Feel the Luuuurve

    
     I'm going to be honest and say Valentine's Day has never been my favorite thing. It's true. But I'm not going to rant about it. My husband and I won't be doing anything to celebrate today but before you feel sorry for me, it's because we're heading to Vegas next weekend for a few kid-free days.
     But for those of you who want to feel the luuuurve, I decided to share an excerpt from Sway, my most recently finished MS. Therefore this is only the second draft. Just so you know. So don't expect perfection. Got it? Okay then.
     Some backstory: Sway is a modern-day retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Through the book I show flashbacks of Eric and Ava's (Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot) relationship before they broke up. This scene is one of those flashbacks and is very non-spoiler related, not that it matters since if you've read Persuasion, you know what happens.
     And to go along with this post, I just HAVE to have a picture, right? Well, what's better than a pic of the actor who did such an awesome job playing Captain Wentworth that I was inspired to write this story in the first place.
     Enjoy! And I hope you feel the luuuurve. (I don't know why I like saying luuuurve so much.)

    

     “Get over here, babe,” Eric said to me one afternoon, the summer before our senior year. I was lounging on a chair reading a book while Eric swam laps. He surfaced from the water, running his hand over his face and then through his hair, spiking the front off his forehead.

            “Come swim with me,” he said.

I held up my book and shook my head.

“Come swim with me,” he insisted, “or I’ll splash you.”

            I shot him a dirty look. “If you get my book wet, I’ll kill you.”

            “Why don't you come over here and try?" Eric straightened his arms and raised them out of the water, his palms together. Then he looked at me, grinning like a fool.

            “You better not,” I said, my voice rising.

            He swung his arms to the side. I jumped from the chair and ran. Eric’s arms sprayed water right where I’d been sitting.

            I put my book inside the house. “You’re lucky my book didn’t get wet,” I said, stalking to the edge of the pool. He swam to the edge where I was standing and grinned up at me.

            “You’re lucky you didn’t get wet.” Eric reached his arms around my legs and stroked my calves with his hands.

            I stared down at him, distracted by the tingling going through my legs from his touch.

            Suddenly, he reached higher, grabbed me behind the knees and threw himself backward. I toppled forward into the water, screaming, my hands slapping painfully onto the surface. Eric let go of my legs and swam away from me. When I popped my head out of the water and saw him, I swam after him.

            “Get back here,” I shouted while he laughed. I cornered him at the edge of the pool, not because I was that fast of a swimmer, but because he wanted to be cornered.

            “Did I say I wanted to swim?” I asked crossly.

            He reached for me, grabbing my waist with his hands and pulling me to him. “No, but I wanted you to swim.” He nuzzled his face in my neck, melting what teeny bit of anger I had.

            I ran a hand through his wet hair, causing it to stick up in all directions. He looked up at me, his face serious.

            “Ava…” His hands tightened on my waist.

            I put my hands on his neck, stroking my thumbs under his ears. “What?”

            His eyes stared into mine, a deeper blue than the water around us. His face flushed nervously. “I love you,” he whispered. “You know that right?”

            I searched his face. “No,” I said breathlessly. “I didn’t know that.”

            His lips curled up into a smile. “Now you do.”

            I wrapped my legs around his waist as he brought his lips to mine. My hands clutched his hair. His tongue explored my mouth, hot and wet while I shivered around him.

            I pulled away. “I love you too. But I think you already knew that.”

            He smiled at me, wide and triumphant. “I did know that. But it’s good to hear anyway.” And then his mouth was on mine again.