Till We Pretend

Chapter Four

"My opinion? I'd say you look like an intelligent young man, wait how old are you again? I want to do this right."

He was biting his lip, trying hard not to laugh. "I'm nineteen."

"Great, so you look like you have a decent sized brain on you so obviously when you look at your reflection in the mirror you'd notice that you're better looking than most men. Correct?"

He shrugged, "I don't think about it much."

"Oh but you do. Every time you come on to a girl, flirt with her, try to take her home or you know, get her to spill her secrets you're taking advantage of your good looks. It's your biggest weapon so obviously you have some awareness."

He shook his head. "You're something else you know that? I don't think I've ever received a compliment like that. That was compliment right?"

"Of course it was. I can appreciate a good looking human being without being coy about it. Like that girl who was grinding against your brother back there, I'd tell her she has great boobs."

"Ah, Ella Grace, what am I going to do with you."

***

We'd come into his sister's room to find a bathing suit for me and I'd chosen a modest looking one piece as opposed to the numerous stringy bikinis that looked like dental floss. I'd thought that because I was wearing something that covered more skin than my other options, I'd be less nervous meeting Kyler by the hot tub but I still had monstrous butterflies in my stomach and I felt nervous without really knowing why. Not that I had a lot of experience when it came to hanging out with ridiculously hot guys in hot tubs found in million dollar mansions but I wasn't one to get intimidated by the idea of it. I was comfortable enough in my skin for that not to be an issue, if they wanted perfection they could get in touch with an Instagram model. I guessed the hesitation came from actually liking Kyler, absurd as the thought was. I barely knew him, our realties were worlds apart and it was very likely that come tomorrow I'd never see him again but still something unexplainable drew me to him.

It led me to the deck where he was fiddling on his phone, clad only in a pair of blue swim trunks and Oh My God.

I might have said that out loud because he looked up from his phone and had the devilish look back in his eyes as he perused me from head to toe. It didn't really make me blush because I was too busy picking my jaw off the floor. Holy protein powder, the man was ripped. Not in the beefy, bulky gym rat kind of way but in an athletic, tall and lean kind of way. He had some seriously defined muscles, that I was able to assess. His biceps clenched as he walked, the muscles of his stomach rippled, the six pack becoming more prominent as he sucked in a breath and boy, he looked like he never skipped out on leg day.

But it was the mythical V by his hipbones, barely visible over his swim trunks that nearly gave me heart failure. Guys his age did not look like that around here, heck the only workouts they were into was running to the corner 7/11 and buying an extra large bag of Hot Cheetos.

He was insane and he was looking at me like he wanted to eat me up.

The red swimsuit definitely had a Baywatch vibe to it but my boobs didn't fill it up as much as what was required for the intended effect. Still, momentarily I stopped breathing as he walked right into my space and placed his hand on my hip. Perhaps we'd come to an agreement without even realising it, that this was okay. He could touch me if he liked, with some boundaries of course. But as he caressed my hip and looked at me with that intense gaze of his I realised that perhaps I'd let him get away with more than I'd originally thought.

"You're insanely beautiful, has someone ever told you that?"

"Once or twice, mostly when I'm listening to a James Blunt song." I shrugged and he dropped his hand with a quiet laugh. "I never know what's going to come out of your mouth next."