Must Be the Heat
The temperature was rising, and while everyone else sought refuge from the forecasted thirty-four degree heat, their air conditioners humming, I had a different plan.
Grabbing a few things, I packed my beach bag, threw on a hat, and slipped into my flip-flops.
I scrawled a quick note for Miles and slid it under his door as I headed for the marina, hoping to escape the sweltering day in the cool embrace of the sea.
The sun blazed at its peak. I inhaled deeply, the salty air growing heavier with each breath. I shed my dress, then my shoes. “Ouch!” A soft gasp escaped as I jumped on tiptoes, the sand scorching my feet. Then, throwing off my hat and like a carefree child again, I sprinted towards the waves.
The warm water welcomed me. Filling my lungs with oxygen, I plunged beneath the surface. A stifling silence enveloped me—a complete nothingness that, for once, felt peaceful and liberating. I stretched my arms, relaxed, and let my body drift, the rippling waves keeping me afloat. I took a breath.
***
“You could have knocked.” A shadow fell across my face.
I smiled.
Warm lips pressed gently against mine.
I opened my eyes to see Miles, his body close, his hands planted firmly on either side of me.
“I could have,” I murmured. His eyes, a little preoccupied, roamed over my breasts. “But you clearly missed the recent shocking news.”
“Which is?” he asked, uninterested. He lowered himself, kissing my sternum, softly nuzzling into my skin. My flesh erupted in tiny bumps.
“We have to be more careful, Miles,” I warned.
“Okay,” he whispered, tracing small kisses up my collarbone, his warm breath slowly trailing upwards. Lips gently grazed the side of my neck. Oh, God, I’m going to melt now.
“Miles?” I propped slightly on my elbows.
“Yes?” he purred below my ear.
“I’m being serious.” I let a small sigh escape me. “Because…apparently I’m now a mysterious woman who breathlessly whimpered in your bedroom just this morning.”
“What?!” He suddenly leaned back, bursting into laughter.
“Why are you laughing?” I sat up straight. “This is not funny at all!”
“But who?”
“Mark.” I helplessly sighed. “He heard us.”
“He told you?”
“No, but imagine my face when, at the breakfast table, in front of my parents, Jo rushed to tell me all about this freshly baked gossip. God, it was so embarrassing, I thought I’d die.
My father, without the faintest idea you’d just fucked his daughter.
” I shot him a frustrated look. “If you were there, he would probably have given you a friendly pat on the shoulder! And my mother just sat there, giving me side glances. It was awful, awful!” I blurted out breathlessly.
“Hmm.” A slow smirk twisted his lips, quickly replaced by a serious frown the moment our eyes met. “I know, I’m sorry.” His fingers slid to the back of my nape, thumbs grazing the corners of my jaw. “We’ll be careful.”
“Yeah,” I breathed, relieved. “They think it’s Chantelle, by the way.” Apart from my mother, but that part of conversation I decided to keep to myself.
“Chantelle? Really?”
“And—” I hesitantly glanced at him. “—there is something else.” Miles let a small frown furrow his brows, expectantly looking at me.
Whatever it was—us—we never really promised each other anything, or made any promises to begin with, yet we were something. God, that must have been my mother messing with my head. But…I just wanted to tell him; I just knew I should have said it, so I did.
“It’s Blake,” I mumbled. As soon as the words escaped me, it felt so very, very wrong and, if I could, I’d look away, but he was still framing my face. “Um,” I pressed my lips together, then bit at the corner of my mouth.
“You have a date.” He said it as a statement, not a question, his face observant and amused.
“Well, no.” I felt heat creep up my neck. “He asked me out for a drink.”
“So—” Miles arched his brow. “—a date.”
“Um.” I swallowed hard. “Just drinks.”
Then he smirked. “Are you trying to make me jealous, Florence Grant?”
