Young Revelations (Young Series) (12 page)

Actually what he said was that his whole family would like me, but I keep this to myself for now. “So who’s Lucy?” I ask, trying to seem casual as I drink from my coke.

He’s not fooled, though I can’t say I expected him to be. “Somebody from my past,” he says cryptically. “Somebody who most of my family still adores, though I feel exactly the opposite about. And somebody you don’t need to worry about.” Finishing his sentence, I realize he’s cornered me against the counter. “Please don’t think any more of it.”

I want to tell him something—whether it’s to press him about who Lucy is or that I won’t think anything more of it—but he’s pressed too closely for my brain to form words. He knows what he’s doing as he grins and bends to kiss me. We’re getting to the point where I might soon forget where I am when someone clears their throat. Matthew raises his head, groaning against my forehead before glancing over his shoulder.

“Sorry,” comes a new, unfamiliar voice. Though I can’t see the person around Matthew, I have a feeling they’re not sorry in the slightest. “Am I interrupting something?”

Matthew turns around, allowing me to see the new arrival. I’d say she’s my age. She has the same shade of brown hair and green eyes as Matthew, and she’s wearing a huge grin. “Samantha, this is my baby sister Claire,” he says with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. “Claire, this is Samantha.”

“Prettier than you said,” she tells Matthew, looking me over. “You really have a way with understatement, you know.”

I’m blushing so much I’d be surprised if Matthew couldn’t feel the heat coming off me. “Nice to meet you,” I manage to mutter.

Claire and Matthew grin at each other. “Thanks, Claire,” he grumbles. “You embarrassed her.”

“Well, if she’s not embarrassed letting people see she’s with you,” she begins matter-of-factly, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from Matthew, “I think she’ll survive.”

I laugh in surprise and glance over my shoulder as Claire leads me away to find Matthew walking behind us, his arms crossed, shaking his head in barely suppressed amusement. He hasn’t told me much about Claire, only that he preferred spending time with her than their older sisters when they were growing up, but in the thirty seconds I’ve known her, I definitely prefer her.

With the whole family on board, Mr. Young disengages from the dock and we head out into the open water and I begin to see a few patterns. Elizabeth and Holly stick together, shaking their heads at everything Claire and Matthew discuss. I suppose their conversations aren’t posh and sophisticated enough. That suits me just fine. Claire and I have clicked immediately and I can see Matthew getting more nervous about this, especially when Claire threatens to show me the baby photos she brought along with her. It seems to annoy Elizabeth and Holly that Matthew doesn’t take any more of their bait about Lucy, but when Claire shoots some sort of comment towards them about Botox and bleaching, both of them ignore us until lunch.

Even then, it seems Matthew, Claire, and I stay in our little bubble. Claire is asking about Leo. Where he is. What he’s doing. Why he’s not on the boat with us. Matthew smoothly replies that he had a date today, which is news to me; Claire looks very annoyed at this and I get the impression she’s got a crush on her brother’s best friend. Claire asks me about my home, though she’s not particularly interested in the same things as her sisters.

“So have you ever been cow-tipping?” she asks eagerly as she pours ketchup over her cheeseburger.

I smirk and Matthew turns towards me looking very interested. “Yes,” I say.

“You’re joking,” Matthew argues. “You? You’re tiny!”

Claire groans as I turn towards Matthew, glaring at him. “So?” I respond. “You don’t think I could tip a cow?”

He considers me for several moments, still looking skeptical. “When?” he challenges.

“Lots of times,” I tell him, turning back to my lunch. “Last time was right after graduation. Tom dared me.” The name slips from my mouth before I can even better of it. Matthew’s jaw tenses briefly until I drop my hand below the table where we’re sitting and rest it on his leg. I’m still not entirely certain why he dislikes Tom so much; what does he think is going to happen? I think he’s slowly starting to realize Tom’s role in my life is far beneath his and I have no intention of that ever changing. Either way, he’s not a fan of discussing him.

Claire seems to get the impression that Tom is not a popular subject with her brother. “So how does one tip a cow?” she asks, feigning a prim tone I suspect is an impression of her older sisters. It gets a snorting laugh from Matthew at least and I can feel him relaxing.

