Chapter 24 #2
I kneel beside her and start working sunscreen down her arms while Jalen handles her back. Her skin is soft and still slightly warm from the heat. I try to keep my touch clinical, but it’s impossible not to notice the way she shivers slightly when my fingers brush the inside of her wrist.
“Ticklish?” I ask.
“Maybe a little,” she admits.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
When we’re done with her back and arms, she turns to face me. “My turn?”
“Your turn for what?”
“To help you with sunscreen.” She’s already reaching for the bottle. “Can’t have you burning.”
The thought of Sierra’s hands on me makes my mouth go dry, but I manage to nod. “Sure. Thanks.”
She squeezes sunscreen into her palm, and then her hands are on my shoulders, rubbing the lotion in with careful movements. Her touch is gentle but thorough, making sure she covers every inch of exposed skin.
“You have freckles,” she observes, tracing a constellation across my shoulder blade.
“I do,” I confirm, trying to keep my voice steady. “They multiply in the sun.”
“They’re cute.”
Cute. Sierra Smith just called something about me cute, and my brain is short-circuiting.
“Thanks,” I manage.
She works her way down my back, and I’m acutely aware of Jalen, Malik, and Dax watching this interaction with varying degrees of amusement and... something else. Something that looks almost like pride.
Like they’re happy to see her comfortable enough to touch me like this. To play along with the beach day rules.
When she’s done, she pats my shoulder. “All set. You’re protected from UV rays.”
“My hero,” I say, turning to face her.
She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “Someone has to look out for you.”
“True. I’m helpless without omega supervision.”
“You really are,” she agrees, deadpan.
The others finish with their own sunscreen applications, and then we’re just... standing there. On a beautiful beach, with perfect weather, and absolutely no plan.
“So,” Sierra says after a moment. “What now?”
I grin. “Now? Now we play.”
“Play how?”
“However we want.” I gesture toward the ocean. “Swim, build sandcastles, play chicken, whatever sounds fun.”
“I haven’t built a sandcastle since I was eight,” Sierra says, but I can hear the interest in her voice.
“Perfect time to start again,” Malik says. “I’m an excellent sandcastle engineer.”
“Of course you are,” Jalen says dryly.
“I have skills.”
“You have opinions about how everyone else is doing it wrong,” Dax corrects. “That’s different from skills.”
“I’ll show you skills,” Malik mutters, already heading toward the wet sand near the waterline.
Sierra watches him go, then looks at the rest of us. “Is he serious about this?”
“Extremely,” I confirm. “He once spent three hours building a scale model of the Taj Mahal on a beach in South Carolina.”
“Three hours?”
“It was very accurate.”
“And then a wave destroyed it.”
“He didn’t speak for a week.”
Sierra’s laugh is bright and genuine, and the sound of it makes my chest feel too full. “Okay, I have to see this.”
We follow Malik down to the water’s edge, where he’s already surveying the sand with the intensity of a general planning an assault.
“Here,” he declares, pointing to a spot.
“Whatever you say, Napoleon,” Dax says, but he’s already dropping to his knees to help.
What follows is possibly the most ridiculous and wonderful hour of my life.
Malik takes the engineering role seriously. Very seriously. Directing us on where to dig, how to pack the sand. Jalen backs him up with calculations that I’m pretty sure he’s making up on the spot. Dax provides the muscle, moving massive amounts of sand with efficiency that shouldn’t be possible.
And Sierra is having the time of her life.
She’s laughing as Malik gets increasingly bossy about turret placement. Making terrible puns about their “sand-tastic” creation. Deliberately sabotaging Dax’s moat efforts just to see him growl at her in mock aggression.
“Sierra, that wall is load-bearing!” Malik protests when she pokes a hole in his carefully constructed rampart.
“It was load-bearing,” she corrects, grinning. “Now it’s decorative.”
“You’re a menace.”
“You’re a control freak.”
I can’t stop watching her. The way the sun catches in her hair. How her whole face lights up when she laughs. The unselfconscious joy in her movements as she builds and plays and just... exists.
This is who she is when she’s not worried about appearances or competition or maintaining professional distance. This playful, warm, wonderful person who makes terrible puns and pokes holes in Malik’s sandcastles just to see him get flustered.
I’m so far gone for her it’s not even funny.
“Cole!” Jalen’s voice cuts through my reverie. “You’re supposed to be shaping the towers, not staring into space.”
“I was thinking.”
“Think while working.”
“Multitasking isn’t my strong suit.”
“We’ve noticed,” Dax says dryly.
An hour later, we have something that’s... well, it’s definitely sand-based. Whether it qualifies as a castle is up for debate.
Malik stands back to admire his creation. “It’s magnificent.”
“It’s lopsided,” Sierra points out.
“It has character.”
“It’s going to collapse in about ten minutes.”
“You have no vision.”
They’re standing close enough that her shoulder bumps against his arm, and I notice neither of them moves away. There’s an ease between them now that wasn’t there before.
Good. They deserve that.
We all do.
“Swim?” I suggest, already moving toward the water.
“Race you!” Sierra calls, taking off before I’ve fully processed her words.
Oh, it’s on.
