Love Untouched (Unexpected) by Anne Leigh Page B

from this place, call a cab, and get dropped off at the nearest airport. I was ready to tell him my plans when I saw him. My eyes catching his image in my retina, sending the synapses to my brain, and finally connecting the message with some unnamed emotion. I clearly saw him.
    His soaked boxers were all that covered his nakedness. However, what really made me pause was when I looked into his deep, brown eyes, and saw they no longer held the eagerness and untamed joy that they had earlier. His expression was lost, forlorn.
    Seconds, minutes passed.
    Finally, he spoke. “Please... stay,” he said, his voice threadbare, the message amplified by the raw honesty in his eyes. He added, “For me.”
    The way he said it unhinged me. He sounded like he had never asked anyone to stay, for him.
    The war I waged within myself was lost. Now, we had reached another dimension, another level in this unlabeled relationship we shared. For weeks, he had been there for me, and followed me home after work every night. Inviting him for breakfast was the start of another level. During the drive here, he shared a lot of himself with me, maybe even some secrets and truths he’d never shared with anyone else. If I had to describe this in a game, we were past the easy level, now we were on to another track.
    You’ve lived your life this way, Brynn. No regrets. Now, take the plunge. Literally.
    I moved away from his hug and traced our steps back to the pool, as best as I could. His stride followed mine closely. No words were exchanged between us. Once we reached the pool, I unbuttoned my top, slid it over and off my arms, kicked my wedge sandals to the side, and stepped out of my jeans.
    Standing at the edge of the pool, in my mismatched light-blue bra and boy shorts, I whispered, “Teach me how to swim.”
     

     
    “Excuse me?” I gulped. The sight of her body, even from the back, made it hard for me to form coherent speech. “Did you just ask me to teach you how to swim?”
    Brynn jumped in the water but stayed in the 4-feet deep side of the pool. The ends of her golden hair were submerged, her bra was wet, her nipples clearly showing, and her trim waist was below the water. She remained standing, unmoving. Brynn with clothes on was sexy. Brynn in scrubs was hot. Brynn in underwear? Nuclear . I didn’t predict that she would just undress in front of me. If I had known a pool was what it took for her to do that, I would have planted one in front of the hospital. Okay, I might have brought her to the training facility. Oh, that would not have worked because her brother was there. A brother who had no clue that Brynn was here with me. And that part I was starting to really hate.
    “Yes,” she repeated, “teach me how to swim.”
    I jumped in the water, gauging myself correctly, and I landed on my feet right in front of her.
    “You don’t know how to swim?” Swimming was a natural state for me. As essential as breathing. Some people took caffeine first thing in the morning. Some took a shower. I swam. “Your brother is a swimmer.” As much as I despised mentioning him, I had to say it. “One of the best swimmers in the country, second only to me.” Well, I was the best so there was no arguing that fact.
    “And?” Her light blonde eyebrows rose. Her eyelashes had gotten wet, and the effect of her wet look was sultry. “Just because he’s a swimmer doesn’t mean I’m a swimmer, too.”
    “Well, yes. But the least he could have done is teach you.”
    She stroked her fingertips through her hair. Her eyes, made bluer by the reflection of the water, looked up at me, and she lightly replied, “I wasn’t really a water-loving child. I loved being in the kitchen more than anything else. My parents enrolled me in swimming lessons but I never really learned. Then one day, Ava and I were at the beach with her family. She’s a good swimmer and all of a sudden, I wanted to learn how to swim. I asked my brother to teach me…but it was