Daisy smirked a little back at him, her tongue flicking out to wet her suddenly-dry lips. Not because she did think it would be fun to tease him. Not at all…
“Why would you think that?” she purred, blinking up at him in feigned innocence.
Arvil growled. “Mrs. Davis, I need you to stop with that,” he said lowly. “What have I said about the tongue tricks?”
“Tongue tricks? Why, Mr. Davis, my lips were just dry. There were no tongue tricks,” Daisy stated with wide-eyes innocence.
Arvil looked at her, a smirk now tracing his lips. He stepped forward to tuck a strand of wet hair behind her ear, finger tracing her cheek as he did so.
“You are so innocent, aren’t you?” he chuckled, finally reaching for her hand. “Good for you, darling.”
Daisy hummed, leaning into his hand a bit. “Of course. Can’t have my reputation as a writer be ruined, can I? So I’m always innocent.”
“I think fans nowadays adore a perverted writer,” Arvil informed her, leading her from the beach and back to their villa. “So you’ll be safe. You can come out of the closet.”
“Are you saying you’d rather I use my ‘distracting body’?” Daisy asked with a teasing smirk as she looked up at him. “Because I’m sure I could find ways to distract a few people.”
Arvil looked down at her, fire burning in his eyes. Did she… really say that? This woman…
“If you want to, Daisy, you’re welcome to,” Arvil said, narrowing his eyes. “But I think I’d sleep better at night knowing you aren’t distracting other people.”
The breath left Daisy’s lungs in a silent release from her mouth. She stared up at him, seeing the fire in her husband’s eyes. She hadn’t thought that he would be so affected by her words… It seemed he was more attracted to her than she had realized.
“And if I did? What would you do?” she questioned, playing with the fringe of her coverup. “What would you do if I wasn’t distracting other people… but was distracting you?”
Arvil forced himself to take a deep breath. He couldn’t lose his cool. Not now. He tried to push past the cloud of lust that had covered his mind.
“I’m sure you don’t want to know what I’d do, Daisy,” Arvil said to her in a low voice. “Why don’t we get home and you can sleep these thoughts away?”
I’m sure I do want to know… but maybe you don’t quite yet. Or maybe you really don’t at all. Maybe this “attraction” you have of me is simply that: attraction. Nothing more…
“Right. Of course,” Daisy sighed, rather than voicing her thoughts. That would only lead to trouble and heartache, and she knew it. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me to say that…”
Arvil didn’t respond. He simply heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, turning his back to her before looking at her again.
“Come on,” he said to her. “Let’s go back.”
Daisy didn’t look at Arvil the whole walk back to the villa. She couldn’t. How could she after messing up like she did? She’d been stupid, teasing him like that…
After a few minutes of walking, Arvil looked at her.
“Are you cold?” he asked softly.
“I’m fine,” Daisy quietly gave him the simple answer, still avoiding looking at him. She’d ruined their fun… and now she felt bad. Hopefully the rest of the vacation wouldn’t go as badly as the day had been going.
Arvil continued to look at her before he sighed. He took off his shirt, uncaring of anything else, and slid it over her.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Daisy,” he told her gently. “I’m not angry. I could never be angry at you.”
Daisy froze for a second as the shirt was pulled over her head, and she looked up at Arvil in surprise. Her head tilted to the side as she blinked at him.
“Oh… Oh, well, that’s good,” she whispered, her gaze cutting to the ground. “I’m still sorry… Also, you do realize you’ve trapped me now?”
“Yes, yes I do,” Arvil chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “Why, you don’t like it?”
“Well, Arvil, I cannot move my arms. Don’t you think hats a necessity?” Daisy asked, a smile tugging at her lips.
“What do you even need your arms for?” Arvil teased, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into his side.
“Oh, gee, I have no idea… Maybe to catch myself if I fell? Or to put clothes on? Or to shower?” Daisy asked, her voice dropping in sarcasm as she leaned into his side.
“Most of them, I can help with,” Arvil chuckled, looking forward and seeing their villa up ahead. “But point made, darling. I cannot help you with your shower or changing clothes.”
Yet.
You could, actually… It just would not be a good idea. At all. Especially not with the way today has been going.
“Exactly,” Daisy said with a bit of a chuckle, nudging his side with her own.
“For once since forever, I think I’ll fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed,” Arvil muttered under his breath. “But we’ll need to shower first. No?”
“Well, I certainly hope you do. Goodness knows you need it,” Daisy agreed, shaking her head slowly. “And, yes, we will. Unless you’d like to sleep in seawater-soaked clothing.”
“I’d definitely change my clothes,” Arvil informed her. “But I’d be too lazy for a shower.”
“You should definitely shower, though. Do you want seawater in your hair when you wake up? You’ll end up with crunchy salt hair,” Daisy reminded him, crinkling her nose up in slight disgust.
Arvil let out a groan. “You’re right,” he muttered under his breath. “See what you did, Daisy?”
“See what I did? You’re the one who dropped me in the ocean! I think you started this,” Daisy argued with a laugh. “Let me have my arms back, please. It feels weird walking around like this. I probably look crazy…”
Arvil let out a laugh as he threw his head back. When he regained his composure, he shook his head.
“Just slide your arms through the sleeves, darling,” he said, eyes crinkling in amusement. “Is it so hard?”