A small smile broke on my face as I rolled my eyes at him, and swiftly, I put my hands over his. “I told Jo I’d do it,” I explained. I knew I didn’t have to. But I still did. I also felt like saying sorry, but I left it unsaid, because—why would I be? Right? God, what the hell was this?
Suddenly, Miles sprang up, simultaneously rolling his shirt overhead. “Gonna go for a quick dip.” He winked at me.
“Um, sure.” I watched him drop the white fabric on my blanket and stride towards the shore.
My stomach tightened. A sense of guilt washed over me at once. Why did I feel like I’d done something terribly wrong? Or did I actually?
***
Miles returned shortly and not even once mentioned Blake. As if it didn’t bother him like it did me. And that bothered me even more now. Why didn’t it bother him?
He vexes you.
God, Florence, just look at you. Did you forget what this was? Or were you just blindly walking into your mother’s trap?
He makes your blood boil.
Honestly, did you expect him to be jealous? Well…yes and no. I didn’t know. But it bothered me that he wasn’t.
He bothers you.
***
I managed to shake off the frustrating cloud that hung over me. That wasn’t how I wanted to feel so, somehow, I pushed those unwanted emotions aside. And then, as if nothing had happened, we were back to whatever we were, one day—a happy memory.
“…No! No!” I yelled, laughing as he chased me across the beach.
“…In what world is this a castle, Florence?” he chortled, watching my sandcastle crumble.
“…Don’t you get tired of looking so pleased with yourself all the time?” I rolled my eyes as he playfully debated who initiated our first kiss. He obviously claimed it was me. Obviously, it was him.
“…One wish?” I mused when he asked me if I had a chance to make one come true right then and there.
“Yeah. But it has to be something realistic…”
“Because this,” I laughed, “what we are doing now is realistic?”
“And it has to be selfish,” he smirked.
“So, no world peace, huh?”
“Just pick one. Now!”
“Okay, okay!”
“Don’t overthink it.”
“I wish…I wish…”
“Florence!” he rushed me.
“I wish I was at the Nothing but Thieves concert right now, belting out the lyrics at the top of my lungs and having the best night of my life!!!”
Miles smiled. “Could I join…?”
***
“Your shoulders are reddening,” Miles said as he shifted beside me and reached for the sunscreen in my bag. Swiftly pulling down the strap, he undid my bikini top. “I’ll do your back.”
“Oh, thanks,” I breathed, my eyes scanning the pages of the book.
“What’s it about?” he asked, brushing my hair to the front, gently applying the lotion on my skin, his hands gliding over my arms and down my spine, and slightly lower, following the round contours of my ass. Men .
“Um, it’s just a summer rom-com my sister lent me.”
“Is it dirty?” he playfully drawled.
I mused, contemplating, on a scale from one to ten, how dirty it was. “Well…” I began. God, it was kind of…seven.
“Are you reading porn, Florence Grant?” Miles teased. His deft fingers started tickling me, making my body arch.
“Stop it! Stop it!” I giggled.
“Turn around.” Miles spanked my ass gently. “I’ll rub you up.”
“Is my skin actually red, Miles? Or…honestly,” I muttered with another giggle as I flipped over, “this is just an excuse to touch my boobs, I know it.”
Miles smirked. In fact, there was a Cheshire Cat grin plastered across his face. “Take it off.”
“Um, I don’t think so.” I clutched my top tightly then lifted my chin, glancing around.
“There is no one around.” He raised an eyebrow at me, gaze challenging. “Take it off!”
“Ugh!” I groaned with an eye roll, my face flushing bashfully as I exposed my breasts. Then I chuckled. “This isn’t like me.”
Miles took a few seconds, then bit his lip. “Well, aren’t they lovely to look at?”
“Oh, God!” I laughed again.
With a teasing grin, he swung a leg over me, straddling me with lotion in his hand. “To cover these…mmm, it should be a crime.”
“Will you just shut up?” I muttered, feeling my cheeks blush.
“Jeez, I like it when you tell me what to do.”
“What?!” I giggled.
