Wildfire (Maple Hills, #2)(37)
“She said the farmer is a dick and she hates him with the fire of a thousand suns. I think they had a fight when she called him about the delivery. The truck’s a stick, so I need you.”
“You know how to drive stick?” I ask, quietly impressed.
She nods, double taking when she spots me with my furry fan club. “My dad owns a car company, well kinda, and I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe. Are you going to be okay on your own?”
I don’t ask any follow up questions about the “car company” because then I would have to admit I’ve talked about her with my friends and I know her dad owns a Formula One team. I want to offer to go with her instead of Emilia, but I think that’d be weird. “I’ll be fine. Go get the eggs.”
“See you at the lake later,” she says, walking toward Emilia.
Emilia waves as she turns, wrapping an arm around Aurora’s shoulders before heading back the way she came. “That looked cozy,” I hear her say.
Just when I start to think co-existing will be easy, Aurora takes two tiny shreds of material decorated with daisies and calls it a bikini.
“It’s so cute,” Maya praises her. “I love the cut.”
The cut? How can Maya concentrate on the cut when most of Aurora’s ass is out?
“Stay strong, brother,” Xander whispers beside me. I ignore him, still attempting to not feed into his suspicions. There’s nothing to be suspicious about, but I still don’t need to tell him about what happened before we got here.
“Rory,” Jenna sighs as she approaches the six of us waiting at the end of the dock. “Where’s your one-piece?”
“It’s drying in my cabin because butterfingers over there spilled orange juice on it,” she responds, gesturing to Emilia with her head. Jenna folds her arms across her chest and Aurora mirrors her. “Nobody is going to die if they see my stomach for an hour. I know not to wear it when the kids arrive.”
Jenna pinches the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, shaking her head. If I didn’t already know otherwise, I’d assume Jenna and Aurora were sisters. They don’t look alike, Aurora is tall and blond while Jenna is short with black hair, but the way they bicker and love each other reminds me of siblings. “I only came to share that your instructor is running late. He won’t be long.”
The camp has multiple fully trained and properly qualified lifeguards, but for additional safety, counselors are also given basic water safety training to keep ourselves and each other safe, as well as any campers.
Emilia waits until Jenna is heading back to the shore before pushing an unsuspecting Xander into the water, instantly triggering a power struggle between the rest of us. Small hands dig into the base of my spine, but the force is only enough to move me an inch. I can hear Aurora huffing and puffing behind me as she tries to push me, which is why it’s so easy to grab her hands and pull her in with me as I jump from the dock.
The water is colder than I was expecting, but it’s a welcome change from the heat and, when I kick myself back to the surface, I’m greeted with pouty lips and bright eyes. “That was cruel,” Aurora says, splashing me with her hand as she treads water beside me. “I wasn’t ready!”
I push back the wet hair stuck to my forehead, laughing at how pissed she looks, which doubles when I send a wave of water in her direction with my hand. The laugh that erupts out of her is goddamn magical. Unfiltered, loud, raw. Her eyes pierce me as she smiles, droplets of water clinging to her eyelashes, freckles dusting the bridge of her nose.
She’s so fucking beautiful it hurts.
Oh, man. I’m not supposed to be this attracted to her.
Why do I love to make myself miserable?
Her hand rises out of the water and I preemptively brace, waiting for her to drench me again with water, until the horrified squeal she lets out has me grabbing her hand and pulling her toward me.
“Something touched my foot!” Her legs wrap around my waist and her chest presses flush to mine as she clings to me. “I’m going to cry.”
I’m pretty sure this isn’t the survival training anyone had in mind.
I’m pretty sure I’m not going to survive having her wrapped around me.
“It’ll be a plant or something, don’t worry.”
Aurora leans back, putting some distance between our bodies so she can look at my face, but keeping her feet crossed at the bottom of my back. “It could be a shark.”
I can’t help but snort. “It’s not a shark. We’re in freshwater. We’re also in California.”
“Bull sharks are diadromous, they can survive in freshwater.” My eyebrow quirks. “What? I watch shark week.”
“If it’s a bull shark, sorry to be the one to tell you, but you’re screwed.”
She grins as her hands link at the nape of my neck. “If it’s a bull shark, we’re both screwed because I’m dragging you with me. You’re bigger, you’ll taste better.”
“Trust me, you taste incredible.”
I stun us both. I didn’t mean to say it out loud. Her eyes flick to my lips, then back to my eyes and her breathing slows. “Oh,” is the only thing she says and that response is enough to pray it is a shark and it’s about to save me from myself.