Chapter 7 Kit #2
When we finally returned to the blanket, Devon started to strip, and I asked, “What are you doing? It’s cold out here.”
“It’s probably sixty-eight or so.”
“Which is cold!”
“It’s not that bad. I’m going to take a quick plunge.”
“In the ocean?”
“Yup. Want to join me?”
Was he serious? “Absolutely not. You shouldn’t do it, either.”
“Why not?”
“Because you might have a heart attack, or get hypothermia, or something.”
“A lot of oceanside communities do winter polar bear plunges. This isn’t nearly as cold as those are,” he said, as if that made his idea more rational somehow. “Some people even believe plunging into cold water has health benefits.”
“Do you believe that?”
He smiled at me. “Nah. I just think it’ll be fun.”
With that, he jumped up, shucked the last of his clothes, and ran naked to the water’s edge.
While I admired his total lack of inhibitions—and enjoyed the view of his butt—this had to be a bad idea.
I got up and was going to try to talk him out of it, but he let loose with a primal yell and splashed into the water.
I muttered, “Oh, hell,” and grabbed a towel before hurrying toward him.
He dove under a small wave, then immediately popped up and yelled, “Fucking hell, it’s cold!”
“No shit!”
Devon darted out of the water and exclaimed, “That was amazing!”
“Was it?” I unfolded the towel and practically tackled him with it.
“Absolutely. It made me feel alive.” He shook his head like a dog, sending water droplets flying everywhere, and I laughed and leapt back.
He returned to the blanket and took a seat. As he dried his arms and legs, I draped the other big, thick towel around him like a shawl. Then I sat down next to him and put my arm around his shoulders in an effort to warm him up.
Devon was grinning as he closed his eyes and tilted his face toward the sunlight. He looked so blissfully happy that I whispered, mostly to myself, “I kind of wish I’d said yes.”
His lids instantly flew open, and he met my gaze. I could see the true color of his eyes in the bright light—moss green, with flecks of gold and brown. They were as beautiful as the rest of him.
“There’s still time,” he said, tilting his head toward the ocean.
“But you said it was really cold.”
“It was also exhilarating. If you want to take a dip, I’ll go with you.” The fact that he was willing to do it again made me (wrongly) assume it must not be as bad as I thought. I peeled off my T-shirt and sweatshirt in one move and tossed them aside, and he said, “Really? You’re doing it?”
“Yeah, the same way you did. In and out, no lingering in the frigid water and courting hypothermia.” I pulled off my sneakers and socks and jumped up. “Get ready. Don’t give me time to change my mind.” While I removed my jeans and briefs, he leapt up with a delighted whoop and dropped the towels.
As soon as I was naked, I grabbed his hand and both of us started running. I kept up a steady chant of, “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” as we crossed the beach. When we splashed into the water, I yelped at the coldness, but I kept going.
A little swell was coming toward us, so I pinched my nose and ducked under it. The cold was stunning and a shock to my system. I popped back up with a shriek.
Devon surfaced right beside me and started laughing. He grabbed my hand again, and both of us hauled ass out of the water. He was right about one thing—it really was invigorating. I felt wide awake, and my heart was racing.
As we dashed to the towels, I exclaimed, “That’s the coldest I’ve ever been! What do you think the water temperature was, about forty?”
“It’s probably just below sixty.”
“No way.”
“The Pacific doesn’t get much colder than that here, even in winter. That’s why true polar bear plunges happen in northern climates, where the water is about twenty degrees colder than this.”
“I would die instantly. I’d pop to the surface in a perfectly rectangular block of ice, like a cartoon character.”
Devon chuckled at that as we reached our stuff. He grabbed one of the towels and quickly wrapped it around me, then used the other to dry himself off before rubbing my hair with it.
He pulled the towel off my head, and I smiled at him as I pushed my hair out of my face. Our eyes met, and something shifted between us.
In the next instant, we were all over each other.
The towels hit the ground, and we kissed like our lives depended on it.
I forgot about being cold, forgot whatever bullshit we’d said about just being friends.
I wanted Devon. It was impossible to deny our attraction for another second.
I didn’t even know how we’d managed to hold it at bay for a week, but that was over now.
Somehow, we ended up on the blanket, tangled up together.
