The Hazards of Skinny Dipping (25 page)

***

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Re: Remember

Reed,

Wow. Who would have thought?

***

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Remember

Amy,

You said it. I didn’t mean for it to happen,
but it did.

Reed

And then they changed again.

***

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Help

Amy,

You have to help me. I can’t lose her. I
won’t lose her.

Reed

***

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Help

Reed,

She hates me, too. I don’t know what to
do.

Amy

***

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Help

Amy,

I’m going to give her space, but it’s going
to hurt like hell. I don’t know what else to do.

***

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Juliet

Reed,

She’s worth it.

Amy

***

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Juliet

Amy,

Completely worth it.

The last document on the drive wasn’t to Amy.
It was a letter to me.

Juliet,

I’ve been thinking things over
every second of every day. I know I should have told you I was
talking to Amy, but I was too scared to lose you. In the end, that
fear was the reason I lost you. I know we belong together. No one
else will ever make me feel the way you do. No one else could ever
make me whole again. I’m still here
—
waiting. I
keep thinking that, if I give you time, you’ll realize how right we
really are.

Yours forever,

Reed

A box of tissues wasn’t enough. I loved Reed
with everything I had. I’d needed time alone to figure things out,
but I knew what I had to do.

I knocked, hoping someone in the house was
up. Thankfully, a few guys playing pool heard me.

“Is he home?” I didn’t bother to say who.

“Yeah, he’s up there.”

“Good.”

I took the stairs slowly, still rehearsing
what I was going to say to him.

I knocked softly, but he didn’t answer. I
tried the door, and it pushed in. It was dark, but from the faint
glow of the moon through the window, I saw him sleeping. He was on
his back, with the sheet and comforter down around his waist,
leaving his naked chest exposed. From experience, I knew the rest
of him was probably naked too. He hadn’t made that up.

I kicked off my shoes and tossed my jacket on
the chair before climbing in next to him.

I ran my fingers down his chest, and leaned
in to whisper, “I’m ready.”

“Juliet?” His hand touched me like he was
trying to make sure I was real.

“I miss you.”

He pulled me into his arms. “I’ve missed you
like crazy. I’ve been out of my mind.”

“Me too.”

“Did you look at the rest of the emails?”

“Yes.”

“So, do you believe me?”

“Yes. But I’d be here even without them. I’m
still a Reed addict.”

He laughed. “I hope you’re here for more than
the sex.”

“Who said I was only addicted to your
body?”

“Oh… it’s more?”

“Yes, it’s more. It’s all of you. It’s the
way you make me feel, the way you make me smile even when I want to
cry.”

“You’re crying now.” He wiped a tear off my
face.

“I’m just emotional. It’s not too late, is
it?”

“Of course not.” He kissed me, and I kissed
back. I put everything in that kiss—the pain, the sadness, and the
love. He did the same, and the kiss became something much more than
merely physical.

“I know it’s late, but will you do something
with me?”

“Anything.”

“You’ll need to get dressed.”

“That’s disappointing, but I’ll do it.”

I kissed his cheek. “We’ll both be getting
naked later.”

“All right, that sounds like a good
deal.”

I made a quick phone call while he got
dressed.

“You need to drive.” I tossed Reed his
keys.

“Okay…”

“Are you going to tell me who you
called?”

“I called in a gate pass. We’re going to my
family’s beach house.”

“That sounds great and all, but is there any
particular reason why?”

“We’re going skinny dipping.”

“Isn’t it a little cold?”

“The pool is ready for the season already,
and I have to do this.”

“Normally, I’d argue, but I’d probably do
anything you asked right now.”

***

I stared at the water. It even looked cold.
Maybe I should have just forgotten it and gone inside, but I wasn’t
giving up. I pulled off my clothes and tossed them on the
ground—next to the two white towels I’d remembered to grab on our
way outside. Reed just watched.

“You don’t have to join me if you don’t want
to. It was enough that you drove with me.” I wanted him to join
me.

“This really matters to you, doesn’t it?” he
asked. I could tell he was trying really hard to look at my face,
but I wasn’t making it easy on him—standing there completely
naked.

“Yes. But Reed?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s cold. Shut up and get naked.”

He grinned. “Yes, ma’am.” He pulled off his
t-shirt, and the rest of his clothes followed.

I took in all of him. I’d never get tired of
looking at him. “Ready?”

“Always.”

We jumped in holding hands. The water was
even colder than I’d expected—I mean freezing. When we came to the
surface, I started to laugh, really laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“Everything.”

He moved to the wall and pulled me with him.
“As much fun as this is, any time you’re ready to go inside, just
say the word.”

“I’m ready.”

He didn’t wait another beat. He jumped out
and held a towel open for me. He insisted on drying me off before
drying himself. Wrapped in a towel, I stood on my tiptoes to kiss
him. “I love you, Reed Bryce.”

“You know I love you, Juliet Monroe.”

“I do know, and that’s really—”

“Cool?”

“All I need to know.”

His lips met mine again, and I let him carry
me inside. I’m sure you can guess what happened next, but what you
might not know is that it was the best ever. But then again, it
always is with Reed. Yeah, I said ‘is’, because we’re still
together, but none of that’s part of this story. This story was
about skinny dipping, remember? One last piece of advice: if you do
decide to go skinny dipping, make sure to bring a towel.

