Wet: Part 2 (13 page)

“Shit! Rhees. S
tawp
it!”

She flopped back down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. He took his shirt off and grabbed a clean one from the other room. When he came back into the living room, Rhees still lay on her back. She looked sad and it broke his heart.

“Hey,” he said lightly. “Don’t worry about me. This is all my choice.” She wouldn’t look at him. He moved to the couch and kneeled so he could lean over her. She turned her head away, but he pulled her back and got in her face with a silly grin. She had no choice but to finally look at him.

“You don’t fight fair.” She smiled, a little. 

He nuzzled her nose with his. “I told you, I fight to win.” He sighed and stroked the side of her cheek as the seriousness of the moment returned. “Don’t worry about me, Dani Girl. I would give up
all
the sex in the world to be right here, with you.”

She closed her eyes and turned her face into his touch, wondering how she wound up the luckiest girl in the world to be his friend. She opened her eyes to tell him, but a playful, mischievous grin played on his face, his eyes sparkled magnificently. He leaned in closer.

“You know what? I
did
give up all the sex in the world and here I am, right here, with you.” His grin broke into a dazzling smile, and she couldn’t help herself. She put her hands on both sides of his face, pulled him down to her, and kissed him, but not for long. Paul was the one to pull away.

“You
really
should go have your shower,” he said quietly, with another heavy puff of air.

“Okay.” She gazed a second longer, thinking what a beautiful man he was, her friend, and then she got up and headed for the bathroom.

“Rhees,” he called after her. She turned back, expectantly. The look on his face worried her a little. “Lock the door.”

oOo

“I meant to ask, how was your
swim
?” Rhees climbed into bed with a knowing smirk on her face. Paul rested against the headboard, propped with pillows, reading.

“Hm?” The book must have been interesting. He didn’t seem to hear what she’d said.

“Just curious how you’re holding up in the desert.”

“It’s cold,” he said without looking up, but after a beat, he did. “Desert? We’re right below the most majestic mountains I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s a
high
desert.” She let out a little laugh. “The Wasatch Front has great mountains. The La Sal Mountains are beautiful too, but most of the state is pretty desert-like, unique, and magnificent, but Utah is hot and dry in the summer.” She giggled. “It’s July, Paul
—not
cold.”

“But the air conditioner hasn’t shut off once since we got here.”

“That’s because it’s July in the desert. It’s hot.” She reached for the sheet and pushed it up to his chin, making a production of tucking him in. “Is that better?”

He smiled back and was about to sneak a kiss, but she hopped off the bed and over to adjust the thermostat.

“There. That should be better.”

“Thanks.” He watched her climb into bed this time. “What was that about a swim?”

“I, uh . . .” She blushed, regretting bringing it up, pretending to be so bold. “I was curious about how you plan to deal with your need to go for a swim, when there’s no ocean around here. Utah Lake is down the road, but I wouldn’t recommend swimming in it.”

“Oh.” His gaze shot back to his e-reader, a little too quickly. He pursed his lips. “There’re other ways of working off that energy.”

“Oh.” She sat quietly, thinking. “And those, ‘other ways’, would include what I offered today, but you refused?”

“Rhees,” he said with a heavy breath. “Let’s not go there again.
Please
?”

“Okay.” She conceded more readily this time. “Good night.”

She lay down and rolled onto her side, facing away from him.

“But thanks for the offer.”

oOo

“It’s freakin’ freezing in here.” Paul reached for Rhees and pulled her into him to spoon. “Can we snuggle? I dreamed I was cold, and I couldn’t find you. I prefer our little bed at home. King-sized beds are overrated.”

“What time is it?” Rhees asked, groggy after only a few hours of sleep. She reached back and patted him on the cheek before entwining her arms and feet with his to help warm him up.

“Two fifteen. Sorry to wake you, but the air conditioning is still on hyper-drive.”

“Want me to turn it down some more?”

“No. Don’t get up. I’ll be okay if you’ll keep me warm.”

“Sure. How many times have you snuggled with me through my nightmares? But just a sec.” She broke free from his hold.

“Brrr . . . don’t leave me.” His arms stretched out after her.

