Laura who had not been called cute since she was a child felt her face redden even more. James smiled as he watched her already red face turned even redder and the two of them had even forgotten how ambiguous they looked.
Once Laura managed to snap out of her daze, she glared at James who still had a smile lingering on his lips the two tiny dimples completely on display.
"How long have you been awake?" Laura asked with the hopes that he hadn't been awake for a long time.
"Since you splashed me with water when you dove into the pool" James replied as he handed her the towel she had been struggling to get.
His answer made her realise that he had seen her act foolishly as she tried to steal his towel and although she tried to act thick skinned, the tips of her ears were bright red. She never thought that there would come a day where she would feel so thoroughly embarra.s.sed.
"Sorry about that" Laura said diverting the attention to the fact that she splashed him with water and not their current situation.
"It's okay," James said as he watched her wrap the towel around her shoulders.
"So, do you intend to stay like this for the rest of the afternoon" James asked when he noticed she was not making any moves to get off his lap. She actually looked like she was making herself comfortable.
Because of how close they were, James was almost pretty much wet and he noticed that her skin was getting colder.
"Umm, sorry about that" Laura said in embarra.s.sment as she scrambled to get off of him. She laid across his lap so her legs were over the other armrest. As she tried to maneuver her body to get off of him she slipped a few times and miraculously had her chest pressed against his abdomen.
"Are you sure you are?" James asked. He was being more talkative since he was tipsy and also much more friendly that he normally was.
"Sorry" Laura found herself apologising again.
"If I may" James said and before she could respond one arm went beneath her shoulders and before she could react he lifted her long legs over the armrest, but maybe it was deliberate or perhaps it was because he was slightly drunk but instead of her being seated while facing away from him, she was practically laying on top of him now.
"I must be much more inebriated than I thought I was. I think you can get off easily from this position right?" James asked with raised eyebrows.
Laura who had her chest pressed against his: ...
With a sigh, Laura knelt on the lounger as her knees were between his own and lifted herself off of him, completely unaware that she had given him a full view of her cleavage. The unexpected sight caused him to clear his throat and look elsewhere with red ears.
Laura did not notice as she was too appalled by how clumsy she had become when she was in front of James.
"Thanks for the towel, and sorry for falling over you" Laura said as she sat on her heels still maintaining her kneeling position.
"Anytime, and there are towels in all the cabinets" James commented since he thought that she might end up falling on top of someone else next time. The thought made him laugh once more as he looked at the girl kneeling in front of him.
"Go on and sit," James said as he sat up straighter creating more s.p.a.ce for her on the lounger.
[A/N: Mind you, there were more than a dozen of them]
Laura who was feeling slightly chilly moved back until she was at the edge of the lounger and the sun warmed her back. She looked at James with puzzlement as she didn't know why he asked her to sit with him.
At that moment, she was acting so out of character that if Jen and Rachel had seen her, they would wonder if it was an imposter, as she was being too obedient.
[A/N: It's called aura lol]
"So what do you do Laura?" James asked as he opened the cabinet and exposed the row of towels and a small fridge inside. He opened the fridge and took out the bottle of wine he had shoved inside earlier. It was already chilled and he could already imagine the dry sour taste fill his mouth.
"I model" Laura replied as she watched him get busy with opening the wine bottle. After opening it, it seemed that he realised he did not have gla.s.ses prepared.
James turned to look at Laura with a half-lidded gaze as it hadn't been too long since he was asleep, adding on to the fact that he had not even closed his eyes for ten minutes before he was woken up by her so he was still slightly inebriated.
"Do you want some?" James asked her as he pointed at the bottle he was holding.
"I'm fine" Laura said reluctantly turning him down. She could smell the wine, and because she had Jen as a friend she had learned to like it.
"Oh" James said and brought the bottle to his lips. He watched as her eyes followed the bottle and stopped at his lips. When he brought down the bottle her eyes did not follow it, but rather lingered on his own lips before looking at his eyes.
"It's no fun to drink alone" James said and picked up the phone that was connected to the house and asked for someone to end over wine gla.s.ses.
Laura looked down at her hands and started reevaluating her entire existence. As brazen as she normally was, she seemed to lose this ability when she sat in front of James.
"What agency are you in?" James asked as he continued to study her.
"I don't have an agency. I'm pretty much a freelancer" Laura replied. Although she did not directly complain, James heard the complaints in her voice.
"Is that so? If your interested you can join mine" James offered with a smile.
"Really?" Laura asked her eyes lighting up.
"Mmh, do you have your phone with you?" James asked.
"Yeah, let me get it" Laura said and hopped off the lounger to go take her things. James watched her gracefully walk to the other lounger where she had placed her things and he had to admit that she was really talented.
Laura came back as she was shrugging on the see through s.h.i.+rt she had brought with her. She took off her shoes and sat back down opposite to him. She handed him her phone without much thought and James typed in his number and texted his phone before giving it back to her.
"That's my number, I don't have my business cards with me" James explained
"Oh" Laura said as she sat crossed legged making herself more comfortable.
"You can join the agency if you want to. Give me a call maybe on Tuesday? or you can just come directly to the office." James said and smiled in satisfaction once Laura nodded.
With perfect timing, a maid came with two wine gla.s.ses and a couple of water bottles and set them on the table next to them.
"Just leave them, you can go" James said. He was not keen on being served at the moment.
As the maid left, he poured the wine into the wine gla.s.ses and handed one to Laura.
"Cheers?" James said with a smile.
"Cheers" Laura replied and smiled back.