The Boss + The Maid = Chemistry by Louise Bay

Author:Louise Bay [Bay, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

Efa

We’re sitting on the bank of the lake or pond or whatever the water is in front of us. All I know is that it’s not the ocean. The sounds of birds and our intermittent voices are the only things I’ve heard all day. There’s no traffic noise. No distant shouts of laughter. Nothing but peace.

Bennett is lying between my legs, where he’s been most of the day, except at the moment we’re both dressed and we’re just sitting, my fingers twisting in his hair as we appreciate the hell out of the moment. The surface of the water is so smooth it looks like glass set over a landscape painting. Every now and then a bird takes off from a tree, making the leaves shiver, or a duck touches down in the water, sending ripples a short distance before they disappear. Everything stays the same and everything’s just about to change.

The sun is low in the sky, and the light is all burnt orange and luminous. It feels like we’re in a movie—like this moment is so perfect, it can’t possibly be real.

“Today has been… magical,” I say.

He nods, and I push my hand down the back of his neck and under the cotton of his t-shirt, wanting to share more of his warm skin against mine.

“You’re great,” I say.

He turns and looks me in the eye like he wants to say something, like it’s hovering there, just beneath the surface. He hands me a smooth gray stone. “Can you skim stones?”

I shrug. “I’ve never tried.”

“You can have your first time with me.”

I know it’s a joke, but his words tug on something inside me. Suddenly I’m aware that there’s going to be a thousand first times for me in my future, and the best ones are going to be those I shared with Bennett.

I take the stone from him, his fingers sliding against mine, and we stand.

I’m only in New York for the summer, I remind myself.

Except that I have no particular reason to leave.

He looks at me, and I don’t know if he can tell what I’m thinking, but he dips his head and kisses me. “Hold it like this,” he says. “You want it to slice through the surface of the water and bounce.”

“Show me,” I say.

He launches his stone and it hops on the surface of the water, once, twice, three times—four—then plunges into the lake.

He grins back at me. “It’s so satisfying and I have no idea why.”

“Let me try.” I pull back my arm and try to aim it the same way he did. To my surprise, the stone hits the water and bounces. But only once.

“You did it,” he says, offering up his palm for a high five.

I give him one.

“What kind of stones are good for skimming?” I crouch to start sifting through what’s on the ground.

“Flat, smooth, medium size and weight.”

We start combing the shore, picking up stones that might work. The ones on the surface are still warm, retaining the rays of the sun they’ve collected throughout the day.

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