“Are we swimming?”
“Not exactly.”
I glanced out at the ocean, a kaleidoscope of butterflies roaring to life in the very pit of my stomach before I looked back up at him and began to remove my shorts, just as he’d instructed.
“Anything else?” I asked, holding them out to him once I’d stood tall again.
Heat blazed in his eyes as he took them from me. “The nudist beach is a good twenty minutes up the road. I can walk you there if you’d prefer.”
The very thought of it did things to me I couldn’t explain. Nudist beach? Me? I never would have thought of it before that moment, but with Henry looking at me the way he was, the desire to be naked in front of him so openly didn’t scare me as much as it should have.
He had a way of making me feel worshipped without uttering a single word.
“Here’s good for now,” I said instead, despite my wayward thoughts.
“Wait right here.” He casually jogged over to where an old guy sat on a beach chair, a bumbag around his waist. The two of them exchanged words before Henry pulled out a few notes and handed them over, only for the old guy to nod and pocket the money. Henry also removed his phone and wallet from his pocket before dumping them inside my bag and zipping it closed, then handed that over to the old boy before jogging back to me.
“Did you just pay him to watch our things?” I asked when he came to a stop in front of me. “What if he runs off with it all?”
“Does he look like he can outrun me? Seriously?”
I took another glance at the old man, who had tucked my bag beneath his plastic seat, then gone back to staring out at the ocean as though the day bored him more than prison would.
“Fair point,” I said.
Henry entwined our fingers again, the normality of it all already strange because, actually, it didn’t feel strange at all. Not even a little bit.
Be careful here, Phoebe.
“Now, about that cooling down,” he said smoothly before that train of thought could really take off.
With a gentle tug on my hand, he had me following him into the water, the contrast of it against my overheated skin a welcomed distraction.
“Fuck, that’s cold.” He sucked in a breath, his mouth morphing into a little “O” shape the moment his balls went beneath the surface. “Jesus.” He hissed.
I let go of his hand and sank into the ocean until my shoulders were under without saying a word. “I thought you were a tough guy.” I chuckled.
He eyed me, still sauntering in slowly. “What is wrong with you? How do you adapt to this ice so easily?”
“Because I’m not a big baby?”
“I’m a…” He sucked in another breath. “Man,” he blew out.
“Yeah, real tough.” I laughed. “It’s not even that cold.”
“Lies,” he mouthed and closed his eyes, while mine roamed down his tanned, toned body until it disappeared beneath the water, and he released a small “brr” that had me shaking my head.
“You look impossibly adorable for someone so tough,” I told him.
“Manly, Phoebe.Manly.”
He definitely had that going for him too.
The calm waves made my body rock from side to side while I waited for him to look at me again, and when he did, it was as if a switch had been flicked, the cool temperature no longer bothering him.
“Get over here,” he said in a voice that brooked no argument.
I thought about all the sarcastic responses I could give. The resistance I could show. Instead, I did the one thing I knew would make me happiest: I went with what I desired, and I took the few steps over to Henry until I stood before him, our chests knocking together as the waves pushed us closer.