Keep reading for a preview of Alyssa Rose
Ivy’s Mature YA/New Adult Paranormal Romance,
Flight (The
Crescent Chronicles)
. For more information about Alyssa Rose
Ivy’s books, please visit her online at:

www.AlyssaRoseIvy.com

www.facebook.com/AlyssaRoseIvy

twitter.com/AlyssaRoseIvy

[email protected]

Closing my eyes, I tried to block it all out.
Convinced I was about to die, I was only partly aware of his arms
around me.

“You said you wanted an adventure,” he said
quietly, teasingly, as he tightened his hold.

My stomach dropped out as an intense and
complete feeling of weightlessness engulfed me. The wind stung my
face as memories flooded my mind. I thought of my parents, of all
the things I wanted to tell them but never did, my friends from
home, and the experiences I longed for. Quickly my thoughts changed
to more recent memories, to Levi.

“Open your eyes,” he whispered, somehow
knowing my eyes were clenched shut.

Against my better judgment, I listened. The
scream died in my throat as we hurtled toward the water that had
seemed so beautiful from the roof above.

I’d sworn off men, or really boys, because
those were the only type of males I tended to attract. The numbers
on the pump moved painfully slow as I reminded myself of the
decision. Tying my hair up in a knot on the top of my head, I
struggled to save my neck from the heat created by my long brown
hair. Even a ponytail wasn’t enough for the Mississippi heat. I had
heard all about the hot summers of the south, but I didn’t expect
the temperatures to be quite so scorching in June. I was terrified
to think about what August would feel like.

Finally finished with the gas, I got back in
the car to wait impatiently for my best friend Jess. We were only a
few hours away from New Orleans, but after two days of driving,
every minute was torture. I started the engine and turned the AC on
high before leaning back into the comfortable seat. The new car
smell still permeated my Land Rover, an over the top high school
graduation gift from my father. I loved it and appreciated the gift
but wished my dad had checked with me before special ordering it in
what he believed was my favorite color—lavender. I didn’t have the
heart to tell him that purple had stopped being my favorite when I
was five.

After a few minutes, Jess slid into the
passenger seat. “Want some chips or soda?” she asked while
smoothing out her blond hair, putting a few strands back in place
behind her ear. The effort was wasted. Her hair was still messy and
matched the flushed expression she wore.

“Please tell me you didn’t make out with
someone to get free chips.” I rolled my eyes hoping she would
surprise me just this once by not having done it. We had been best
friends since the sixth grade, and she had been boy crazy the whole
time I’d known her.

“I didn’t make out with him for the chips; I
did it because he was hot.”

Stifling a laugh, I pulled back out onto the
road toward I-59. “Sure.”

“We’re only young once. Don’t be so uptight.”
Jess snapped her gum loudly.

“Hey, it’s fine, but don’t come complaining
to me when you get some weird communicable disease from one of the
random guys you hook up with.”

“Allie, I love you, but you have to relax.
Promise me you’ll at least try to have fun this summer.” She sighed
dramatically.

“I’ll try,” I said with exaggerated
frustration. I planned to have a great summer, just one that didn’t
involve guys.

“That’s not good enough. You’re not going to
let Toby ruin the entire summer are you? So you dated a jerk, who
cares, forget about him.”

“I’m not going to let Toby ruin anything. I’m
the one who dumped him, remember?” Thinking about Toby threatened
to put me in a worse mood. He had only been the latest in a string
of disappointing dating experiences. First there was Steve, we
broke up when I found him cheating on me—with my best guy friend.
After that was Matthew, who took commitment phobia to a whole new
level when he actually set a cap on how often I could text message
him. With Toby it wasn’t anything dramatic, the romance just didn’t
live up to my expectations. Somehow, his declarations of how great
of a power couple we would make didn’t cut it. As relieved as I was
about avoiding him all summer, I still had to deal with him at
Princeton in the fall.

“So does that mean you’re ready to move on?”
Jess asked excitedly.

“No. I told you, I’ve sworn off men.”

“Sweetheart, you do realize that men have
many valuable roles other than boyfriends, right? Instead, how
about you swear off boyfriends and just have fun?”

“I don’t care what you do with guys, but I am
never going to be the girl that just hooks up, okay?”

“We’ll see about that.”

Wanting to avoid a fight, I decided to ignore
her last comment. Sometimes it was easier to let her think she
won.

When I didn’t answer, she decided to
continue. “Maybe getting away from high school boys will help.”

“Maybe,” I mumbled under my breath.

She appeared not to hear me and changed the
subject. “It was so cool of your dad to let us come down and hang
out at the hotel all summer!”

“You mean it was cool of him to give us jobs,
right?” I tried to keep a straight face, but really, I wasn’t
surprised by her choice of words. When Dad called to ask if I
wanted to work at a hotel he had recently purchased in New Orleans,
I agreed only if Jess could come with me. She wouldn’t be much use
as a coworker but she did have the ability to make any situation
fun. I was counting on her working her magic.

***

The Crescent City Hotel looked exactly as I
expected; a historic building complete with wrought iron balconies
and the dangling ferns that were in every picture I had seen of the
French Quarter. Following along with the GPS, I turned onto Royal
Street and pulled up front to the valet, not sure where I was
supposed to park. Before I could worry for long, my dad knocked on
the window.

He opened the door once I unlocked it, taking
my hand to help me out. “Hey sweetie, how was the trip?” He pulled
me into a hug as soon as my feet hit the pavement. If you didn’t
know any better you’d think we had a normal father-daughter
relationship.

“It was fine, we made great time.”

“Hi Mr. Davis!” Jess yelled as she ran around
the car.

“Hi Jessica, I’m so glad you were able to
come down with my Allie.”