She reached down to the bottom of the bed and grabbed the corner of the comforter, pulling it up over them before settling back down into their spooning position.

“Better?”

“Yeah, it’s nice, but not as nice as you.” He kissed her ear and they were both asleep again within seconds.

A couple of hours later, Paul stirred, his body clock held true, not needing to adjust to time zone changes. Since the island didn’t observe daylight savings time, Utah’s time happened to be the same as what he was used to. Like most mornings, when he stirred, so did Rhees. This morning, however, every muscle in her body went rigid, waking with a small jolt.

He did a quick mental check to determine the problem. His morning-ness knocked against her soft behind, a problem, but it had happened many mornings when she was the one who’d initiated the snuggling. She’d grown used to it as long as he didn’t make the mistake of trying to grind on her, even a little. Another assessment later, he detected the real problem.

His right arm remained draped across her body, the palm of his hand splayed out affectionately over her belly. Still shouldn’t have been a problem, except her T-shirt had somehow drawn up during the night. His hand had found its way to exposed skin, his pinky and ring finger rested low, below her panty line, under the elastic, against, not only her bare skin, but tangled in her pubic hair.

He immediately yanked his hand away and smoothed her T-shirt down, but she didn’t relax.

“You okay? You know I didn’t mean it, right? I was asleep. I’m sorry.”

She didn’t respond so he pulled on her, rolling her toward him. She fought his attempt but he persisted and won. She squeezed her eyes shut, but nodded, a little too jerkily, as if over-compensating assurance, or lying.

“There’s your answer about giving me a hand with—” He pressed his own eyes shut at his unintentional pun.

He’d hoped to make light of the situation, but he didn’t think the circumstances very comical. It actually worried him, and reminded him of thoughts, concerns, he’d entertained before. He’d never asked about it, thinking a woman’s reasons for this sort of thing would be very personal. If Rhees wanted to talk about it, she would. At least that’s what he’d always told himself, until now.

“There’s another reason you’re still a virgin, isn’t there . . . besides wanting to wait until you’re married?”

Her eyes burst open, and he would have burned from the intense glare if she didn’t look away even faster than she’d looked his way. She threw the covers off and got out of bed.

“I need the bathroom.” She sounded alarmed, almost panicked.

“Rhees?” Paul sat up, ready to take after her, his anxiety worse than before.

“Yeah?” she asked calmly, turning. She smiled the warmest, most relaxed smile, as if she’d just swallowed a ray of sunshine, no trace of the terrified panic she’d exhibited only seconds ago. He hated the possibilities that had crossed his mind about what could have caused her to be this way, but he decided it best to return to the,
wait until she’s ready,
approach.

oOo

Over the next two days, Paul played tourist, with Rhees as his tour guide. They got up early and hiked Y Mountain to watch the sun rise and light up the valley where Rhees had grown up. They sat on Brigham Young University’s symbol and ate take-out Kneader’s French toast with buttermilk syrup, a local favorite. Paul claimed the treat was now his favorite breakfast too. They drove around town in their rented Jeep while Rhees showed Paul her history. He insisted on seeing every school she’d ever attended and every house she’d ever lived in. She showed him all but the one she lived in before starting kindergarten. She said she didn’t remember where it was.

At the last house, they dropped in next door to say hello to Mrs. Michaels, but she kept them much longer than they’d expected, insisting they stay for dinner. Rhees tried to make excuses, thinking Paul would be bored out of his mind spending the evening with the old woman.

“I’m sorry,” she’d said. “But Paul’s made reservations—”

“We’d love to, Mrs. Michaels,” he contradicted Rhees. “I’ll call and reschedule our reservations for tomorrow.”

“Please,” the woman said. “Call me Karla.”

Rhees could hardly hide her bewilderment at Paul’s enthusiasm about staying, and knowing that, in all the years she’d known her, Mrs. Michaels had never asked her to call her by her first name.

“Mrs. Michaels,” Rhees teased during dessert, as Paul pumped Karla for information about young Rhees—she’d figured out why he’d accepted the invitation. “Are you flirting with my boyfriend?”

“Of course,” Karla answered. “A widowed woman can get away with shamelessly flirting with a man this handsome if the age difference spans more than forty years.”