“It’s not easy,” I tell them, sipping my drink. “You can only do it in the middle of the night and only to the cows that actually sleep standing up.”

“I thought all cows sleep standing up…” Claire says.

“Nope,” I reply. “If they’re grazing in the middle of the night, sometimes they’ll fall asleep eating, but otherwise they lie down. Anyway, you have to keep quiet when you sneak up on them. If you startle them, they’ll take off running and panic the others and start a stampede and those never end well.” Claire and Matthew both laugh at my matter-of-fact tone. “Most people ruin the chance before even reaching the cow—stepping on leaves or sticks or laughing…” I roll my eyes at the memory of some of Tom’s attempts at cow tipping, none of which were successful. “And when their legs are locked, it only takes one good shove for them to fall over. Then you have to get out of the way before they get up. Some of those cows can be pretty mean and vengeful… What?” I trail off as I see Matthew looking at me oddly.

He shakes himself a little. “Nothing,” he says softly, clearing his throat and darting his eyes towards Claire. “I’m just disappointed you didn’t take me cow-tipping when I visited.”

Claire laughs loudly. “Please,” she chortles. “You out there wearing your designer jeans and shoes stepping in cow shit? Matt, you wouldn’t make it three feet before those cows went running.”

Personally, I agree wholeheartedly and I’m trying to hide my amusement as Matthew looks between us as though we’ve wounded him deeply. The grin on his face as we finish lunch gives him away, though.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re having fun,” Matthew whispers into my ear as we’re standing at the boat railing and looking out over the water.

I consider his words for a moment, then nod. “I am having fun,” I tell him as his arms slip around my waist and he pulls me to rest against his chest. “I like Claire.”

He chuckles. “I thought you might,” he murmurs. “And I know Elizabeth and Holly are trying to give you a hard time about things, but—”

“Matt, it’s fine,” I insist, though in reality it’s anything but. “I can handle it.”

He nods slowly, resting his head beside mine. “I know you can. I just want you to feel comfortable around my family, and…” He trails off, whether due to uncertainty of what he wants to say next or nerves, I’m not sure.

“And what?” I whisper, suddenly curious as to how he might finish that sentence.

Sighing heavily, he shakes his head, squeezing me a little closer to him. “Nothing,” he says reluctantly. We stand there for a few minutes, both of us waiting for the other to say or do something. He’s been doing this a lot in the last week, hesitating to say things to me or stopping halfway through a statement. And I don’t really know what to think about that. It could mean he’s having the same feelings I am about how deeply we’re falling for each other. Or maybe he’s regretting me moving in with him at all. Either way, I’m way too nervous to find out and I don’t know which would be more terrifying.

“Hey, lovebirds.” We jump as Claire joins us again, smirking. She’s changed into her bathing suit and has a towel slung over her shoulder. “Are you going to come swimming with us or just stand here snuggling all day?”

I look up as Matthew gives his sister a withering glare before looking down at me, his expression softening. “What do you want to do? Swim?”

I shrug, glancing over at Matthew’s older sisters, both of whom are wearing their bathing suits and looking like supermodels in them. Under my clothes, I’m pale white and incredibly shy about displaying my body to people I don’t know.

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Claire urges me, moving in more closely and lowering her voice. “If we’re really lucky, we’ll finally manage to drown the evil step sisters…”

Matthew laughs at that while I’m left looking between them a little uncertainly. He tells Claire to go on, then he and I will catch up, and he begins to lead me towards the boat stairs that take us below deck. “I thought you’d want privacy to change,” he explains when I look at him with raised eyebrows. We’ve just entered what seems to be a bedroom. His lips are twitching as he kicks the door shut behind us. “But if you had other ideas…”

“No,” I say firmly, making him laugh at my blushing. “Not happening.”

He only shrugs, grinning. “Well, if you change your mind, I’ll be in there.” He gestures to what looks to be a bathroom. Before he disappears into the room, he looks back at me with a devilish smirk. “And I fully suggest you change quickly,” he says huskily. “If I come out of here and you’re not in your bathing suit, I plan on taking full advantage of the situation.”

