CHAPTER 22

INDECENT EXPOSURE

Brandon

When I woke up, her body was draped over mine, our legs intertwined, and her curls were everywhere. Last night had been amazing, every single part of it, but waking up to her like this, that was by far the best part.

I had pressed my lips to her forehead, her cheeks, her nose, but she didn’t stir until I finally met hers. Then she gripped her hands in my hair and kissed me like she had spent the entire night wanting to do it again.

I looked back at her, hiking next to Livy and Staci, and I couldn’t help but feel happy.

She was so different than both of them, so different than me, but she seemed to fit into my group of friends perfectly.

“What’s that smile about?” Mason tossed a stick at me. “Did someone get lucky last night?”

“I wouldn’t tell you if I did.” The sound of Charlie’s laugh brought a smile to my face. “I’m a gentleman.”

“Since when?” Parker scoffed.

“Since it mattered.” I stared both of my friends down and dared them to say something about it. So, of course, they did.

“Brandon is already whipped.” Mason made a whipping noise and hand gesture.

“Says the most whipped man I have ever met.” I rolled my eyes.

“I’m not scared to admit it.” He kicked a rock off the trail so the girls didn’t trip over it. “I just never thought I’d see the day when it happened to you.”

Parker stopped in front of us, and I looked over his shoulder to see that we had finally made it to the waterfall that he promised would be up here. It was just as spectacular as he said it would be which made the three-mile uphill hike worth it.

Charlie walked up to my side, and I tucked her in under my arm as she wrapped her arms around my stomach.

“Who knew hiking was so hard?” She sagged into me, and I laughed. “I probably should have been training for this or something.”

“You look pretty fit to me.” I leaned back and checked out her perfect ass that was on display thanks to her tight yoga pants.

“Tell that to the dozen cupcakes I inhaled before we left yesterday.”

She was crazy. She was perfect. Her body was perfection.

“Maybe I should get a better look then.” I started to pull her backpack off her back and she took a step back away from me.

“Here?” she whispered as she looked back and forth between our friends who had walked down to test the temperature of the water.

“Yeah.” I smirked at her. “You are going to go swimming, right?”

“No. I don’t know these waters.” She pointed her finger in the direction of the river that flowed down from the waterfall. “Plus, I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”

“Neither did I.” I wagged my eyebrows at her as I pulled my t-shirt over my head. Her eyes tracked my hands, and she bit her lip as she watched me unbutton my jeans. She was contemplating it. I could see it. The indecision warring behind her eyes.

“You did put panties back on this morning, right?”

She took a step toward me and smacked my arm. “Yes. I put panties on,” she whispered.

“They are basically a bathing suit.” I shrugged my shoulders and kicked my jeans to the side. I stood in front of her in nothing but my boxers.

“No. They are not.” She shook her head.

“Come on.” I tugged on her t-shirt. “What’s the difference between them and a bikini?”

“A lot.” She looked toward the water where the others were already jumping in the water. “I’ll sit on that rock right there and wait.” She pointed to a large boulder on the edge of the water before walking over to it and planting her ass.

I walked into the water right in front of her. The water was colder than an ice bath, but there was no way that I was letting that show in front of her. If she knew how cold it was, there was no way in hell that I would convince her to get in.

I dove into the water, the temperature taking my breath away, and I slung my hair out of my face as I hit the surface. She had her knees tucked against her chest, but she was watching me.

I lifted a hand out of the water and motioned for her to join me.

She shook her head.

“Don’t make me come get you.” I splashed a small bit of water in her direction, not nearly close enough to touch her, and she straightened.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Wouldn’t I?” I cocked my head to the side and took a step closer to her.

“Brandon, I swear to—”

I didn’t give her time to finish that sentence. I charged out of the water and caught her just as she jumped off the rock and began to take off. My wet body soaked into her clothes.

She laughed, a loud carefree laugh, as I tucked my face into her neck and let the water cover her skin.

“Brandon,” she yelled and laughed at the same time.

“You either get in on your own or I throw you in. Clothes and all.”

She looked out to the river then over her shoulder at me.

“I can’t,” she whispered.

“Why?” I chuckled but started to get worried. Was she scared of the water? If so, I was an asshole and make everything worse.

“Because my…” She pointed down to her pants.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“My panties.”

“What about them?”

“There isn’t much to them.” She looked away from me. “I only brought sexy panties because I knew I’d be in your tent.”

I couldn’t stop the laugh that roared from me as I bent at the waist and tried to catch my breath. Charlie had to be the sweetest thing I had ever seen.

“It’s not funny.” She crossed her arms, but it was. She knew it too. Her lips curved the tiniest bit in the corner even though she tried to plant a frown on her face.

“Come on.” I gripped her hand in mine. “I promise I’ll keep you covered. They won’t even notice.” I hiked my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of our friends who weren’t even paying a bit of attention to us.

“Fine.” She sat down on the rock and pulled off her tennis shoes and socks. She glanced out to the water before she pulled her t-shirt down as far as it would go and lowered her yoga pants. Her eyes met mine as she took a deep breath and quickly pulled her t-shirt over her head.

She was right. Her panties were nothing like a bathing suit.

I pulled her close to my body and started backing into the water as she clung to me.

“You were right.” Our calves hit the water, and I groaned when I saw that the tiny scrap of lace she was wearing covered exactly zero percent of her ass.

“What?” She hissed as our hips dipped into the freezing water.

“Those panties.” I nodded down her body. “They are sexy as hell.”

She blushed but wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

“I apparently did pack correctly.” She looked away from me. “I told you that I had never been camping before.”

“No.” I shook my head and lifted her by her thighs which forced her to wrap her legs around my waist. “You packed perfectly.” I let her feel the hard-on I had despite the fact that my blood felt like sludge. Apparently, a cold shower wasn’t going to help me when it came to her.

She laughed and tucked her head into my shoulder embarrassed. It was such a contrast to the girl last night. The way she opened up to me.

“Well you got me in here,” she said against my neck before she leaned up and looked me directly in the eye. “Now what are you going to do with me?”

Not get rid of my hard-on. That was for sure.