Page 68 of This Could be Love

“It’s the same color as the walls of the Ohana. That’s why I put it on.”

My words were heavy with meaning. I had chosen them on purpose. Had looked at him with full intention. And it was no coincidence that my knee had leaned to the side and touched his. We stayed like that for a few agonizing seconds. There was nothing but the sound of the waves, the blue of his eyes, and the heat growing between us. I couldn’t tell exactly which of us made the first move. Who moved toward whom. Only that suddenly our lips were touching. And that it felt perfect. My mouth on his. The way his tongue stroked my lips, pushing gently but firmly between my teeth. He tasted of saltine crackers and cola, salt water and sun. Heavenly. A sigh escaped me as his hand stroked my jaw, moved to my ear, and pulled my face closer to his. I tilted my head to invite him to kiss me deeper, to take more of me, and he responded immediately. His hand dug into my wet hair as our tongues circled each other wildly.

The kiss was more impatient than our last one.Iwas more impatient. A dark moan escaped his throat as I climbed onto his lap, wrapped my arms around his neck, and continued to kiss him. His hands slid down my back. Rough and sandy, they stroked myskin. Then suddenly they were on my backside. I felt my bikini bottoms slip as he pulled me closer. His erection pressed against my groin, and I began to rub against it. He gasped something that sounded like my name, and it turned me on even more. The annoying thought briefly flashed through my mind that this probably shouldn’t be happening in public, but I was unable to stop. Instead, I closed my eyes and let my body take over. Our lips quivered with excitement as I rhythmically rocked my hips back and forth. His fingers slipped under the wet fabric of my bikini bottoms from both sides, wrapped around my bottom, and squeezed just the way I needed him to right then. Not rough, but firm. Things grew more and more uninhibited. More tongue, more teeth. I was beyond the point where reason could say a thing. That’s the only way I can explain the fact of my hand wandering to his waistband.

“Wait,” he panted, reaching for my wrist. “We can’t do this. Not here.”

Grudgingly I nodded. “Because someone could show up.”

“Yeah.”

His chest continued to rise and fall briskly, but looking at his tanned skin with its light film of sweat, it was hard for me not to try to convince him to risk it anyway.

“If you keep on looking at me like that, I’m gonna cum in my shorts like a teenager,” he growled, his face a mixture of desire and frustration.

I laughed, and although it was the opposite of what I wanted, I let go and eased back off his lap. I immediately missed theheat of his body. My own continued to quiver in anticipation of something that it wasn’t going to get. Or, well, not right now. Not today. Or…maybe? Were we just taking a break? Would we start back up somewhere else? Or stay here and start back up? Orneverstart back up? Everything inside me screamed at the thought. This here was too good not to continue. Or? I stole a glance at Vince who’d let his head fall back and was exhaling loudly. If I kept on thinking about how wonderful it felt to rub against his arousal, the moistness between my legs wouldn’t be going anywhere either.

“So…” he began carefully, seeking out my eyes. “Maybe we should…”

Go? Yes, right away!

“Go for another round of snorkeling?”

“Snorkeling?” I croaked.

He looked downward, a little pained. “I think I need to cool off a bit.”

* * *

To my relief, the mood between us wasn’t cringey or tense when we came back out of the water a second time. We’d seen a bunch of sea turtles again, even a manta ray. Watching it from pretty close by was fascinating and a little scary at the same time, even though Vince explained that they weren’t venomous.

By the time we toweled off, the sun was already going down.

“We’d better get moving so that we’re at the car before it’s dark.”

I nodded even though for a fraction of a second I wasdisappointed that we’d miss watching the sunset from the beach. From the corner of my eye, I watched Vince tie his towel around his waist and slip out of his wet trunks. “So much for cooling off.” I sighed and pulled my second bikini out of the bag. With my back turned, I undid the clasp of my top and exchanged it for the dry one in a flash. As for my bottoms, I did the same thing Vince had done. Then I pulled on a pair of shorts and a top. When I was done, I met his eyes. Had he watched me changing? Not an unpleasant thought. He took a step toward me, near enough for me to see the water dangling off his eyelids in the fading sunlight.

“I’ll wash this for you, okay?” he said, bending forward and picking up my bikini, which was just as full of sand as his swimsuit.

I couldn’t manage more than a nod. I gathered up our things and pulled on my sneakers. We didn’t speak much as we climbed back over the rocks, concentrating as we were on not slipping or scraping ourselves. Once we reached the trail I stopped and watched the sun disappear into the ocean.

“I will never understand why it doesn’t hiss when it does that,” Vince said, appearing next to me.

“Maybe you just can’t hear it,” I replied, smiling.

Once the sky had become a dark violet, we set back off to cover the last bit to the Jeep. We opened all the doors to air it out and get rid of the pent-up heat. Buckling up, the temperature was still unbearable. Vince turned on the air-conditioning and connected his phone to the stereo.

“We can listen to some of your music if you want.”

“My music?”

“That German band you like, Anna…Mary…something?”

“AnnenMayKantereit?”

“Exactly what I said.”

I laughed. “It’s really tough to pronounce.” I distractedly furrowed my brow. “I dreamed about that, you know.”