The Boys of Summer (14 page)

Southern Son.

“Whose boat is this?” I asked.

“Stan’s, isn’t he a nice boy?” Sean
mocked.

Ellie just scoffed, tipping her sunnies on as
she crossed her arms and looked out to the jet skiers, churning
circles on the water.

Toby jumped into the boat followed by Sean as
they went to work on their safety checks.

“You okay?” I asked Ellie. I hoped that she
wasn’t going to be in a mood for the rest of the day. Ellie didn’t
take too kindly to being stood up.

She flashed a winning smile. “Sure, this is
going to be fun.” She pushed past me, over the edge of the jetty
and held out her hand. “Sean, could you help me?”

Sean dropped his rope and scooted over to
help her into the boat. Ellie squealed and clung onto his arm as
she landed awkwardly on the rocking deck.

“Careful,” he said, steadying her.

I rolled my eyes.

Sean motioned me over and helped me into the
boat. His hands circled my waist as he lifted me down. I had never
had so many hands encircled around my waist in my life as I had in
the last couple of days, and every time it made my cheeks flush
from the intimacy of it. The ripped cords of muscles in his arms
felt foreign under my touch. Scott had always been lean and gangly,
like he still had growing to do, which he mostly did, he was a
teenager after all, as opposed to the Onslow Boys.

I sat on the sideboard, watching Sean and
Toby work with expert precision, finishing up the safety
checks.

“Sweet! Full tank. Good on you, Stan, my
son,” Sean said.

“I think he had a big day planned,” Toby
said, more to himself than anyone. And my heart did ache a little
for Stan, who was now stuck helping his dad on this hot, sweltering
day, when he was supposed to have been firing up the engine, which
Toby did instead.

As the engine churned dark water into white
froth behind us, I thought about what we were about to do. I was
about to embark on a day on the lake with
Toby Morrison
. If
anyone had told me last week this was how I’d be spending my
summer, I would have never believed them.

“Where to?” called Toby over the hum of the
motor.

“McLean’s?” posed Sean.

“Too busy,” Ellie yelled.

“How about over Horseshoe Bend? Pretty
secluded there,” I suggested.

Sean smiled wickedly as he moved to sit
beside Toby. “You want somewhere private, do you, Tess? What do YOU
have planned for the day?”

I blushed, horrified at what he thought I was
suggesting.

“I just meant …”

“You heard the lady, Tobias, drive her around
the bend.”

We powered along, giving a wide berth to all
the other boats that were littered throughout the lake.

Once we were clear of them, Toby floored it,
jerking us backward and causing Ellie and I to hang on for dear
life. The thrill of the surge and the power of Stan’s boat was
exhilarating. It was fast; very fast. I looked at Ellie, who
mirrored my own gleeful smile, as we set across the never-ending
stretch of water, the wind spray of the water cooling my face.

“Faster!” Ellie yelled.

Toby leant sideways, struggling to hear.
“Faster?”

“Yes, faster!” we screamed.

Toby accelerated before the words were fully
out of our mouths, and we hung on with white-knuckled intensity. I
dipped my head to prevent my eyes from watering. Sean and Toby were
laughing as they looked back to check on us (probably to make sure
we were still onboard).

All too soon, Toby lowered the throttle,
slowing the boat down as we reached our destination. We were on the
opposite side of town, and I could see just offshore the very place
I had been limping along earlier in the week.

As if it triggered a memory in Toby, too, he
turned to me. “How’s the knee?”

It was now only an embarrassing pink mark and
looked far less fatal. I tried to bend my knee away from his
eyes.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“What’s this?” Sean’s ears pricked up.

“Nothing,” Toby quickly changed the subject.
“Help me with this, Sean.” He concentrated on something complicated
on the control panel.

I guessed that Toby didn’t stop for an iced
chocolate with Sean after dropping me home. Didn’t tell him all
about his afternoon and how he rescued me, fixed me up. Didn’t
exchange smiles and laugh at each other’s jokes.

I guess that’s not really a guy thing to
do.

Sean obviously didn’t know what Toby was
referring to. It seemed his knight-in-shining-armour rescue
apparently wasn’t anything worth mentioning to his mates, unlike my
analysed play-by-play and detailed breakdown of events with
Ellie.

