Chapter Thirty
Tim lay with his hand behind his head, listening to the crickets chirping. He could hear the water from the lake lapping against the bank, as he lay in his sleeping bag on the air mattress. He hadn’t been able to sleep. His mind kept racing, and he kept thinking about Lyris. He wished they had had time to set up a rendezvous point. Tim didn’t care for her father. There was something mean in his eyes that bothered Tim.
Next to him, Jesse’s even breathing let Tim know his younger brother was sound asleep. Jesse had always been a heavy sleeper, which was fine with Tim. He was a light sleeper, and never slept much. He was awake at dawn, often not going to sleep until midnight. It had made sneaking out easier.
Restless, he slipped out of the tent, wearing only his shorts and sneakers. Blessed with a natural stealth, he slipped away from the tents into the warm summer night and headed for the lake. Maybe a late night swim would help.
“Think he’s going to meet her?” Dan asked Daisy in a whisper.
“If he is sugar, we’re going to let him,” Daisy replied. “He’s eighteen, and if he hasn’t learned by now, then he won’t. We can’t coddle him.”
“I know,” Dan sighed, his arm around his beautiful wife, who was snuggled up against him in their sleeping bag. The adults all discreetly set their tents away from the children.
“Besides,” she said softly, pressing her lips against his neck. “I think there are more entertaining things to do than worry about Tim.”
“How right you are, as always,” he smiled, pulling her on top of him.
Tim wandered towards the dock and froze. Blinking a few times, he realized he wasn’t imaging the vision in front of him. A tall, curvy girl stood of the dock, and stripped off her clothes. First he thought it was one of his cousins, but this girl was much taller than Mabon and curvier than Rayma. The short hair gave it away.
Lyris was skinny dipping. With a sly smile, he walked onto the dock, where he saw her shorts and t-shirt. Kneeling, he picked up the shirt and inhaled. Yep. Same floral scent as before when she had hugged him.
Setting the shirt down, he studied the water. He had seen her slip into it, but where was she?
After a few more seconds he began to feel tinges of panic. Should he go in after her? Tim stripped off his shirt in preparation to dive in.
“You going to stand there all night or are you coming in?” her soft voice floated up to him and he glanced down, realizing she was treading water under him.
“I couldn’t see you,” he said in a whisper.
“Come on in, the water’s good!” she smiled up at him and Tim felt his heart do a little flip.
“It’s cold, is what it is. I know this lake,” he chided gently.
“Can’t be too cold, since I have nothing on,” she said cheekily.
Tim swallowed hard and kicked off his shoes. “Men’s body parts are a little more sensitive to cold water than women’s,” he shot back.
“Shorts, too,” she grinned, moving out so he could see her bare shoulders a little better. “Unless you’re chicken.”
Tim didn’t hesitate; he just grinned, dropped his shorts and easily dove into the water, trying to make sure he didn’t splash too much. He was sure the twins were still awake, and it would be just like them to follow him and steal his clothes. Or worse, tell every one in the family he was skinny dipping with a girl he barely knew.
“It’s damn cold,” he chuckled, treading water. The dock seemed awfully far out, he thought.
“Well, you know, there are ways to warm up,” her eyes twinkled at him and Tim grinned, moving towards her, but she darted away with a giggle, and the next couple minutes he tried to catch her in the water but she moved through it seamlessly. She was a damn good swimmer, he thought, and he was able to catch a glimpse of a bare breast there and there.
“All right, I give,” he groaned.
“Wuss,” she laughed. “But for your effort—” she moved closer and brushed her lips against his. Quickly he caught her, wrapping his arms around her. Their lips met fiercely as she wrapped her body around his.
Hungrily, he kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as her lips sought his, and they slid under the water.
Laughing, they came up together, her hair clinging to her cheek.
“Let’s swim in a little,” he said huskily. Nodding, she followed him under the dock. They were only a couple inches apart in height, and it didn’t take long to reach ground they could both stand on.
Tim pulled her close, pressing his lips on hers frantically. She wrapped herself around him eagerly.
