Chapter 33 Leah
Leah
From the second-floor balcony of the Hales’ pretty beach house, Leah gazed over the expanse of golden sand as Jackson dumped their bags on the bedroom floor. With the clearest of June skies providing a backdrop suitable for an ad campaign, Lake Michigan stretched before her.
“Oh, Jax,” she murmured, eyes huge. “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s nice, isn’t it?”
“Nice?” She couldn’t think of a less adequate word. “It’s glorious.”
The house itself wasn’t huge: a living room and open-plan kitchen made up the first floor, with two bedrooms and a shower room upstairs, the inside space an oasis of classic blue and beige.
Outside, the sultry weather painted South Haven’s lakeshore in the best possible light, bathing the sand and the water beyond in a haze of shimmering sunshine.
“Why is the beach so empty?” Leah asked. “Why doesn’t everyone want to be out there?”
“Well, it is pretty early in the season but this small section is private.” Jackson looked even more sheepish. She couldn’t stop the giggle escaping and he held up a hand. “Don’t. Just don’t.” His voice was gruff but amused.
“What shall we do first?” Leah bounced with excitement. A trip to the beach had always been a rare treat for her. Who wasted money going somewhere to get wet and dirty, was how Matt put it. But they were here now and she wanted to do it all!
He grinned. “What would you like to do first?”
“Are you kidding? I want to go to the beach!”
“Then let’s go.” Jackson rummaged in his bag and pulled out a handful of black and purple. “Here, I bought you something.”
Leah caught the bundle when he threw it over, unfolding a thin wetsuit with cut-off arms and legs, and a zip that ran the length of the front.
“It might be hot outside but the water will be chilly.” He shrugged off his thoughtfulness. “You’ll need it if we take the bodyboards.”
“Thanks, Jax.” Leah clutched the wetsuit to her chest. Her nose prickled and she swallowed past the emotion bubbling in her throat. “I’ve never tried bodyboarding before.”
“You’ll pick it up.” He unstrapped his watch. “Let’s get ready.”
He didn’t need to ask twice. Leah kicked off her sandals and whipped her sundress over her head. When she reached for the wetsuit, Jackson hadn’t moved. Utterly still in the middle of the bedroom floor, his eyes were fixed on her bikini, his face fierce.
“What?” she asked, her stomach dropping.
The top didn’t match the bottoms because the side ties had broken on the original pair.
But they wouldn’t be seen under the wetsuit and she didn’t own another set anyway.
Leah lifted her chin. She liked the combination of colors—floral bottoms, with a bright yellow top.
They made her think of summer, whatever the time of year.
“My little hot mess.” Matt would have turned away with a smirk.
Jackson dragged his gaze back to her face. “Sorry.” He cleared his throat. “I think you short-circuited my brain. Watching you undress is turning out to be my favorite thing.”
Two long strides brought him within touching distance, and he lifted a hand to run his index finger along the top edge of her bikini bottoms. An exhale escaped her lips.
Jackson’s eyes flicked upward as if he could see it leave her mouth.
Leah’s core sighed in pleasure. The stroke of his finger, the watchful need on his face, was enough to steal the strength from her knees.
He bent his head and she reached for him at the same time.
His lips bumped hers and Jackson folded his arms around her back, pulling her up on tiptoes and pressing her body to his. From her breasts to her thighs, only a thin layer of clothing separated them. He kissed her deeply, demanding she kiss him back.
Leah molded herself to Jackson’s frame, a delighted thrill twisting her stomach as his rigid length nudged against her softness. His low growl felt like a prize.
“You’re trouble, Leah Raven,” he murmured on her lips. “I always knew you were.”
Jackson drew back, that rare, warm smile softening his face, blue eyes alight with hunger. A honey-smooth slick of pride oozed through her, that she could bring such ease to this uptight man. Leah wanted to do it every minute of every day.
“And you’re distracting.” She dropped her heels back to touch the floor, sliding deliberately against his erection and watching his pupils flare. “But you promised me the beach and I’m almost ready. So get a move on.”
When they reached the bottom of the steps outside, the sand shifted, hot and exotic, beneath Leah’s feet.
Her bare soles flexed and stretched as she broke into a run, nature’s massage loosening muscles she hadn’t known were tight.
Twirling and spinning, a laugh breaking from her chest, she crossed the beach and splashed with a squealing, high-stepped gallop into the shallows.
