There is just no excuse for this long wait. But I'm gonna try to make a decent one anyways. I've been in the middle of this chapter for a long time, trying to figure out how things should happen or what to do and bah, it took a long time. So sorry!
"Crap," Erin breathed out slowly, dragging out the word after noticing her missing cellphone. She'd meant to bring it with and charge it at home but had apparently left it on the table next to the purse she had remembered to bring.
She'd barely hit the main road when she swung the car into a rough u-turn and headed back down the dusty path. It wasn't her fault, she reasoned, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter with both hands. Dean had been especially obnoxious - and ridiculously sexy - this morning. Obnoxious with his words but sexy in appearance. He had mastered the art of balancing the two.
Erin's thoughts quickly shifted to how much he'd changed since she had seen him last. Barely in appearance, but definitely in spirit. He had seen his share of grief and pain, that much was obvious. But it was the mistrust bubbling beneath the surface that caught her off guard. It wasn't intentional, she didn't think. He didn't purposefully keep people away or tell himself not to trust anyone, it had become natural.
She wondered just how many times he'd been betrayed in the past to make him so wary of others.
The car eased into the same spot it had been before, next to the Impala, and hurried out, leaving the keys in the ignition. But her steps slowed when she noticed the front door open. She felt a tingle run down her spine. Had something happened? She glanced at her watch. She'd been gone less than 10 minutes.
A sense of unease grew as she neared the porch and slowly walked up, eyes darting to the windows that adorned either side of the door before stepping inside. He was gone.
"Dean?" She didn't bother to hide the panic that edged at her tone. "Dean!"
Erin heard a distant noise and turned, focus jumping all around the lake before settling on the water itself. And the man within. She stood completely still, dumbfounded. What on earth had possessed him to not just get up but go for a swim?
She slowly walked off the porch and toward the long dock, anger growing. He had dropped out of sight, into the water, and she waited for him to emerge on the shore, arms crossing in front. Erin bit the inside of her cheek, words forming in her head that she couldn't wait to spill towards him. How could you, what were you thinking, are you an idiot, and other such topic starters all sounded good.
Dean was a fair ways out in the lake and she couldn't help but notice how small he looked against the vast scenery when he came up for air, his gasp barely heard from the distance. She cleared her throat, loudly, and waited for him to turn. When he did, his smile grew. "Come on in, the water's great!" he yelled.
"How could you be so stupid?" she asked as she stepped onto the dock. "You have bandages on - two bandages - and I don't really feel like peeling them off and starting all over again because you felt like taking a swim." She caught his teasing grin and knew that this wouldn't end quickly. "You son of a bitch." Her mouth formed before she even thought it. Dean was angering. No, he was infuriating. And at that moment, somehow, she was fully capable of pushing away the bells chiming in her head at the sight of his spiky hair covered in gleaming droplets.
Dean was a masterpiece, and he knew it. What he didn't know, however, was that the playful smiles coupled with his wet appearance was enough to send any girl over the ledge of sanity. However Erin held fast to the ledge and let out a few choice words as she reached the edge of the dock. Glancing back to her car, she sighed. Probably should have turned it off.
He emerged once more, a few feet from the dock, and kept himself there with a few broad strokes to the side.
Erin pulled in a deep breath, knowing that arguing with him when he was in this mood would get her no where. "What were you thinking? Honestly. Please, tell me."
"I shower."
She stared at him, waiting for an explanation, but he instead punctuated the too-short sentence with a sideways smile.
"Congratulations," she stated with a curt nod. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"You do realize that bandages get wet in the shower and a pond really isn't too much different than a shower?"
"Except that you're covered in water." He looked to visibly choke back a response, but she understood. "Yes, I know. You get covered in water in a shower. Shut up."
His smile grew.
"Would you please just get out? I have to go home and I can't go if I think you're gonna drown." She motioned to the shore in hopes of compliance. But when she looked back and her eyes took note of his muscular arms treading slowly, she momentarily forgot why she wanted him to get out of the water. She hated him for being so distracting.
He tilted his head slightly and made a clicking noise with his tongue. "I don't think so."
"Dean, I'm serious."
"So am I. I'm fully capable of swimming, Erin."
"But your neck -"
"Is fine. You did a damn good job with those stitches."
She planted her hands on her hips. "Are you trying to distract me with compliments?"
His lips curved to one side and the wrinkles at the edges of his eyes tightened. "Why, is it working?" Erin turned and walked a few steps, almost determined to leave him there, then stopped when he quietly said, "Alright, fine."
She looked back over her shoulder. "Fine what?"
"Fine, I'll come out." He made a few forward strokes until he was at the dock, placed one hand on the wooden ledge, and held his other hand in the air. "Help me?"
As soon as her hand grasped his, she realized her mistake. It was stupid, of course. With how he had been acting, she should have known that there was no way he would just give in like that.
