Uncharted (Unexpected Book 3) by Claudia Burgoa

his face to one side as his intense eyes look at me strangely. His unpredictability both frightens and excites me.
    “We’ll leave the tattoo shop for Sunday night.” My breath hitches at the mere thought of him planning to take me to a parlor. This is a million times more overwhelming than him touching me the way he did last night. Mom would kill me for even thinking about getting a tattoo—or being touched by a boy. “Stop thinking about your mother, Twink.” He swims to where I stand, grabs my waist with both hands, and sits me on the edge of the pool. “Get ready, I have a plan for the next few days. It includes dirty water and dirty talk.”
    “You’re not funny,” I whisper under my breath while heading to the locker rooms.
    No, I won’t go to the tattoo parlor, nor will I tempt fate any longer. Fear washes over me as thoughts of what could happen if my mother catches me shoot through my mind. My breathing becomes erratic and the anxiety that appears every time that woman goes into frenzy mode spikes in the worst moment ever.
    “Hey.” Jace comes from behind me, and his deep voice calms me with that one word. “As I keep saying, we won’t do anything you don’t want to. That includes skinny-dipping or that tattoo. I never intended to make you have an anxiety attack.”
    “I…what if Mom finds out?”
    “She won’t. I promise.” His soft lips land on mine. It’s only a peck, but it sends a sweet relief, making my entire body relax. The coolness is back. “Trust me, I’ve set fires and broken fences, and my two scary parents only sent Matthew and me to timeout when they caught us. I think I can handle your mother.”
    His grin seals the deal. I’m going to follow his lead and find out what the fuss about living the way I want is all about.

    Mae’s email only said, “Stay safe and call if you need me.” The dilemma swirling in my head counts as a need-my-sister kind of call. After the swimming pool chat I had with Jace, he took me to a secluded part of Lake Washington and we went skinny-dipping. It was hard for me to keep my hands away from his body. My tongue almost bled from biting it so many times since I wanted to ask him to touch me again as he had the night before in his bed. To make love to me. My body wanted to become one with his. But a lake wasn’t the place I wanted us to share our first time. After sharing that crazy swim together, I second-guessed my desire and talked myself out of it.
    As we’re about to head to bed, I’m confused about what I want tonight.
    “What’s going on, sis?” Mae says as she answers the phone. “We agreed you wouldn’t call me. Mom’s going to know we’ve been talking.”
    “Is it too early to sleep with a guy?”
    “Hmm, did you meet him today?” Maeve thinks I’m staying at the dorm and hanging out with my friends. I resisted telling her the truth, mostly because I’m not ready to fess up about everything. “Because if so, yes. But if you met him last Friday, I’d say go for it. There’re three things you have to ask yourself before you let him in, though: do you like him, is he nice, and will you regret doing it? If you doubt any of those answers, then no.”
    “What about love?” She laughs. “It can’t be that easy. You have to love him, don’t you?”
    “Yes, it is easy. You romanticize a lot of things. There’s no way you can be in love this soon, and sometimes love comes after a long relationship. Love is learning to live with the man who can’t put the lid down, and stares at the screen more times than he stares at his wife.”
    “Our parents?” I almost slam the phone against the wall. They’re anything but an example of what love and a great marriage is all about. They only share a bed and responsibilities.
    “Kind of a bad example of love, but yeah.” The sound of melancholy is knitted in her voice. Poor Maeve. She has always been caged in by Mom. “Love is when you accept everything and both know that…it takes