I knew boys were different, less analytical,
less emotional than girls (I mean I had done the survey in
Cosmo
, so I was kind of an expert), but I wondered if Toby
would look as disappointed as Stan did when he broke it to Ellie
about not being able to make it today. And then I scoffed at the
thought; why would he? He had a girlfriend, he was probably
disappointed about
Angela
not being here.
Wake up,
Tess!

“Time to shine, Tess,” Ellie whispered to
me.

She scooted out of her denim cut-offs and
peeled off her top, revealing a black bathing suit that exposed her
flat stomach. Her suit was linked together by large rings along her
sides, giving it the illusion of a one piece. Sean looked up from
the logbook he and Toby were leaning over.

He smirked. “You girls must get the most
unfortunate tan lines.”

Ellie laughed as she adjusted the gold links.
They really would leave unusual whites circles on her skin.

She looked at me expectantly.

“Where are the tunes you boys are so famous
for?” Ellie asked. She stretched her long arms above her head,
tying her hair up in a messy ponytail that always somehow managed
to look good.

I took a deep breath. Here we go. I chucked
my thongs off, trying not to think too much as I crossed my arms
and peeled my dress upward, over my head. Thank God for all the
times Ellie and I sunbaked in our backyards, turning every couple
of minutes like rotisserie chickens, and the only time I ever
exposed my midsection. One thing I wasn’t bashful about was my
ability to tan a sweet, golden brown colour. It was the best thing
about summer: my hair lightened and my skin darkened. And at this
very moment, my darkened skin was exposed to two new sets of eyes
that trailed over my attire – or lack thereof. I quickly glanced
away, embarrassed, as Toby and Sean’s eyes lingered at my
chest.

Oh my God, Toby was looking at my boobs.

Toby coughed and tried to find something on
the boat to occupy his attention. Sean’s brows raised, and he
glanced at Toby with a not-too-subtle smile. Ellie looked
triumphant, smiling, twirling her hair around her finger. I only
prayed she wouldn’t embarrass me further by giving me a thumbs
up.

I pretended not to notice when Toby’s eyes
betrayed him, when his gaze strayed back towards me in a long,
assessing look. He wasn’t wearing sunnies either, so there was no
hiding it. But he wasn’t smiling like Sean had been; he seemed
uncomfortable with it. With me.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Mission
accomplished: I had gained his attention, yes, but I wasn’t sure it
was in a good way.

Ellie was working on sunscreening her nose
and cheeks, slathering it over her neck and shoulders.

“Tess, can you do my back?”

I squirted the lotion onto my hands and
rubbed it vigorously into her skin like I had done a million times
before.

Ellie threw the sunscreen over to the boys,
landing at Sean’s feet. “That sun’s got a bite in it.”

They looked at the bottle, then uneasily at
each other.

“Sorry, mate, but I am not lathering you up,”
Sean said to Toby.

“Likewise.” Toby frowned.

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Honestly, what big
babies! Here …” Ellie snatched the bottle off the deck and squirted
some lotion on her hand as she approached Sean. Oh, she was good.
“Turn around,” she said, in a no-nonsense way.

Sean even looked taken aback. “Yes ma’am.” He
pulled off his shirt and tossed it on top of his bag.

Now it was our turn to try not to stare, and
judging from the smile that crept onto his lips, he totally knew
it. His broad muscular shoulders were something to behold on his
six-foot-three-inch frame. A chiseled six-pack, I didn’t even know
guys in Onslow were built like that. He cast a wicked grin at us as
he turned around to expose the taut curves of his smooth back. All
of a sudden I was envious of the task Ellie had before her. Even
Ellie, who was no stranger to the ways of skin on skin, seemed to
pause and showed a moment of fluster. I tried not to smile. Was she
blushing? She shook off her moment of weakness, placing it in that
locked cage of hers, and rubbed the lotion onto his shoulders.

Sean stretched his neck and leaned forward a
little.

“A bloke could get used to this. So what do
they recommend? Application every hour?”

“Every four,” Toby corrected, as he peeled
his own shirt off and walked over to stand directly in front of me.
I stood frozen with sunscreen-covered hands.