Jackson watched from the sand, both bodyboards under one arm, feet planted just out of reach of the waves.
His wetsuit had no sleeves and Leah gave thanks to the God of Swimwear for the delicious view of his long, toned arms and thick biceps.
If the beach was no place for gratuitous arm porn fantasies, where on earth could a girl indulge?
“Get in here!” Before she could lose her nerve, Leah dipped her shoulders beneath the waves. She gave an involuntary gasp at the sharp chill of the water. “It’s amazing—trust me!”
Jackson rubbed at the weekend scruff on his jaw with his free hand. “You know I don’t trust easily.”
“You can always trust me. I’m an open book.”
And suddenly they were talking about something else entirely.
Jackson didn’t answer. But he dropped the two boards on the sand, his crystal blue eyes on Leah as he splashed steadily through the surf, reaching her in half a dozen easy strides.
Ducking right under the waves, he burst back up in front of her, water cascading from his hair and shoulders in a freezing deluge.
Leah threw her arms around him. “This is the best weekend ever!”
Jackson caught her around the waist. “Such a cheap date. It only took a beach house and a private stretch of sand. I haven’t even pulled out the big guns yet.”
Leah ran her hands over his upper arms. “Beg to differ, bro.”
His smile was both slightly shy and a little rakish. She thought he might kiss her again. She leaned closer and he hurled her into the water instead. She surfaced, gasping and spluttering, pushing wet hair out of her face, laughter warring with the threat of revenge in her narrowed eyes.
They messed around for a while, before Jackson gave her a crash course in bodyboarding.
The small and smooth breaking waves were perfect, and with the boards attached to their wrists, they waded waist-deep again.
It took Leah a few tries to get the timing right, then she was addicted.
Catching a wave and riding it onto the beach was exhilarating.
She went back out over and over, never quite as fast as Jackson but determined to improve—squealing at her successes, hooting at the wipeouts.
When he threw back his head and laughed with her, Leah’s heart almost burst out of her chest.
“Time for a break, Raven. Your lips are going blue.”
She would have protested, but even the exertion wasn’t keeping out the cold anymore.
Reluctantly, Leah paddled out of the surf and collapsed in a heap on the sand.
Jackson followed, unzipping his wetsuit to push it down around his waist, and lowered himself beside her, a half-smile playing at the corners of his lips.
“You’ll be warmer if you get your wetsuit off.” He pointed a finger at the zipper.
“Pervert.” Leah closed her eyes, lifting her face to the sun.
“Just trying to help.”
She could hear the laughter behind his words and loved it. “I don’t think I can undo it anyway. There’s no strength left in my arms. I’ll have to stay in it forever.”
Her eyes flew open as he settled astride her, muscular thighs braced to bear his weight, knees either side of her hips.
Droplets of water fell from his hair onto her cheeks.
A smothered giggle caught in Leah’s throat and morphed into a stranglehold of longing.
If only he knew it, this beautiful man in all his guises was ransacking her heart, piece by fragile piece.
“Let me help.” His voice was gravelly.
Jackson’s fingers, impossibly warm against her icy skin, grasped the zip pull and drew it slowly down between her breasts.
His eyes tracked the path of his hand. Was it his gaze or the sun that heated her chest as the wetsuit gaped open?
Leah wasn’t sure. He leaned forward to press a kiss to the hollow at the base of her neck and her toes dug into the sand.
He kissed her again on each collarbone, his lips cooler than his fingers, lake water still dripping from his hair.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her mouth, greedy for the taste of him, impatient for more.
His tongue teased hers, each stroke, each pass, lazy yet fevered.
Wet lips sliding over wet lips. He smelled of fresh air, sunshine, and Jackson.
Leah, inhaling him like a drug, still couldn’t stop the shiver that ran the length of her backbone, the chill from her wetsuit leaching all the warmth from her body.
“You’re freezing.” Jackson sat back on his heels, smiling softly at the noise of protest she made.
“I’m not,” Leah denied. Then ruined it when her teeth began to chatter.
“Strip your suit off and the sun will warm you.”
That was easier said than done. They wriggled out of the wetsuits with curses and sniggers and finally collapsed back onto the sand. The heat licked at Leah’s skin and she closed her eyes with a sigh, reaching for Jackson’s hand. He laced his fingers through hers.
“Thank you for sharing this with me, Jax. It’s magical.”
She felt his pleasure at her pleasure in his answering squeeze.