His hand tugged hers roughly and not even a second later, she was in the water. Erin came up and gasped, toying between just how she wanted to kill him. Slow, definitely His smug smile only added fuel to the fire. "I told you the water was nice," he said.
She kept herself above the cool water, but the light sweater she wore weighed her down. Water seeped through the layers of fabric and caused her clothes to cling tightly to her, making her every motion slow and difficult.
"I will kill you," she mumbled as she fought to make her way to the dock, going through every paddling motion she could without letting herself be dragged down. He moved to help her but she pushed him away, the movement having far less umph behind it than she wanted with the water's restraining pace. "So was this your plan all along? Get me to come out here and help you and then get me all wet?" And in another moment of wishing she could hit rewind, Erin let out a groan and closed her eyes. Wow. Well said, she thought. Giving her head a quick shake, she gripped the dock and sighed. If there was ever a day to not wake up…
When she worked up the nerve to open her eyes and face him, she found his smug grin gone, replaced by a very serious expression. He had obviously heard her easily misinterpreted sentence, but mercifully chose to let it go. In fact he seemed distracted by something else.
"What?" she asked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under his intense gaze. She recognized the look in his eyes. That gleam that was far from evil but nowhere near innocent either. It was the look he'd given her in the bar the night they had met. It was the look that led to their first kiss.
He made no reply but instead moved closer to her, the water seeming to gently push them together. Her eyes slipped closed when his one hand raised to hold the dock to keep himself near her and the other touched her face. He gently traced her chin before brushing her tangled hair over her shoulder. She felt overdressed and naked at the same time. Something about being covered by water up to her shoulders made her feel vulnerable.
"Have I said 'thank you' yet?"
A wave slowly lifted her as he closed the distance between them. She didn't look at him, her heart already squeezing without the additional sight of him to make her weak. "For what?" she asked, her voice giving a betraying shake.
She felt his breath on her face just before he kissed her. Erin couldn't move, crushed under the weight of a hundred memories that came with the kiss. She had been able to keep herself from thinking about him in the years that they hadn't spoken, but the hardest part was forgetting his kisses. The way he teased by softly pressing his lips to hers and waiting for her response. The way her entire body, from head to toe, felt alive and burned at his touch.
Dean pulled back when she made no movements and her eyes warily opened. She took him in, flushed, wet, tongue flicking over his lips, and all sense she had dissipated, forgotten in favor of desire.
She let go of the dock and closed the distance between them, her hands wrapping behind his neck and holding herself above the water. His right hand gripped the wooden anchor while his other cupped her cheek. The taste of him, the feel of him pressed against her, and the added sensations that the cool water offered caused Erin's mind to spin - and she made no effort to grab hold of anything.
He felt so good against her. It was as if no time had passed and the days they had spent together in the past hadn't ended badly - or ended at all.
Her fingers moved from his soft hair and wandered toward his broad shoulders, the feel of his velvet skin, with the added smoothness of the water's touch, warming her. But when her hand grazed the wide bandaged, she pulled back, breath coming in a gasp. Dean's eyes opened and focused on her. "Y'okay?" He asked, his words slurring as he seemingly struggled to gain control of his thoughts.
"Yo.. Your neck." Erin swallowed and shook her head, the motion splashing Dean in the face.
"What about it?" Dean asked, sending a quick glance to the area of his shoulder he couldn't properly see.
"Is it okay? I mean does it hurt?"
His eyebrows quirked. "That's what you were thinking about?"
She let out a laugh and dipped her head back, water tickling her as she did. "No, I didn't - I mean, no. I just want to make sure you're okay."
Dean's voice was agonizingly low and hoarse as his whispered, "I'm okay." His hand slowly slipped around her waist and pulled her against him again. Her shirt lifted slightly against the slight current from the motion and her bare midriff met his. He kissed her again, deeply, the kind where she couldn't, or rather didn't want to, catch her breath. She felt his heart pounding against her skin and his hand soon trailed down and found where the shirt had shifted.
"Dean," she mumbled when they parted for air, his forehead resting against her's.
"Mmm?"
"What am I supposed to do now?"
"Right now?" His voice was raw from the kiss and her heart fluttered at the sound. She kept her eyes closed in a determined effort not to look at him. The sight of his bare shoulders and the teasing sight of his naked chest under the clear water was enough to end her ability to think and talk altogether.
"No, little-bit-later-now."
He let out a low moan. "Cross that bridge when we come to it?" he offered in a questioning tone, obviously hoping that would be enough to satisfy her.
She chuckled. "That's the worst answer I've ever heard."
His lips met her neck and she tilted her head back, granting him more access. Her breath hitched as he gently sucked at the tender skin below her jaw. On second thought, his answer didn't sound half bad.