Sierra Lancaster has had an agonizingly mediocre life. She grew up in a happy home, made loyal friends, graduated college, and is now pursuing her dream of running her own bakery. Boring, right? A story like this wouldn't be one for the books. At le...
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I push up with my legs until my head breaks past the surface of the water, cool air hitting my skin so suddenly I gasp with shock. Fat water droplets stick to my eyelids and I brush them away with the backs of my fingers. My lungs burn with the way my breath had caught so suddenly and I choke on the remnants of water in my throat.
What. The. Shit.
"Hell, Sierra." Holden is at the edge of the pond and gaping at me. His eyes scroll everywhere he can possibly look. "Are you okay?"
Am I okay? I'm humiliated. I'm sopping wet and half-naked and I fell in the fucking pond. My coordination is generally bad but that was clumsy even for me. My cheeks are so hot I almost forget about the shivering mess I am.
"Fine," I squeak, even as my throat tightens in embarrassment.
Oh my God. Please don't tell me I'm about to cry in front of him a second time. But I can't help how the backs of my eyes start stinging. I think it's more out of frustration than anything—frustration that I'm constantly a mess around him, especially when I care so much about what he thinks about me even though I'd never admit it.
"Sierra?" I can feel his eyes on me. "Come out of the water."
I don't really want to. I'm kind of in the middle of denying this is happening at all so I stay where I am, wrapping my arms around myself when the breeze picks up and the chill on my bare skin reminds my that I yanked my shirt off. You know, because there was a CENTIPEDE on it. That was probably the only part of this shit show that wasn't dramatic. I shudder when I remember the sensation of its million legs creeping up my arm.
"Why won't you come out?" He asks quietly. His question reminds me that I'm just standing here and sulking and probably making the situation more awkward. Crap. I'm mentally forcing myself to just laugh it off when Holden suddenly crouches low. "Fine. If you won't come out then I'm coming in."
"What?" I blurt.
He's not serious, right? But he is. He so, totally is. I back up in shock when he puts both of his legs in the water and drops himself in the rest of the way. The pond is short enough that the water only comes up to his torso but still, what the cheese is he doing? I gape at him, at a loss.
"What are you doing?" I smack his chest. "I'm already a mess here. How does this help?"
He moves so quick I can't even comprehend how it happened. One second he's wading through the water, closer and closer to me, and the next he has my back pinned to the edge of the pond with his arms braced beside me. I'm locked in by him and if I had to go off that damned glint in his eye, he's pretty pleased with himself.
His head dips between his shoulders, bringing our faces impossibly close. I hold my breath in shock. "You run and I run after you, remember?"
