Read Salvaged Soul (The Ignited Series Book 3) for Free Online Page B

until the restaurant’s lights were nothing but a faint glow behind us. The half-moon overhead gave us just enough light to see each other. Conversation flowed easily, and for once didn’t center on all the danger and drama that filled our lives.
    “This is probably the warmest water you will ever swim in.” Nathan drew to a slow stop, and pulled me after him as he angled closer to the waterline.
    “Haven’t swam in it yet,” I said.
    “What? Micah won’t let you take swim breaks?”
    I gave him a hard look. “No talking about that stuff, remember?”
    He pressed his lips together and lifted a hand in surrender.
    Smiling, I kicked off my sandals to let the water lap over my feet. He was right. It was warm. Especially for the ocean. “I always liked to bury my toes,” I mused as I dug them in the sand, and then watched as the next wave washed it away.
    A distracted grunt came from behind me, and I turned to see what Nathan was doing. I watched, first in confusion then in awe, as he unbuttoned and shrugged out of his shirt. I eyed the magnificence of a bare-chested Nathan with silent interest, but when his hands moved to the waistband of his pants, I couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
    “What are you doing?” I asked. My voice sounded sturdier than I felt. My legs, on the other hand, shook like I straddled a fault line.
    His carefree shrug didn’t do much to placate me, considering he now stood before me in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. And while that was awesome in its own way, I was too confused—and if I wanted to be completely honest with myself, a little nervous—to thoroughly enjoy it. The last time I had seen this much of Nathan, he had been near death, and it had been out of necessity to save his life. Now? Now, he had willingly stripped for a completely different reason.
    “I’m taking you for your first swim.” Advancing a few steps toward me, he added, “It’s just like wearing swim trunks.”
    “What about me?” I gestured to the capris and halter top it had taken me all afternoon to decide on wearing. I wasn’t about to get in the ocean wearing them, and the thought of stripping down to my underwear in front of him scared the daylights out of me.
    Of course, I had done it with Alec once before. Hell, I had stripped naked in front of him. Though I had been in Skotadi mode when it happened, and wasn’t exactly fond of the fuzzy memory, he found ways to remind me of it frequently. Regardless, if I could play a game of basketball in my underwear with Alec, I should be able to swim in my underwear with Nathan.
    Except . . . this situation scared me more. With Alec, I had felt confident that nothing would happen between us because I hadn’t wanted anything to happen. With Nathan . . .
    Well, I wanted something to happen. Very much so. It was only a matter of when.
    He stopped beside me, took one of my hands in his. “It’s just like wearing a bikini,” he insisted, completely unaware of the thoughts behind my delay.
    I wasn’t so much worried about the underwear versus bikini debate as I was nervous about what would happen when I got into that water with him.
    I watched as he waded in. Once he was in up to his knees, he turned. “You coming?”
    He was tempting . . . very tempting. I knew I would get in, eventually, but I needed another minute. I folded my arms over my chest. “What if I’m wearing ugly granny panties?”
    He grinned. “You’re not.”
    “How do you know?”
    His head tilted and he gave a lazy shrug. “Lucky guess.”
    He was right of course. But I wasn’t about to tell him that I had dressed in my nicest matching pair of undergarments just in case a moment like this arose—though I had anticipated something that involved a little less salt water. And not this much skin exposure.
    No, it’s okay. I can do this.
    Before I changed my mind, I lifted the halter over my head like my stomach wasn’t about to jump up my throat. Whether Nathan watched me or not, I