“And you know what, Florence?” Miles let go of the bottle, hands cupping the swell of my breasts. “If you want me to stop talking, I might just know the way.” His gaze holding mine, he lowered himself and dragged his wet tongue flat against my nipple, drawing it into his mouth with a gentle suck.
“Miles,” I momentarily felt breathless. “What are you…?” My eyelids drifted heavily; my head rolled way back. “This…” I caught a gulp of thick air, the slow burn spreading through every inch of my heated body. “This is…a public place…”
“Miles?” A low hum escaped me.
“Mmmm,” he groaned possessively, his mouth too busy to talk. His lips were soft, caressing the side of my breast, his teeth playfully biting me.
“Oh, God,” I gasped. My hands flew to my hair, my fingers instinctively weaving through my messy curls.
This time his tongue circled around my nipple, then, with a nip, he sucked on it again, making my back momentarily arch.
“Miles! Please!” The warmth crawled into my stomach.
“We can’t…no!” I forced myself to say. “Seriously,” I muttered. “Stop it!”
Miles dropped his forehead, pressing it against my heaving chest. “Sorry. I got carried away a little.”
“Yeah,” I chuckled softly, clearing my throat. “When I said we need to be more careful, I didn’t mean that .”
Miles propped on his elbows, his knee between my thighs. “It’s you. You do something to me.”
“Yeah,” I lifted my chin with a grin, whispering, “I can feel… that .”
Amused, he kept staring at me, studying every contour of my face. His warm gaze, like a caress, gently grazed over the soft curve of my lips, brushed the side of my cheek, tracing the path of each freckle, taking in the whole of me before finally locking with my eyes.
“What?” I breathed.
“Your eyes…” he murmured.
I frowned in confusion, staring back at him.
“They are…”
“Um…green?” I cocked my eyebrow in question. God, the way he was looking at me…I…I thought I never felt so at peace with anyone.
“The most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen,” he whispered.
“They’re…they’re emerald at first glance…
like a fresh leaf at its most verdant…with a hint of muted olive…
” He gently smiled, brushing a stray strand of hair from my face.
“A touch of golden, shimmering like a dew with the first rays of morning sun…”
I swallowed hard. “Miles?”
“…a perfect blend…moss green often mistaken for hazelnut brown.”
Left speechless, a simple “Oh,” was all I managed. My heart pounded in my chest, each beat deafening in my ears. God, this was…what was all this?
Miles moved closer, his warm breath a whisper against my mouth.
His soft lips found mine in a gentle caress.
The world faded away as I hummed, closing my eyes.
He kissed me. Not like before. He kissed me tenderly.
With a sigh, I framed his face, fingers threading through his platinum hair.
His tongue brushed against mine, moving slow, consuming me completely.
I felt like I was melting. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the heat. I was melting…I was liquid. I was a rippling wave in the seabed, pushed by the wind to the shallower water so I’d become steeper and eventually break, crashing against the shore.
Do you think I haven’t noticed how you look at him?
A sudden scream of seagulls broke the silence. I shrugged. Or maybe that was just my mother’s voice in my head. God, what was this? What were we even doing? This wasn’t…This wasn’t right. I wasn’t supposed to feel this way. To feel this.
“No, wait!” I pulled away, terrified. “This is not…”
“What’s wrong?”
Do you think I haven’t noticed how you look at him?
“What are we doing? I…” I grabbed my top, pushing him. “I need to…I need to go.”
“Florence?” He quickly rose to his feet. “What’s going on?”
“You shouldn’t have said all of that!” I put my dress over my head. “This is too much.”
…how you look at him…
“Florence?” He stepped closer. “Hey, look at me.”
“No!” What was I thinking? I should have never agreed to this, because this…this felt like exactly something I wanted, or… she wanted. “I’m sorry. This…this was a mistake. I…” I paused, taking a deep breath before turning to walk away. “I can’t. I need to think…I need to go…”