I stand and watch him slowly closing the door in shock, wondering whether he’s bluffing. There’s a very slim chance he might be, but I’m not sure I want to find out for certain. As much as I’d like to do what he’s suggesting, it’s probably not the best idea, considering his family is so nearby,. I change into my bathing suit in record time and just as I’m stuffing my clothes into our backpack, I hear the door to the bathroom open followed by a sharp gasp. Turning around, I find Mathew standing in the bathroom door staring at me with wide eyes and a slacked jaw.

“That’s your bathing suit?” he asks huskily, his eyes looking me up and down.

I nod, suddenly feeling uncertain. “Is it okay?” I ask uneasily. Looking down at myself, I’d thought my bathing suit choice was appropriate for an outing with Matthew’s family. It’s all black and in two pieces. The top is more like a tank top with a ruffle around the low neckline that’s trimmed with white. The lower part is a short skirt with a white ribbon that goes around the waist as a belt. It’s not really my usual style—all my old bathing suits are much more simple and less revealing—but I didn’t want to come out here looking like a child.

Matthew slowly begins to approach me, still eyeing my bathing suit. “Samantha, this is more than okay,” he tells me, reaching out to touch the ruffle on the neckline. “You’re beautiful.”

Biting my lip, I finally meet his gaze and see he’s being absolutely sincere with his words. I take the opportunity to look him over, finding the same appreciation for what I see as he apparently feels towards me. He’s wearing simple black swim shorts that come down to just above his knees and the rest of him is bare. It still amazes me that he has any interest in me looking the way he does. Lightly tanned. Chiseled abs. The way his shorts hang loosely off his hips as though the slightest movement will cause them to fall… I feel my cheeks heat up.

He chuckles, placing his hands on my hips and pulling me closer. “See something you like?” he whispers, nosing my hair to the side so he can kiss my neck.

“No,” I squeak out even as my eyes flutter closed.

I can feel laughter rumbling up from his chest. “No?” he repeats, his hands sliding further back to cup my behind so he can press his hips into mine. I gasp at what I feel. “Well, that’s a shame. Because I certainly see something I like…”

If we had been left to our own devices, I have little doubt of what would have happened in the next few minutes. Unfortunately, as he brings his lips to mine, we hear Claire calling down the stairs to ask if we’ve gotten lost. Matthew growls against my lips. “I hate my sister so much today,” he tells me. “That’s three times.”

I smirk. “Maybe next time you should be a bit quicker,” I say bravely.

His eyebrows shoot up in surprise at my words and he gives me his own smirk. “Believe me, baby, there is nothing quick about what I want to do to you.” My eyes widen and my own eyebrows shoot up, and he looks incredibly pleased with himself at my reaction. Regardless, he grabs my hand and puts distance between us. “Come on, we better get up there before she decides to break down the door.”

From the sound of it, this wouldn’t be the first time Claire had done something like that when Matthew has been with a girl and I feel a twinge of jealousy and annoyance at the thought, but swallow the feeling as we return to the main deck where his family is gathered around the railing. Claire dives into the water first, followed soon after by Matthew. Within a few minutes everyone aside from Mr. Young is swimming. Well, sort of. Elizabeth and Holly are lounged on floating rafts and I can see Claire sending them glances every so often as though she’s plotting on knocking them into the water.

Matthew grabs a couple snorkels and suggests he and I do a bit of diving. Apparently there are some interesting rock formations at the bottom of this lake worth seeing. I have to admit I’ve never actually used a snorkel before and it’s obvious how nervous I am about using one now. As always, Matthew is a very patient and attentive teacher and within a few minutes I’m confident enough in his abilities that I don’t think I’ll drown. I actually enjoy myself, despite my nerves about being unable to breathe, and the rocks live up to Matthew’s words.

The rest of our afternoon is enjoyable. I manage to ignore Matthew’s older sisters and their snide comments whenever I’m within earshot about my bathing suit choices or their discussions about Lucy. In retaliation to this, Claire succeeds in finally knocking them off their rafts and into the water. She claimed she’d dived down to the bottom of the lake and didn’t realize where she was surfacing and apologized wholeheartedly, but I don’t think Elizabeth and Holly were convinced of her sincerity.