Free Love on Lavender Island (A Lavender Island Novel Book 2) by Lauren Christopher

tub. “Sometimes ‘thank you,’” he said over her shoulder.
    A loud clank rang into the night, and suddenly the entire deck was draped in darkness. Paige stifled a scream.
    Adam mumbled a few curse words under his breath. “I’m here,” he said calmly. His touch on her elbow caused her to jump. “Sorry. I forgot the timer was set for only twenty minutes. Take four steps this way.” He tugged at her elbow, but the blackness was so disconcerting, she froze. She took one awkward step, but she couldn’t get a sense of her footing.
    “Paige, it’s okay. The hot tub is right behind you, and if you move to the right, you’ll fall. I’m right here. Trust me. Move this way.”
    His hand was wet and warm. She could have sworn the hot tub was the other way, but she’d twisted a bit when she’d heard the clank, so maybe she was turned around. Fear could do that. She could smell the chlorine on him, could sense heat emanating from his skin. She felt drips on her shoulder and wondered if he was standing so close that they were coming from his chin or his hair. She wanted to trust him. His palm pressed firmly into the back of her elbow, soaking her velvet jacket. The heat traversed the fabric with ease. She remembered the arms, the wrists, the strong hands she’d just been ogling, and thought about them touching her now in this darkness.
    “One more step,” came his voice.
    She begrudgingly gave him one more; she couldn’t help but do it with resistance. Stepping into unknown blackness had always scared her. She had a hard time trusting any people at all, let alone men. Let alone this man, who could’ve easily hated her and her mom for sixteen years.
    After her last faltering step, she felt his hand move away. His towel ruffled again. As her eyes continued to adjust and her breathing returned to normal, his outline started to materialize, and she could see that he was about six feet away, his back now to her, drying off his shoulders, his chest, his abdomen, not a care in the world. As his towel slipped, though, she turned away quickly.
    “You okay?” he asked. Ruffle, ruffle.
    “Mmm-hmm.”
    “Are you sure?” he asked. Ruffle, ruffle. She wondered what he was drying off now.
    “Yep.” She glanced away and tried to focus on a cypress tree until it came into full view. The moon had disappeared behind a night fog.
    He chuckled from behind her. “Are you always this nervous around water? Or is it the darkness?”
    “It’s . . . uh . . . well, yes, I get a little nervous around both.” And naked men I’ve been fantasizing about since I was thirteen.
    “Accidents or something?”
    “You could say that.”
    “Is that why the townspeople always called you Calamity June?”
    She managed a haughty lift to her chin. “I haven’t been called that in years. And I’d prefer you didn’t, either.”
    She suddenly noticed a pain shooting through her toe. She bent forward to take a look and thought she saw drops of blood, although it was hard to see in the dark. Damn. How was she going to shake the nickname Calamity June if things like this kept happening to her?
    “I think I might . . . uh . . . have a splinter or something.”
    He came up from behind her, his towel now secured around his waist, his hair standing damply on end.
    “It is June 1 now,” he said, bending to look at it. “You’re bleeding. Here, follow me. I’ll get you something for that.”
    Paige followed him through the dark, trying to ignore the June 1 comment, focusing instead on the crickets chirping around them.
    Instead of heading through the glass lobby door, Adam walked toward the back steps of his own place. I’m going into his house again? Paige took a few deep breaths for calm.
    An old border collie came trotting out the door and nuzzled up against Adam’s leg to greet him. Paige stared at the dog and recognized his coloring. “Is that Denny ?”
    Adam glanced back at her. “Yeah. You remember Denny?”
    “He was a puppy