His tongue was in my mouth, and his hand was wrapped around my cock, and it all felt so right, so inevitable.
We jerked each other off, quickly, clumsily, and when I was about to come he slid down my body and started to suck me. It was absolute perfection.
I yelled as I exploded down his throat, arching off the blanket, thrusting into his warm, wet mouth. The orgasm was so powerful that it made my head spin.
I had to recover for a few seconds. The moment I could think again, I climbed on top of him and sucked him while I stroked his shaft, almost desperate to push him over the edge.
It didn’t take long. Devon yelled like I had when he came.
There was no reason to hold back. This place was so private that it felt like we were living in a world of our own, one where nothing mattered but this moment.
Afterwards, while we caught our breath, he grabbed the edge of the blanket and folded it over us. Then he enveloped me in his arms, and in his warmth. I kissed him gently before saying, “So, we said we weren’t going to mess around again…”
“I couldn’t resist you.”
“I couldn’t resist you, either,” I said, “and I want to keep doing this. We had our reasons not to, but maybe this road trip has its own set of rules. It’s all about having fun and being spontaneous, right?
That could extend to sex, with the understanding that there are no promises or expectations for when this trip is over. What do you think?”
It wasn’t the best idea. I knew we both ran the risk of getting too attached and getting hurt, but I couldn’t keep fighting my attraction to him, and it seemed he felt the same way.
Devon rested his forehead against mine as he murmured, “I think I’d agree to anything right now, as long as it means I can keep getting naked with you.”
We spent all afternoon in that little cove, alternately kissing, talking, or just listening to the soothing rhythm of the surf. When the breeze picked up, we got dressed, but then we went right back to cuddling under the blanket.
We stayed long enough to watch a beautiful sunset, and then we quickly packed up and headed back to the motel, while it was still light enough to see where we were going.
After taking turns in the shower, I opened my borrowed suitcase and considered my options. “Would you be okay with staying in tonight? I know you wanted to head into town,” I said, “but I kind of want to put on something comfortable and sketch for a while.”
“That’s totally fine. There’s a great pizza place nearby that delivers, and I can show you Santa Barbara tomorrow.”
Even though he was nice about it, I wondered if he was secretly disappointed. Devon was the type of person who was always on the go, while I was definitely a homebody. Apparently that still applied when I was nowhere near home.
In the morning, we had coffee with Jan and Janice before packing our things and driving to a beautiful shopping district in downtown Santa Barbara.
This was the Southern California promised in movies and tourists’ brochures—pristine, palm tree-lined streets, a perfect, mild temperature, even in winter, and interesting shops and restaurants in lovely Spanish-style buildings, which catered to a high-end clientele.
A lot of San Diego was like that, too—just not the part I’d grown up in.
That was our next destination, so after we explored for a while and Devon took me to brunch, we got back in the van and headed south.
It should have taken about three and a half hours, except that the traffic through L.A.
bogged down and added an extra hour, even though we were nowhere near actual commuting hours.
Finally, as we exited the freeway, I pulled out my phone. “I think I’m going to message Myra. She’s a waitress at the diner.”
“I thought you wanted to surprise your dad.”
“I do, so I’ll swear her to secrecy. I want to check if he’s at work and find out if he’s busy. I mean, it’s a little after three p.m. so it’s not like the diner will be slammed at this hour…”
Devon glanced at my profile as we pulled up to a stoplight. “Are you nervous about seeing your dad?”
“No, but it’s stirring up a lot of emotions.
This is the first time I’ve been back since I moved to San Francisco, and I was in such a bad place when I left.
I’d just ended that horrible relationship, but I never talked to my dad about it.
He would have been so upset if he’d known how much I was hurting, so I ended up pulling back and putting up walls between us. I really wish I hadn’t done that.”
I paused for a few moments before saying, “We’ve come a long way since then. Even though we call and text all the time now, I guess I’m worried about what it’s going to be like when we’re together. It’s going to make me so sad if this feels awkward, or if he seems distant.”
Devon squeezed my hand. “Just remember that I’ll be right by your side. I’m great at filling awkward silences with long, rambling stories with no point whatsoever, and by totally oversharing.”
He was obviously trying to lighten the mood, and when I glanced at him, he smiled at me. But there was genuine concern in his eyes.