Divine (34 page)

“
Yeah, I should
have put it on underneath my clothes. There's not really anywhere to
change out here.”

He looked around at the
scenery and then back to me, hesitatingly offering a suggestion,
“Well, I can leave my door open and you can change behind it.
I'll just go over here . . .” He walked over to the bottom of
the hill and folded his arms across his broad chest, clearing his
throat as he leaned casually against a giant rock.

I stood in front of the
open door and nervously threw my swimsuit on his seat. The door was
the perfect size to conceal most of my body, although it still showed
off parts of me: from the top of my chest up, and from the middle of
my thighs down. The window was rolled up but we could still see each
other through it as I began to disrobe.

First, my shirt went up
over my head, followed by the unclasping of my silky black bra. I
folded them up and sat them neatly on his seat, taking my time,
building the suspense by making him wait.

Next, I unbuttoned my
capris and pulled them off.

How can I make this
memorable?

I glanced up to see if
he was watching, and of course, he was. A small smile formed across
his lips when our eyes met through the glass.

My mind was being
driven by the sight of him in front of me and the smell of his
cologne floating out from the inside of his truck. I looked down at
the delicate pair of underwear that hugged my hips.
I'm so glad I
decided to wear these today.

I pulled the red lacy
material down to my ankles with one hand and carefully stepped out of
them, going slow enough to make sure that he saw. The sound of his
shy laugh hit my ears and when I looked back up and peeked through
the window, his head was down and his hand was up, rubbing away at
what I knew were a pair of green eyes.

“
I thought that
would do it for ya,” I called out from behind the door.

“
Yeah, you know
me all too well.”

I giggled shyly as I
watched him, his face down in his hand and covered by the bill of his
black hat. It was so enthralling being completely naked, nothing
between us but a thin, metal door. I didn't even want to get into my
swimsuit, I just wanted to jump out and swim nude in the ocean with
him.

But, back to reality. I
grabbed my suit and put it on, tying all the necessary ties to close
it up and cover the parts that one day Jonah would hopefully see.
“Okay, I'm ready,” I hollered as I stood away from the
door and closed it with a heavy bang.

He looked up and nodded
approvingly. “I like it; you look nice.”

“
Thank you.
Where's your suit at?”

“
Under my
shorts.”

“
You're not gonna
swim naked?” I laughed.

He looked down and
tugged on the side of his khaki-colored cargo shorts. “No,”
he snarled playfully, “my board shorts are on underneath
these.”

Darn.

“
Oh, okay. Well,
what color are they?”

“
They're not red
and lacy, I can tell you that.”

I dropped my head with
a giggle as I pictured him in a lacy red garment. “I hope they
aren't; that would be a sight for sore eyes.”

He grinned devilishly
and crossed his arms tighter across his chest, this time being a
defensive move on his part. “Oh, you don't think I'd look good
in red lace, huh?”

The silliness of his
deep voice sent my core into a jittery mess. “Jonah, you'll
look good in anything, I'm sure.”

“
I know,”
he agreed. “Now, are you ready?”

I couldn't help but
chuckle at what a goof he was. “Yeah, I'm ready. But don't you
need to get the fishing poles?” I asked, motioning toward the
lifted truck.

“
Nope. We won't
need them.”

“
But I thought we
were going fishing?”

“
We are. Just
wait, you'll see.”

I was a little confused
about why we would be fishing without actual fishing poles; I was
beginning to think that he was going to make a spear out of a stick
and do it the old fashioned way.

“
Okay,” I
submitted, dropping the topic. “Well, let's go then. I've been
waiting so long for this day; I'm excited!”

“
Yeah, I know
you're excited,” he said as he turned around and climbed up
onto the rock behind him, sticking his hand out for me to take. “You
haven't shut up about it since I told you.”

I grabbed on and he
pulled me up next to him, steadying me on the hard, wobbly surface.
“Well,” I argued, “you shouldn't have told me about
it if you weren't able to deliver. So maybe
you
should have
shut up about it.”

“
Well, why don't
we both shut up,” he laughed as he bent down and scooped me up
into his muscly possession.

“
It's a deal.”

I held on tight as he
carried me over the mountain toward the sparkling water. What a
beautiful day it was: the weather was mildly warm, the sun was
shining brightly down on us between the partly cloudy sky. I wasn't
looking forward to the ominous clouds that were heading our way, but
it was supposed to be a summer storm and it wasn't supposed to make
the air outside too cool. If it did happen to rain on us, hopefully
it would be a warmer rain.

Once we were over the
hill he sat my feet down on the toasty sand. “Are you ready for
this?” he asked as he took his hat off and dropped it on the
ground next to him.

“
Oh yes, I'm
ready.”

His white shirt
stretched to accommodate his muscles, already not leaving much to the
imagination. But when he smoothly pulled it up over his head I could
see so much more of his definition, muscles that I didn't even know
existed on his perfect body. My eyes leapt around, taking in all of
the curves and protrusions of his solidness, committing it to memory
for a later time.