Paul didn’t help matters, as he’d been giving her the unabridged version of his Paul,
the seasoned lady killer
, experience since they’d shown up at her door.

Paul watched Rhees pull her family album from one of the boxes of personal belongings Mrs. Michaels had been storing for her. He sat on the bed with her and they thumbed through the pages.

“I’d like to take this back with me. Do you think it would be safe? I mean, I’d hate it if the humidity on the island ruined the pictures. This is all I have left of my family.”

Paul put a comforting arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

“I wouldn’t risk it, but we could go to one of those copy places and have it scanned so you can keep it online. A digital copy will last forever and you can look at the pictures anytime you’re at a computer.”

She nodded, and then laughed at herself for choking up. Paul squeezed her to him tighter. He pulled her chin up with his finger and kissed the tears from each eye before they had the chance to fall down her cheeks. After they’d looked through the album a couple of times, they resumed going through the boxes, looking for more items she might want to take with her.

“My hair dryer!” she exclaimed excitedly as she pulled it from the box. She reached back in. “And my curling iron.”

“You don’t need those,” Paul said, amused. “You wear dive hair better than anyone I’ve ever known.”

She snorted in disbelief.

“The humidity will just undo any effort you waste trying to style your hair, and
I like
it the way you’ve been wearing it.” He found himself running his fingers down the length of her hair, adoringly. He loved her hair. He loved—he suddenly felt uncomfortable with his feelings. “Add that to how much I
really
like how speedy my pretend girlfriend can get ready—”

“There’s the truth. Speedy and simple—the island way,” Rhees mumbled as she put the hair styling tools back into the box, oblivious to the real reason he’d played it off. “You’re probably right.”

She resumed digging through one of the boxes while Paul snooped through her things in another. He held up a short, spaghetti strap nightie and glanced over at her. She was too busy looking through her own box to notice, but he tried to imagine her wearing it to bed. He quickly wadded it up and stuffed it to the bottom of the box he’d been working his way through—she’d be safer sleeping in his baggy T-shirts.

oOo

“I’ll make her call you once in a while, I promise,” Paul told Karla as they walked out the door. “I’m sorry you’ve been so worried about her. If I’d known she hadn’t contacted you since she left, I would have made her.” Paul gave Rhees a bug-eyed look about never using her phone.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think.” Rhees blushed with remorse and Paul put a comforting arm around her.

“Thank you. I won’t need to worry so much anymore now that I know she’s got you, but it would be nice to hear from her once in a while—both of you.” Karla winked, keeping up the act that she and Paul had something going on between them.

“You take care of this boy, Rhees,” Mrs. Michaels warned. “If you don’t treat him right, I may forget how much I love you and steal him away.” That made them all laugh and they said their good-byes.

oOo

The next day, they visited Thanksgiving Point to see the dinosaur museum, and later, ice blocked down the slopes of Rock Canyon Park. Rhees had watched people doing it, but never dared try it herself. Paul had never heard of ice blocking before, but she told him it was another fear she’d vowed to overcome, so he patiently helped her cross it off her list.

“Is there anything you’re afraid of?” Rhees asked after he’d flown down the slope without a moment’s hesitation, to show her how easy it was.

He helped her onto her chunk of ice as he appeared to ponder the question, but shook his head.

“Nope.” Once he’d said it, he seemed to think better of his answer. “Only you.”

“You’re not afraid of me.” She snorted.

He raised his eyebrows high at her statement and gave her a push, sending her on her way down the hill. She screamed bloody murder, and a few obscenities directed at him, which surprised him.

That afternoon, they hiked the steep trail of Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon, and afterwards, they walked around Robert Redford’s resort, Sundance, before having dinner at the Tree Room.

“Robert Redford and Paul Newman are better looking than you,” she said, trying to hold back a grin. They stood on the bridge and watched the water flow beneath them. He gave her a sideways glance and smirked. “But that’s about it. I can’t think of anyone else who even comes close.”

“They’re ancient.”

“I’ve only watched cartoons and old, classic movies, remember? I’ll always remember them the way they looked as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I was sad when Mr. Newman passed away, but Mr. Redford lives here. People I know have run into him when they’ve come up to ski.”