Beach Vibes
. . .
Ellie
After everyone was lotioned up—and Candace had thankfully put her bikini top back on—Dr. Lovejoy gave us free rein of the beach. The only catch was we had to spend time with our partners. The other three couples followed Dr. Lovejoy straight to the cabana area with a bar and loungers.
I had no intention of joining them. After Cade’s hands set all my senses on high alert, my mind kept replaying the way he’d spun me around and pulled me up against him, over and over. Lying around and doing nothing would just make it worse.
I needed a distraction.
Badly.
Lucky for me, Cade didn’t look eager to join the others either, and miles of pristine sand called my name—just begging to be played in.
“Want me to bury you in the sand?” I offered when it was just the two of us left. “That could be fun.”
Cade didn’t even take a second to consider it. “No.”
I hummed, hitching both hands on my hips and surveying the area. There wasn’t much else to do. “You could bury me in the sand, then?”
He looked over at the others. “Wouldn’t you rather sunbathe like everyone else?”
The other couples were all relaxing on loungers, just like they’d been doing earlier on deck. Even Dr. Lovejoy had pulled out an orange polka dot one-piece with a giant matching hat.
My nose scrunched. “That’s all we did this morning, and I can only take so much lying around. I want to do something.”
Cade sighed before trudging toward the building. “There’s a shed over here that has supplies like scuba gear. We can find something in there.”
“Perfect!” I followed him with a skip in my step, and we rounded the building.
The “shed” was a charming little yellow bungalow as big as my apartment, filled to the brim with all sorts of swimming gear and floaties. I gravitated toward a large yellow bin at the back.
It came through.
“Oh my gosh. You’ve got a treasure trove! Shovels and buckets and all sorts of beach stuff.” My excitement grew the more I rummaged through the bin. “This is perfect for building sandcastles.”
There was a loaded pause until Cade spoke. “Swimming is another option.”
“For you, but I never learned how,” I admitted, not allowing myself to feel ashamed as I started loading up on buckets and shovels. “Which means it’s probably better to stay out of the water unless you’d like to reenact a romantic CPR scene on the beach… So, sandcastle?”
When I spun back to him, Cade eyed the tools in my arms, then glanced toward the exit. I watched in amusement while the decision played out on his face.
Finally, he blew out a slow breath, seemingly bracing himself, gathered the tools from my arms, and stalked off across the sand.
I bit my lower lip to fight down a grin before gathering up more buckets and running after him.
It was about time I had some fun on this trip.
Unfortunately, the sand on this island wasn’t the best for castle-making. It was powdery white and too fine to cling together very well. Which meant Cade had to carry the buckets back and forth from the ocean for me to wet the sand enough to pack it together.
… He wasn’t too pleased about that, but we all had our roles to play.
Especially since Cade’s castle-building skills seemed nonexistent. He’d somehow made it this far in life without building a single sandcastle before, and it showed.
“Maybe you should dig the moat instead,” I told him after his turret collapsed for the fifth time. “Every good castle needs a moat.”
He saw straight through my attempt to stop him from hindering my work, but he started digging without complaint. Those strong arms I’d rubbed lotion all over sure came in handy.
We worked together like that for ages, building a sandcastle worthy of awards. After Cade dug a really stellar moat, I sent him out on water duty again. He carried buckets back and forth from the ocean without complaint, until his moat was filled to the brim.
When I wasn’t packing in sand or using the corner of a shovel to etch windows and designs into the castle, I was checking my ring finger to make sure the diamond stayed put. The last thing I needed was to lose a fake-engagement ring in the sand during my second day on the job.
Thankfully, it hadn’t budged.
When everything was finished and we’d added little green flags to the top of all eight turrets, I went back to the shed and found mini mermaids to be our royal subjects.
I also found plastic crab on my last trip to the toy bin, which would make the perfect antagonist to our happy castlegoers. I rushed back to Cade to share the good news.
“Since no castle is complete without a villain, I present”—I pulled my newest find from behind my back—“the Slippery Crab.”
There was a noticeable lack of applause from my so-called fiancé.
“That doesn’t sound very villainous,” Cade said while I snuck the crab up the castle’s secret side staircase.
“Say that again after he slips by Mac and pinches you.” I demonstrated snapping a claw. “His claws are sharp and deadly.”
Cade’s answering stare wasn’t impressed.
“He’s also incredibly destructive,” I added before swiping the Slippery Crab through one of the turrets and knocking it over.
Cade went completely still, staring at the fallen sand.
“What did you just do?” he asked slowly.
