her in the water, the cold of the water making his muscles tense.

„Is the water too cold for you? Need it a little warmer?" She giggled and swam towards Rafe when he was in as deep as she was.

„Shut up, Blakely" He said with a shake of his head. „if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here right now"

„Oh please, as if golfing is better than this" She huffed while she stayed afloat. Her eyelashes made her eyes shimmer through their wetness.

Rafe looked at her thoughtfully. Hitting a tiny ball into holes or being at the beach with her as the sun sets on the horizon. Shit, anyone who would choose hitting that stupid golfball into holes instead of being here would be a damn fool.

„It's not" He shook his head. „but you'll definitely go golfing with me cause I came here with you"

„You're just looking for a reason to spend time with me" She laughed and drifted closer to him, the waves around her so shallow.

„You're the one who begged me to come here"

„And you came with me"

„So?"

„So you like spending time with me"

„No, I don't" He rolled his eyes, splashing a bit of water directly into her direction.

„Stop denying it" She managed to splash much more water at him in return, directly into his face, so that he had to wipe the water out of his eyes as she laughed at him. „if you start this war you'll-„

Alice was interrupted mid-sentence when Rafe pushed her underwater by her shoulders. Just long enough for her to come back up gasping for air.

„You asshole" She shouted, laughing and leaping on top of him, her hands on his shoulders as she tried to push him down-without any success.

Their sweet laughs mingled as he wrapped his arms around her body, holding her close. Her arms closed around his shoulders and held onto him, his wet hair dripping down onto her body. She screamed and laughed, tried to stop him when she understood what he was planning to do, wanted to free herself from his grip and yet it was too late when he took a deep breath and dove underwater with her in his arms, taking her breath away just like she took it away from him every time when she looked at him with those deep brown eyes of hers.

Rafe brought her back to the surface a few seconds later.

He had to laugh when he saw her wet hair covering her eyes. He gently brushed it out of her face, her legs locked around his waist as her eyes were uncovered again and met his.

The sun was low on the horizon, the lovely colors played in the sky and soaked it in reddish light, which was reflected on the surface of the water.

Rafe and Alice's previous laughter faded and remained in their shallow smiles.

He felt the fabric of her white bikini pressing against his chest as he held her above the water. His hands cupping her hips and feeling her goosebumps on his fingertips. And he could see it all so clearly now. He felt and saw every single feeling she aroused in him just by looking at her. Holding her body in his hands and knowing that it was more valuable than any piece of gold in the world.