“Wait,” he said hoarsely, pushing her back. “Wait a minute.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her breath coming heavy. “Don’t you want me?”
“Oh, God yes,” he groaned. “But I don’t have any kind of protection on me. I didn’t know I’d be seeing you here and I couldn’t very well buy condoms with my fifteen year old cousins standing there.”
“I’m not on the pill either,” her upset was visible and Tim kissed her again.
“It’s ok,” he murmured, covering her face in gentle kisses. “We’ll see each other again; Croton isn’t far away.”
“Hang on,” a mischievous smile crept against her face. Taking him by the hand, she led him out of the water and they tumbled to the sand.
“There are other things we can do,” she breathed in his ear.
A while later, they lay in the sand, Lyris curled up against him. He turned his head to look in her eyes. They eyes flickered with something he didn’t catch and he brushed her bangs back.
“I’m changing my one night policy,” he said quietly, staring into her eyes. “I want to date you for real, and find a way to see you when we get home.”
“I don’t sleep around,” she answered quickly.
“I didn’t think you did,” he smiled. “But I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind since we met. If I had a condom, I’d be making love to you.”
Her slender fingers caressed his jaw. “Tim, I know we hardly know each other, and this is going to sound crazy but—”
“You feel like we’ve known each other forever?” he finished.
She nodded.
“Me too,” he murmured, kissing her eyes. “I thought my cousin was nuts when she was describing it to me, but she’s right.”
“My father may not let me date you,” she said unhappily.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. In the meantime, we’re going to enjoy every minute we possibly can.”
“That sounds wonderful,” she smiled as she laid her head against his chest.
Later, Tim found his way back to the camp. He and Lyris had sat on the dock for a while until the sun started to peek up. Drying off had taken a while in between kisses, and they agreed to meet again later.
There was something different about her, he thought. Tim Mangan loved the ladies, but this lady had him actually focused on her. Tim would freely admit he had had plenty of women but somehow he didn’t really want to admit that to her. He liked the way she looked at him. Not drunk and lustful, like most of the girls he had had, but as if she really saw him.
And she was smart. It didn’t take long on the plane for him to realize she was just like him. Smart, independent and paying for some bad choices she had made. She was no vapid party girl, she was flirty and fun and laughed at his jokes.
And beautiful, he thought. Full of life, and sparkly when she was happy, like tonight.
There was darkness though, he thought to himself. More than once he had seen the shadows in her eyes, and a slight tension in her body. Tim suspected her father had something to do with it. Tim really didn’t like that guy and was anticipating trouble from him.
Reaching the camp, he settled himself into one of the chairs and stoked the fire up. Quietly moving around the camp, he made himself a couple of s’mores, enjoying the gooey sweetness of the treat for breakfast. He almost got a beer but his parents would smell it on him, so he skipped it.
Leaning back in the chair, he looked up at the orange streaks in the sky announced dawn.
***
The soft snickering woke him instantly, and Tim sat up. He had fallen asleep in the camp chair next to the fire, and the twins were awake.
“What did you two do?” he demanded.
The twins were making s’mores and cramming them in their mouths before Trixie woke and made them eat a real breakfast.
“Nothing, Tim,” one said cheerfully after he swallowed. “We were just headed down to the lake for a swim. Hoping for company of the female persuasion.”
Tim eyed them suspiciously. Had they seen him last night?
“Hoping to find some mermaids.” The other one stuck out his tongue, covered in s’mores leftovers and wiggled it.
Laughing, the twins raced each other to the lake.
Tim groaned. The twins had obviously seen him last night. Probably everything. Tim knew they would blackmail him. He’d bet just for details. They were fifteen year old boys, and while both were popular with the girls at school, he doubted either of them had done much more than kiss a girl.
He was going to have to beat them at their own game. Not a problem, he smiled to himself. Tim had written the book on sneakiness.
Meet the cast in full & see the family tree!
Author’s Notes
- A huge yee-haa to the fabulous and lovely Ronda, for editing this! The poor woman had to slog through some crazy typos!
- Word Count, 2,187
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