Filed to story: Lily Bennett and Mason Cooper Book
“I’d rather just be distracted.” He sighs. He looks tired, and not just because it’s after midnight.
“Do you want to go swimming?” I ask, standing up as I finish my slice of pizza.
“I have a pool.”
“I didn’t bring swim trunks. Though you already know that’s not a problem for me,” he says with a grin.
“No, I guess it’s not…” I say, biting my lip nervously.
“So how about it, Princess?”
“Um… I’ve never been skinny-dipping,” I blurt, biting my lip nervously.
“You haven’t?” He gapes at me.
“All my friends have, but Olly always said it would make me seem like a slut,” I mumble, feeling myself blush.
“He’s an idiot.” Mason snorts, rolling his eyes.
“Come on then, princess.” He smiles, standing up.
“A-are you serious?” I ask, looking at him with wide eyes.
“I promise I won’t look.” He chuckles.
“Let’s live a little.”
Once we’re outside standing at the edge of the pool, my nerves nearly get the better of me.
“You really won’t look?”
“I made a promise, didn’t I?”
“You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?” I add, turning my head to look at him.
“What, say I went skinny-dipping with someone from Ridgewood? That’d be social suicide, and I actually want to enjoy my senior year.”
I take a deep breath, closing my eyes as I reach for the zipper on the back of my dress.
I struggle to reach it and huff. I’m about to just pull it over my head, but instead I feel Mason’s fingers brush my bare skin softly, then he slowly unzips my dress.
I let it drop to the ground and pool at my feet. Mason’s hands touch the middle of my back, giving me goosebumps, then I realize he’s undoing my barely-there strapless bra.
Once my bra has joined my dress, I take another deep breath and slide my panties off.
I look to my left to be greeted by Mason’s bare, chiseled chest. And those abs… What kind of killer workout routine does he have?
He must feel my eyes on him, because he chuckles.
“You’re looking.”
My eyes shoot back up to his face as my own turns red as a tomato.
“I never promised not to.”
“Touch?.” True to his word, his eyes are focused on the pool in front of us, but his smile finally looks real.
“Ready, princess?” he asks.
“Ready,” I say and grab his hand.
“Three, two, one,” he counts down quietly before we jump into the cool water.
LILY
The moonlight reflects on the pool’s surface and the water is warm against my skin.
“So, how does it feel doing something that Kingsley never let you do?” Mason asks. He’s floating a few feet away, his curly hair clinging to his forehead.
“Good,” I say. Though that’s actually an understatement.
Being naked in a pool with a hot boy who I one hundred percent should not be talking to in the first place is the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in months.
“What else wouldn’t Kingsley let you do?” he asks.
“It’s stupid, but I always wanted to climb the water tower,” I say with a small laugh.
“You’ve never climbed the water tower?” he asks, drifting closer to me.
“What was his excuse for that?”
“That it’s immature and pointless,” I say as I lean against the side of the pool.
“The more you talk about him, the dumber I think he is,” Mason says.
“And I already thought he was pretty dumb.”
He’s only a couple feet away from me now.
Did he just try to sneak a peek? I’m surprised to find I don’t mind.
“Guess he’s not holding me back anymore,” I say, feeling both happy and sad about that.
“I finally have my freedom, but the summer’s almost over.”
“We still have a month left of summer.”
“Think I can pack everything he wouldn’t let me do into one month?” I ask.
“Just how long is this list?” he says with a laugh.
He leans against the wall next to me.
His shoulder brushes mine, sending an electric shock through my body.
I can’t believe I didn’t even know him this morning and now his naked body is inches from mine.
Before I overthink it, I blurt out, “Want to help me?”
“Do the list?”
“Yeah? Be my list buddy.”
“I’ll be your list buddy, sure,” he says, nodding.
“We’ll do every single thing that the Neanderthal said no to before the end of the summer.”
I can’t help but smile at his determination.
But then a thought hits me, and my cheeks warm.
“Um, almost everything,” I correct.
“Why not everything?” Mason frowns.
“There are things on the list that we just wouldn’t be able to do,” I say vaguely, sinking into the water up to my eyes to hide my face.
Mason watches me for a moment before his lips curve into a mischievous smirk.
“You mean sex things.”
“Shut up!” I groan, splashing water in his direction. He laughs, splashing me back.
“Anyway,” I mumble, my cheeks still burning.
“Is there anything you want to do?”
Mason hesitates, his green eyes flicking away for a moment before returning to mine.
“I’ve always wanted to jump off that waterfall just out of town.”