Me Without You Read Online Free PDF Page A

unlimited budget to create atmosphere, I could never have topped it. It was as if the night itself was gently nudging us, pushing us nearer to each other. Even as we neared our goal, I noticed that our footsteps had actually slowed and we’d each relaxed our joined arms, as if we’d been holding hands and walking in step for decades.
    Then the beach was before us in the moonlight, the sand surprisingly bright against the darkness of the rocks around it.
    ‘Where’s this tree—’ I started to ask, but Lilah let go of my hand and ran ahead of me, down towards the water.
    ‘Beach first,’ she called back. ‘Come on!’ I laughed and shook my head, watching as she sat her handbag on a flat rock and then sprinted down towards the water, her hair blowing behind her like a jet stream. Then I winced as she failed to slow down even as she neared the water’s edge.
    ‘Lilah, that water is going to be freezing!’
    ‘I’m not going swimming! But you can’t go to the beach and not stand in the waves—it’s against the law you know,’ she exclaimed.
    ‘Well, you would know.’ I muttered, although I knew she wouldn’t be able to hear me; she was now well ahead of me. The beach was sheltered and the waves were low. Lilah dropped her pace at the last minute but splashed her way into the water anyway. I sat my laptop down beside hers, and then walked slowly across the sand.
    ‘Okay, no shoes was strange, but this is certifiably crazy,’ I informed her.
    ‘Are you kidding?’ She turned back momentarily to give me a pointed look I couldn’t miss even in the darkness. ‘You’re not coming in?’
    ‘Not coming in? Of course I’m not coming in!’ I laughed.
    Lilah spun around, so that her back faced the bay. She edged backwards until the waves were lapping mid-calf, and then extended a hand towards me.
    ‘You’re coming in, Callum.’
    ‘Seriously, it’s not happening.’ The very idea of it had me shivering. I laughed at the determination that marked her face and her stance. ‘I’m enjoying the view from here—there’s no need for me to get wet.’
    ‘There’s every need for you to get wet,’ she frowned. ‘You can stand there and watch me enjoy it, or you can take your damn shoes off and try it yourself. You know this water covers seventy per cent of the earth’s surface, right? Take two tiny steps in front of you and you can temporarily be a part of something that’s nearly as big as the earth itself.’ She extended her hand again, her grin both playful and patient. ‘It’s really that easy, I promise.’
    ‘It’s freezing .’ I somehow decided that it was time to point out the blatantly obvious to someone who knew even better than I that I was right. Maybe I was running out of excuses.
    ‘It’s not so bad once you’re used to it.’ She gestured towards me, beckoning me. I hesitated, and then was startled to realise how close I was to diving in after her. My resolve, or maybe my sanity, resurged and I took a determined step back and shook my head.
    ‘I’m not coming in. I’ll get sand in my shoes!’
    ‘Yes. You will.’ she agreed. ‘But tell the truth, you already have sand in your shoes, don’t you?’
    I squeezed my toes and felt the grit beneath my socks.
    ‘But…’
    ‘Let me put it another way.’ She dropped her outstretched hand to her thigh then drew it slowly back up her body to plant it on her hip. Her body language shifted, her hip jutting towards me, her shoulders arched back, her chin dropped. ‘Do you want to kiss me?’
    If she hadn’t already, she now had my full attention. Lilah slowly tossed her hair back from her face and there was no missing the way her expression morphed from teasing to downright taunting.
    ‘Well?’ she prompted. She had me and she knew it.
    ‘You are awfully confident, Lilah Owens.’
    ‘I can read you like a book. You want to kiss me and I’d love you to kiss me. But I can also see that deep down inside you want to paddle too, so