“Half the fun of building a sandcastle is destroying it.” I grinned and held out the crab. “Here, your turn. Take out another turret with the crab or jump on the castle feetfirst. Trust me, it’s therapeutic.”
Cade stared down at the fallen turret in his moat. “… Do you know how long I spent digging that moat?”
I followed his gaze. “This is why the Slippery Crab is a menace. He must be stopped before—”
A tug on my wrist made me drop the crab, and suddenly sand became sky as Cade hauled me over his shoulder and took off across the beach.
“What—?” I braced my hands against his back, bouncing haphazardly on his shoulder. His hand on my thigh was the only thing keeping me from falling, and I burst into laughter until I realized he was heading toward the water.
“Cade, wait!” I cried, wincing as his shoulder dug into my stomach. “You don’t have to do this.”
His grip tightened on the back of my thigh. “It’s only fair that you take a trip to the ocean after all the ones you made me take filling buckets.”
“But I can’t swim!”
Those were the last words I got out before Cade tossed me straight into an incoming wave.
The shock of the water pierced me on impact, jarring my lungs and stealing my breath as my laughter cut off.
I held my breath, limbs flailing in all directions. It was shallow enough that my toes found the wet, sandy floor right away, but I couldn’t get purchase with the waves.
When I got a strong enough hold to stand and pop out of the water, wet hair was plastered to my face. “Traitor!”
I’d barely taken one step toward the shore before another wave crashed into me and knocked me onto my butt underwater.
Almost instantly, a hand gripped my arm and tugged me to the surface.
Cade lifted me back into the warm sunshine, and I didn’t hesitate before throwing my arms around his neck.
Caught between coughing and laughing and feeling like a drowned cat, I wrapped my legs around Cade’s waist and clung on tight.
He stood unmoving with me in his arms and the water at hip height, even as waves that would’ve flattened me like a pancake pushed against him.
When my coughing stopped, I whacked his shoulder. “I can’t believe you actually threw me in.”
“I can’t believe you destroyed my moat,” he shot back.
I laughed and clung tighter to his wet, slippery shoulders as another wave hit. “So attempting to drown me was my punishment?”
“Relax, Darling,” he said dryly, shifting me higher. “I need you too much to let anything happen to you.”
… It almost sounded romantic, and a shiver raced down my spine. I cleared my throat. “Careful. I’m going to start thinking you’re sweet if you say things like that.”
Cade waded through the water with me in his arms, heading toward the shore, while I tilted my head back to soak in the sun.
“I meant I need your sandcastle skills,” he corrected. “Come on. We need to rebuild the east wing and reconstruct the moat.”
My eyebrows rose. “Hold on. A couple hours ago, you didn’t even want to build a sandcastle.”
“That was before we started one, and now we need to see it through.”
I bit my lip, amused by his resolve. That helped explain his success with work.
Our castle had company when we returned. Harrison stood beside it with his arms crossed, wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. Cade ignored him at first, setting me down and kneeling next to his precious moat to fix it.
When his brother only continued to stare, Cade sighed. “What do you want?”
Harrison turned to me and took off his shades. “What the hell have you done to my brother? Did you replace him with an alien?”
“Piss off, Harry,” Cade said flatly.
“Nope. This is historic.” Harrison squinted at his brother, crouching to his level. “You’ve never built a sandcastle in your life, and then you went and played in the water. And you’ve been smiling all day. Whatever you’re taking, I want some.”
I tried to stifle a laugh but failed. Cade had called it.
“And you.” Harrison spun toward me, jabbing a finger in my face. “I love my brother, but he’s a workaholic who’s been incapable of fun for the last decade. Every year he becomes more of a stick-in-the-mud. What do you even see in him?”
Suddenly put on the spot, I glanced to Cade for help—but he was busy focusing on moat-rebuilding and ignoring his brother.
Luckily, I remembered we already had an answer ready that would stop this type of prying.
“For starters, the sex is phenomenal,” I said. Cade’s head snapped up while Harrison choked on nothing. “Your brother’s got the biggest—”
“Stop.” Harrison gave a full body shudder. He stood quickly, his face twisted in disgust. “No talking about my brother’s sex life. Nope. This isn’t what I signed up for. Make as many sandcastles as you want. I don’t care anymore.”
He stormed off back to Madison, while I burst into laughter and tipped backward in the sand.
“See?” I propped myself up on my elbows and grinned at Cade. “I told you the sex thing would work.”
He shook his head and went back to dutifully redigging the moat. “You’re ridiculous.”
My grin widened, because it didn’t sound like he was complaining this time.