“Yes. It’s horrendous.”
Chris releases my hands and steps back, his bulky chest floating above the water. “You want self-defense? Let’s do it. Hit me.”
“What?” I gasp.
“Hit me.”
“I’mnot hitting you!”
He smirks. “What’s wrong,kiddo? Scared?”
“Stop calling me that.”
Chris winks at me and says, “Okay…kiddo.”
“Stop it!”
“Make me, kiddo,” he mouths.
Pulling my arm from the water, I clench my fist and crash it into his cheekbone.
“Oh my God!” I gasp as he wipes the water from his face. “I’m so sorry!”
“Nice start. But you need to follow through.” He pushes his own fist into the same cheek. “This isn’t your target. Your target should be six inches behind my head. Go for it.”
“No!” I shout, flapping my arms to keep my balance. “I’m not hitting you again.”
“I’m a trained MMA fighter, kiddo. I’ll dodge it. Just swing a punch and aim for six inches behind my head.”
“No!” I insist.
He nods. “Fair enough. Your dad told me you were weak. You probably inherited that from your mother.”
“Shut up!” I yell.
“Alice was weak as well.”
“My mother was not weak!” I scream, swinging my fist at his stupid face. It smashes into his chiseled jaw, his head swinging to the left. “You didn’t dodge it!”
He strokes his chin and grins. “Nowthat was a punch.”
“I’ll kill you in your sleep if you mention my mother again!”
I throw a hand to my mouth in shock.
“There she is,” he says, winking at me. “And Alice wasn’t weak. I just needed to goad you.”
“That’s awful! I’m getting out.” Before I can turn, Chris grabs my hand under the water. “Let go of me.”
“No,” he says, trying to pull me further into the pool. “I’ve got you, Harper.”
“I can’t do it,” I gasp, my body tensing. “I need to throw up.”
Chris walks around me and lifts my chin. “Hey. How’s your memory?”
“Better than yours, old man.”
He smiles. “Then tell me about what happened when you broke your mother’s phone.”
My reflection shines in his eyes, and for the first time, I see how much I look like my mom.
“How’d you know about that?” I ask.
“She told me,” he says, his thumb brushing my cheek. “She knew you’d broken it ten minutes after you did it. Even after you hid it under the sofa.” He winks. “And then blamed the cat.”
I giggle. “Poor Samson got blamed for everything.”
“Yeah. But how did you feel after you did it?”
“Terrified,” I say. “I thought I’d be in so much trouble because she asked me to be careful with it.”
He nods. “And what happened later that night?”
I suck in a deep breath as an unexpected tear leaks from my eye. “She came into my room and told me it didn’t matter.”
“Exactly,” he says, drying my cheek with his thumb. “Nothing isever as bad as you think it’s going to be.”
“Except this,” I mumble.
“Nope. Not even this.” Chris stares up at the cloudless blue sky. “Now, how about you beat this fear and make your mom proud up there?”
“You don’t believe in any of that?”
He locks those dark eyes on mine again and my knees buckle. “I never said that. Has to be some reason for all this. I just don’t think the big guy up there likes me too much.”
“God’s a woman,” I say, my shoulders relaxing. “No way a guy could organize all of this.”
Chris grabs my hand and pulls my arm. “Fair point. Now just breathe. Every mile starts with a single step and all that bullshit.”
“Calm down, Plato,” I giggle.
Chris continues to walk backward, and I take a step into the pool.
“There it is,” he says. “I’m right here with you. Forget the water. This is just a sunny day in the park. Focus on me.”
It’s hard to do anything else.
Dunking his head under the water, he stands tall and runs a hand through his gray hair.
Great. I want to bite him again.
Letting go of my hand, Chris steps back deeper into the pool.
“Just imagine I’m your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Harper. Come get me.”
I thought nothing and no one would ever get me into the water again, but staring at Chris Collins as he stares at me drags my feet forward.
Like a headache disappearing, I’m not sure when it happened, but he’s no longer my dad’s best friend.
He’s no longer the annoying dick who waltzed into my life uninvited. Now he’s a ripped guy I have a crush on.
It’s not ideal, but I don’t see the point of fighting it. And right now, I don’t like the idea of what my life is going to look like when he leaves for Europe.
“You’re doing great,” Chris tells me, his lips curling with pride. “That’s it. Take a longer stride. I’m right here. Just…”
His deep voice falls quiet.
My ankle rolls.
My knees give way.
Stumbling forward face-first, water rushes into my mouth and I can’t breathe.
Thrashing around and gagging on chlorine, my eyes are dazzled by sunlight and I gasp for air.
“Hey! I got you!” With his firm hands pinned to my hips, Chris slides me down his chest, holding me in place with my feet hovering above the floor. “It’s okay. Close your eyes and focus on your breath.”
Doing as he asks, I suck air through my nose.
Oh.
Our groins are touching and something hard twitches against me.
“Please take me back inside,” I say.
“You know why I like the
Rockymovies?” Chris asks.
“Because you’re a stupid man with a stupid man-brain.”
He chuckles. “Another fair point. But it also contains my favorite quote.”
With our noses almost touching, I open my eyes to a ridiculously accurate Sylvester Stallone impression.
Wow. He’s even got the raised lip nailed.
“‘You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you canget hit and keep moving forward.’” His white smile is so damn intoxicating. “How much can you take and keep moving forward?”
I raise an eyebrow. “You’re a better impersonator than you are a comedian.”
“I’ll take that,” Chris says, lowering my feet on top of his. Then he starts walking us backward. “How does it feel?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.