The Broken Lake by Shelena Shorts Read Free Book Online Page B

words sang in my ears as I thought the exact same thing about him. I cleared my throat. “Thanks.” And then my seductive façade was gone. I felt completely nervous and vulnerable to my immaturity.
    As if once again reading my mind, he relieved my racing pulse and our intense faceoff. He stepped sideways into the pool, feet first and soundless. I moved to the edge just as he resurfaced. For some reason, I was hesitant to jump in right then, probably because I didn’t want to make a clumsy splash. Instead, I sat down and slowly put my feet over the edge and into the room-temperature water.
    Wes was treading water in front of me. “Come on, get in.”
    “I will. In a minute.”
    “Suit yourself.”
    Ever so smoothly, he disappeared and swam the length of the pool under water. “Get in,” he ordered from the far end of the pool.
    I shook my head, playing hard to get. Without another word, he pushed off the wall and swam toward me with the most perfect freestyle I had ever seen. Watching him glide his way to me made my body temperature rise, and I was ready to get in. He stopped right in front of me, threatening to pull me in.
    “You wouldn’t,” I said.
    “Only if you want me to.”
    And I did want him to. I reached out my arms and he placed his hands on each side of my ribs and lifted me into the water. I instantly wrapped my arms around his neck, realizing I couldn’t touch the bottom. I flinched, trying to keep my cast out of the water.
    “I’ve got you,” he assured.
    Slowly, he turned himself around until my arms were wrapped around his neck from behind. Pressing myself against his back was complete bliss, and I was one hundred percent sure there was no place else on earth I’d rather be.
    “Feel better now?”
    “A little.” I answered truthfully, but still on edge about why I had come over. “I still don’t understand why you want to do a press conference.”
    “I don’t
want
to.”
    “Then why?”
    “Because if I don’t give them something, they will snoop around for things I may not want them to find.”
    “But why do
you
have to do it? Don’t you have people who can do that?”
    “Yes, but it’s the same thing. If I seem like I’m hiding something, then that will spark reporters to dig.”
    “I hate this. This is my fault.”
    “No.” Still holding my arms, he turned to face me again. “This is not your fault. It’s just part of life.”
    “But, if I hadn’t—”
    “Sophie, if you hadn’t done a lot of things, I wouldn’t even be here right now. This is nothing. Just a small speed bump.”
    I smiled softly enough to spark one from him in return, and with a calming energy that reached my toes, he leaned in and kissed my lips. The sweet taste of his mouth mixed with chlorine reminded me that I was in a pool, pressed against the bare chest of perfection.
    It didn’t matter that I almost died. It didn’t matter that I might die. It didn’t matter that we were two freaks of nature. All that mattered was that he was mine.
    I put my fingers through his wet hair and absorbed each kiss until I felt like I was floating, and then realized I was. I looked around and noticed we had drifted away from the edge.
    “What?” he asked, looking around too.
    I thought of a few pointless remarks and then decided to kiss him instead. Which I did until my head was completely void of worry. At least for the moment.
    We ended up swimming for a while after that, but the insistent ring of my cell phone brought me back to reality. I’d forgotten to call my mother. Lifting myself out of the pool, I wrapped my towel around me and found the phone. Apologizing for my whereabouts was getting old and my frustration was obvious by the time I hung up.
    “Is that what I’m like?”
    “Geeze.” I exhaled and turned around. I hadn’t even heard him come up behind me.
    “Sorry. You didn’t answer my question.”
    “Sort of but not really.”
    He raised his eyebrows, waiting for an