“I’mfine, Ben. What is it?”
“Come with me.” I take his outstretched hand, following him down the beaten path. As we near the water, my feet sink into warm white sand.
A table is isolated under a towering canopy, blocking the scorching sun from the feast on display. The sight is a dream, organized and staged to perfection. I smile widely, squeezing his hand. He raises it, pressing his lips to my knuckles.
***
I sip my second glass of sangria, completely unwilling to take my eyes off the man in across from me.
Benjamin lifts himself up from the seat abruptly. “Aren’t you hot?”
With a dizzy grin, I nod. I’m drunk. Stupefied, I watch as he reaches behind his back and grabs the top of his shirt. The white fabric falls to the sandy floor, and he reaches down and begins unbuttoning his jeans.
“Ben! Someone could see you!” I set my drink down with a thud.
“Private beach, Darcy.”
He discards the pants too, leaving him scantily clad in black briefs. I admire his toned body, frozen in my seat.
“You coming?”
He sheds the remainder of his clothes en route to the water. Despite his assurances, I sweep the area thoroughly, searching for other people. Benjamin is unperturbed, waist deep in the water. Mirroring the mixture of colors in the sky, the water is relatively calm and inviting.
I take a deep breath and cross my legs, admiring him from afar as he dives under the waves. He surfaces and raises his arms, smoothing his hair back, knocking the breath from my lungs. Jesus. He’s straight out of a Harlequin novel.
Standing, I remove my dress and undergarments on the trek through the mounds of sand, fully aware his eyes are on me. Thankfully, the liquor is making me brave. I stop at the shoreline hesitantly. “Isn’t this feeding time? The sharks are going to get us.”
He laughs, swimming forward to me. “The only thing that’s going to get you is me.”
“Is that so?” I giggle as his arms entrap my waist, dragging me to him. “Oh.”
He isn’t kidding. The proximity of our nakedness and the rushing of the waves shoving us together have made my skin tingle and his body rise to the occasion.
“Yes,oh.” He tilts his head up to meet my lips. We connect passionately, his arms keeping me afloat. I wrap myself around his neck, his wet hair soaking my palms.
“I want you,” he breathes the moment he breaks away. He shivers beneath my searching caresses before reaching up, fisting my hair in a tight grip. I cling to him as he straightens, walking toward the shoreline with me in his arms.
I’ve completely lost the unease at the thought of others by the time we’re on sand. The air suffocates us between our persistent mouths while he lays me down on the soft, moist sand. With a good idea of how messy this will be, I pull him down on me, giggling when the water hits us, causing us to awkwardly collide.
He shakes his head, chuckling. “This seemed a lot better in my head.”
“I like it.” I press my lips to his. He drags his fingers over my heaving breasts, and my blushing nipples stiffen against the feather-light touch. He continues further down over my ribs, the dip of my waist. I’m trembling when he passes my pelvic bone, aching for him. He slides two fingers through my clenching apex with intent to relieve. I tangle my hands into his sand-soaked hair.
“I want to feel you inside me,” I profess, not interested in foreplay. His eyes sparkle at the confession, digging my own impatience. Obliging me, he spreads me out with the weight of his body and enters me slowly, his mouth gaping in pleasure. His next thrust triples in strength, forming a familiar rhythm neither of us can resist.
“Fuck, I’ve missed this,” he says darkly, adoring my jaw line.
I cling to him, unaware of water or sand or the setting sun. “I feel so close to you.”
He laces our fingers together, digging both our hands into the ground, continuing to plow right through me, determined to propel us to infinity. By the time we slow, trembling around one another, the sun is long gone.
***
Humming, I tilt my head back into Benjamin’s skilled fingers. He’s been massaging coconut shampoo into my hair for about five minutes now, and I’ve reveled in every second. I lean my body into his, calm for the first time in weeks…months.
I knew we needed this, but sitting here, without either of our cells disrupting the serenity, I almost lost the aspect of seclusion, of intimacy.
“I’m really happy we’re here,” I say when he motions for me to rinse.