He pulled his khakis
down away from his black board shorts and dropped them on the sand.
“Let's do this,” he said as he grabbed his hat and pulled
it back on, adjusting it to fit perfectly on his head.

My heart raced wildly
as he grabbed my hand and walked us into the brisk waves of the
ocean. It was a well known fact that I was afraid of getting into the
dark, salty water, and my anxiety was climbing with every step that
we took. “Jonah, I'm a little scared of being in here. What if
there's a shark or something?”

He squeezed my hand
tighter but kept walking, shooting me a comforting smile. “Don't
worry, I won't let anything hurt you.”

“
Well how can you
be sure of that?”

“
Dangit Ash, will
you just relax please?” he laughed casually, all too familiar
with my nervousness.

“
Okay, okay. I'm
sorry.”

Once the water reached
our thighs he stopped moving forward. “Come here,” he
said softly while pulling on my hand to bring my body smoothly in
front of his.

I could hardly contain
myself with just the feeling of my back being pressed against his
bare chest.
What on earth would it feel like if I were to turn
around?

I was looking out at
the sea ahead of us when he brought his hands up and gently ran them
down the length of my arms, breathing deeply next to my ear, making
my skin tremble and sending waves of heat rushing through my yearning
body.

“
Tell me
something to make me happy,” he whispered as his hands stopped
over the backs of mine, covering them completely from sight.

I pulled my head back
against him to see his face. “Aren't you already happy?”
I said while smiling softly at him.

“
I've never been
more happy in my life. But I want you to tell me something that will
make me even happier.”

I twisted my lips in
thought. “Okay, well, you are my best friend. And, I want to be
with you forever.”

The crystal blue of his
eyes began to dance around with bright sparkles of yellow. “And?”
he smiled, wanting more.

“
And, you look
really good without a shirt on.”

He chuckled lightly
next to my ear, his eyes getting brighter and brighter. “And?”

“
And, I would
love it if you would kiss me right now.”

“
I would,”
he whispered, “but we're going for yellow right now, not
green.”

I relaxed against his
body, the back of my head resting gently on his shoulder, feeling
completely safe and comforted in his golden stare. “Well, they
look pretty yellow right now. I think this is the brightest I've ever
seen them.”

“
You think so?”

I nodded softly. “Yeah,
I think so.”

“
Well, then look
down.”

My eyebrows knitted
together with curiosity as I raised my head away from his shoulder.
“Oh my gosh,” I breathed with amazement. I couldn't
believe what I was seeing: the dark, mysterious waters of the cove
had changed to a translucent yellow, allowing me to see all the way
down to the very bottom of its deepest part. “Jonah,” I
choked out breathlessly, “it's absolutely breathtaking! You
made the water yellow!”

“
I can make the
water green, too,” he chuckled.

I was at a complete
loss for words. The deep water in front of us was filled with so many
fish swimming around, darting back and forth around the grooves of
the ocean rocks. I was never able to see how beautiful it was
underneath the darkened waves until now.

“
This is
absolutely amazing! How do you do it?”

“
I just do, I
don't really know how to explain it. Whatever color my eyes are, the
water just glows the same.”

I sighed, still
completely amazed by him. “You are so incredible, Jonah.”

“
Not as
incredible as you are.”

I smiled shyly in his
arms. “We're both pretty incredible, how does that sound?”

“
I'll have to
agree.”

We stood in the crisp
water and watched the fish swim in front of us as a cloud passed over
the sun, muting the sky and making the water glow even brighter
against the dimness. It was one of the most unbelievable things that
I had ever seen in my life: he took the deep, black water that I was
so afraid of and turned it into a beautiful, soothing aquarium that
was no longer intimidating for me to be in.

“
Are you ready to
fish?” he asked.

“
Um, yeah, sure.
I don't know what else you can do that is more awesome than this,
though.”

“
Oh, I think this
is pretty awesome.” With his hands still cupped around the
backs of mine, he slowly bent over and slid them down into the
inviting water. “Are you ready?”

“
Yeah, I think
so.”

“
Okay, here they
come.”

I looked out at the
water in front of us and saw something even more incredible than the
yellow ocean. As if being called, all of the fish in the cove banded
together and gently began to swim their way toward us.

The feeling of panic
lightly washed over me. “Um, Jonah, the fish are coming over
here.”

“
It's okay, they
won't hurt us.”

He was right. They swam
around us by the hundreds and tickled our legs and fingers with their
fins as they happily danced in the water. There were so many
different kinds: Rockfish, Surfperches, small sharks. Even little
crabs walked around our toes.

I squealed at the
pointy little legs that traced along my feet. “They're going to
pinch me!”

“
Nah,”
Jonah laughed, “they won't pinch you.”

“
And what about
the sharks?”

“
They won't hurt
you.” He pushed our hands together over a large, gray fish and
lifted its flipping body up out of the water. “Ha! You caught
your first fish!”

I screamed happily at
the slick, limbless animal. “Oh my gosh! It's so cute!”

Not wanting it to be
out of the water long, he lowered our hands back down into yellow sea
and let it swim away from our fingers to join its friends. “See
Ashy, I told you there's nothing to be afraid of.”