For the Love of Gracie by Amy K. Mcclung

and moved toward his mouth. Ashton was moving closer. At the same time, I felt something on my arm, looked down, and screamed as I saw a large bug on it. I jumped up shaking my arm and squealing, "Get it off me!" 
    Ashton grabbed at me as he said, "Gracie. Gracie! Stop!" I knocked into him, pushing him to the ground as I fell on top of him. Ashton groaned in pain. 
    "You ok?" I asked worried. 
    He squeaked out, "Your knee." 
    I looked down and realized my knee had hit him directly in his crotch. I jumped up, "I'm sorry!" 
    He sat up, laughing, with a slight wince on his face. "You're lucky you're cute." 
    I blushed as he pulled me into a hug, still groaning slightly. "I think we should head home. We both need to get into dry clothes." 
    He smiled up at me. "We could do that. Or we could let our clothes dry in the sun and go swimming." 
    I glanced down at myself and shrugged. I lifted my shirt off and he turned his head when I did. I reached out to move his chin to face me. "It's just a bra, Ashton. Covers the same amount of skin as a bikini. "
    He nodded as he glanced over me briefly. I stood up and slipped my blue jeans off. That was easier said than done since they were so wet they stuck to my skin. Ashton shimmied out of his clothes and stood in boxer briefs only. 
    He grinned at me. "Race ya."
    He took off running across the dock before I could think. He did a cannonball into the water. I jumped in behind him and when I came up, he was waiting for me on the surface.
    I pushed my hair back off my face and shivered. 
    "It's colder in here than I had expected." 
    He moved forward and wrapped his arms around me, running his hands up and down my back. "Is that better?" His face was only inches from mine.
    "Uh-huh," was all I could say. 
    His face moved toward mine, I closed my eyes ready to kiss him. His head landed on my shoulder in a hug. 
    "I'm having a lot of fun, Gracie." 
    I sighed with disappointment, but said, "Me too." This idea of us being just friends was taking a toll on me.  
    Ashton's hand went to my shoulder. My head turned to see what drew his attention.
    "Aww, it's a ladybug," I said. 
    He stuck his index finger out and waited for the ladybug to crawl onto his finger. "You know, when a ladybug lands on you, it's said to bring good luck and grant wishes." He held his finger out to me. "Make a wish, Gracie." 
    I closed my eyes and wished for the only thing I wanted, the man in front of me to love me the way I was falling in love with him. Ashton lightly blew on the ladybug, her wings fluttered as she flew away from us.
    "We should probably get out before we both get sick," he suggested. 
    I followed him to the dock.  He lifted me up first. I held my hand out to him and he laughed.
    "Sweetheart, I'll end up pulling you back in. Back up, I got this."
    My hands rose in mock surrender as I stepped back from the edge. His palms placed flat on the dock, he lifted himself out of the water. 
    We grabbed our clothes and headed back to his truck.  "You don't happen to have towels do you?"
    He nodded. "Yep. I knew our feet would at least get wet so I stuck some behind the seat."
    He handed me a towel first.  My clothes were still wet, so I slipped my shirt on and wrapped the towel around my waist for the ride home.
    When we made it back to my house , I let Ashton come inside to throw his clothes in the dryer. He kept a towel around his waist and threw his boxer briefs in with the clothes.  I bit my lip realizing he was totally naked in front of me. 
    "I'm gonna run upstairs and get dressed."  Once upstairs, I flopped on my bed and screamed into the mattress in frustration.  Come on ladybug wish and work already , I thought to myself. The bedroom door opened, I sat up quickly. 
    Ashton chuckled, "You're still wet." 
    Whoa .  My mind went in a totally different direction than what he meant with that statement.  "Sorry, I felt a bit tired." 
    He sat next to me. Ashton Collins, the man I'm