He gave me a small smile and said, “Be gentle
with me,” before turning his back to me.

I had so enjoyed Ellie’s moment of unease.
Not so much fun when it was me. The only difference was, unlike
Ellie, as I studied the lean bronzed lines of his shoulder blades,
I didn’t have the skill to tamper down my awkwardness. Ellie threw
over the sunscreen, which I dropped. Twice.

Toby flinched as I touched the middle of his
back with my lotioned hand. I paused momentarily, and watched him
relax before starting again. I started to rub it in until the
whiteness disappeared, and it blended into his deep brown skin. His
back was so smooth. Whenever I applied lotion onto Ellie, I did it
with a slip, slop, slap and all done! She would always ask if it
was rubbed in properly, and I usually lied and told her yes, even
though it never was. I hated having sunscreen on my hands and just
wanted to get it over and done with.

But in this instance I wanted it to last
forever. I was slowly working in the lotion, sweeping circular
motions, as I became more at ease with touching him. When I glanced
at Toby’s profile, I saw his eyes were shut, his expression serene.
By this point, Sean was smearing his face with sunscreen and
rubbing it over his chest, arms and legs as Ellie looked dreamily
on. All too soon every last drop had been absorbed into Toby’s skin
and my job was done.

I coughed, and said, “Good to go.”

I held up the tube to Ellie, miming for her
to do mine, but she just shrugged and cringed, showing me her
hands.

“Aw, Tess, I just wiped them clean.”

I glared at her. “I’m sure that …”

“I’ll do it,” Sean and Toby said in
unison.

Ellie smiled broadly. Her smug smile spoke
for her.
‘Aren’t you glad you wore the bikini?’

Sean and Toby looked at each other,
surprised. Motioning to Toby, Sean swept his hand in my direction
as if to say,
‘After you’
, and now Toby was the one that
looked out of sorts.

“You have to make sure she gets covered well,
Toby; Tess burns easily,” Ellie said.

It was an utter lie, which I made obvious
when I glared at her. She dipped her sunnies down her nose to give
me a wink before she pushed them back in place and leaned back on
her towel in the sunbaking position.

With a subtle, deep breath, I turned around
and Toby placed his hands gingerly on my back. I could feel his
breath on my neck and my body swayed with each hypnotic caress. I
fought not to let out a moan as he massaged the sunscreen into my
muscles. It felt so intimate. I blinked with surprise as he dabbed
sunscreen on the top of my ears.

“Oh, I forgot to do yours.” I spun
around.

His eyes went to my hands and a look flashed
across his face, a look I had seen before, the night in the
poolroom when he shook my hand.

“What?”

A crooked smile formed as he shook his head.
“Nothing.”

“What was that look for?” I pressed.

Toby grabbed my wrist and brought my hand up
towards him, turning it from side to side in deep scrutiny.

“Your hands are tiny,” he said.

“Shut up, no they’re not. Thanks a bunch,
I’ll make sure to sign up for the freak show next time the circus
is in town, shall I?”

A crease formed on his brow; he looked
annoyed.

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing.” He grabbed
my other wrist and turned my hands over so my palms faced the sky.
He smiled slowly; my skin tingled under his fingertips.

“So dainty.” He looked at me now.

“Dainty?” I repeated.

“Yep.” He held his hand up in front of me and
motioned for me to do the same. I placed my hand against his. The
tips of my fingers only touched the top crease of his, he bent the
tops of them as if to prove a point. I mock-glared at him.

“Don’t be fooled,” I said, “they pack a mean
punch.”

“I’m sure they could. At the right angle,
they could slip between my ribs.”

“They are not that small.”

“What were you saying about the circus?” he
teased.

I went to hit him with my freakishly tiny
hands, but he grabbed my wrist, too quick.

“Oh, you’re fast,” he said, fingers locked
around my wrist as I tried to pull it free. He grinned. “But I’m
faster.”

I struggled to break free from his vice-like
grip.

“Tobias, didn’t your mum teach you to play
nicely?” Sean said dryly as he and Ellie watched on.

It was a Mexican standoff now; Toby didn’t
want to let me go in case I lashed out.

“Truce?” he offered, watching me
suspiciously.

I smiled sweetly. “Truce.”