I sprint after her, my longer legs giving me an advantage, but she’s fast and has a head start. We hit the water at almost the same time, splashing and laughing like kids.
The water is shockingly cold after days of being inside, and I let out a very undignified yelp.
“Not so tough now!” Sierra crows, already diving under a wave.
I dive after her, and we surface together, both of us breathing hard and grinning like idiots.
“This was a great idea,” she says, treading water beside me.
“I have them occasionally.”
“Very occasionally.”
“Hey!”
She laughs and splashes me, which of course means war.
Sierra’s surprisingly competitive, dunking me at every opportunity. I retaliate by picking her up and threatening to throw her, which makes her shriek with laughter.
The others join in eventually, and it becomes absolute chaos. Dax lifts Malik onto his shoulders and challenges Jalen to do the same with Sierra. What follows is a very aggressive, very stupid game of chicken that ends with everyone in the water and Sierra laughing so hard she can barely breathe.
“I can’t remember the last time I laughed this much,” she gasps, floating on her back.
“Then we need to make you laugh more,” Jalen says, floating nearby.
“Agreed,” Malik adds.
“It’s now an official pack goal,” Dax declares. “Make Sierra laugh at least once a day.”
“You guys,” she says, but she’s smiling so wide I can see it even with her eyes closed against the sun.
We stay in the water for a while longer, just floating and talking about nothing important.
Favorite foods, worst vacations, embarrassing childhood stories.
The kind of getting-to-know-you conversation that should have happened months ago, if we hadn’t all been too stubborn and competitive to allow it.
Eventually, we drift back to shore, waterlogged and happy. Sierra flops onto her towel with a contented sigh.
“I needed this,” she says to the sky. “I didn’t know how much I needed this, but I really did.”
“Me too,” I admit, settling onto my own towel nearby.
The sun is warm on my skin, and I can feel exhaustion pulling at me. The good kind, from physical activity and fresh air and laughter. I let my eyes drift closed, just for a moment.
When I open them again, it’s because Sierra has moved. She’s standing at the water’s edge, looking out at the ocean with this expression I can’t quite read.
I get up and join her, falling into step beside her without speaking. Sometimes silence is better than words.
We walk along the shoreline, letting the waves lap at our feet, the sand cool and wet beneath us.
“Thank you,” Sierra says after a while.
“For what?”
“This. The beach day. Giving me permission to just... be. To not think about anything except right now.”
“You don’t need permission for that,” I say gently.
“Maybe not. But it helped having someone suggest it anyway.” She glances at me, and there’s something vulnerable in her expression. “I’m not great at letting myself just enjoy things. I always feel like I should be working toward something, planning the next move.”
“I know the feeling.”
“You hide it better than I do.”
“Years of practice.”
She’s quiet for a long moment, then she stops walking and turns to face me fully.
“Cole?”
“Yeah?”
Without warning, she takes off running. Back toward the others, toward the water, toward the sandcastle that’s miraculously still standing.
“Sierra?” I call, confused.
“Rule two!” she shouts back. “Someone suggests shenanigans, the answer is yes! So come on, Cole—catch me if you can!”
A grin splits my face.
Oh, sweetheart. Challenge accepted.
I take off after her, my feet pounding the sand, and I can hear her laughing as she runs. She’s fast, but I’m faster, and I catch up with her.
My arms wrap around her waist, and we go down in a tangle of limbs, landing in the shallow surf with a splash. Sierra’s laughing so hard she can barely breathe, and I’m laughing too, both of us soaked and sandy and absolutely ridiculous.
“Gotcha,” I say, grinning down at her.
“That you did,” she agrees, still breathless with laughter.
We’re close now. Close enough that I can see the water droplets on her eyelashes, the slight part of her lips as she catches her breath.
Close enough to kiss.
The thought occurs to us at the same moment. I can see it in the way her eyes drop to my mouth, the way her breath hitches.
“Cole,” she whispers.
“Yeah?”
But I’m already leaning in.
My mouth finds hers, and she makes this small sound before kissing me back. Her hands come up to my hair, fingers tangling in the wet strands, and I deepen the kiss.
She tastes like saltwater and sunshine and that sweet honeycomb that’s just Sierra. Her body is soft and pliant beneath me, fitting against me like she was made for exactly this.
When we finally break apart, we’re both breathing hard. Her lips are swollen, her eyes dazed, and she’s looking at me like I just rearranged her entire world.
Good. Because she’s definitely rearranged mine.
“Wow,” she breathes.
“Yeah,” I agree. “Wow.”
A wave crashes over us, and we both sputter, the moment breaking into laughter again. I roll off her and we lie there in the shallow water, letting the waves wash over us, both of us grinning at the sky.
“This day,” Sierra says after a moment.
“Best beach day ever?” I suggest.
“Definitely top five.”
“Only top five?” I turn my head to look at her. “What do I have to do to make it number one?”
She turns too, and the look she gives me is soft and warm and full of promise. “You’re doing pretty well so far.”
“I’ll take it.”
We stay there for a while longer, just lying in the surf like a couple of idiots, before finally dragging ourselves up and back to the towels.
Dax takes one look at us and shakes his head. “You two are covered in sand.”
“Your observation skills are unparalleled,” I say.
“Shut up and eat a sandwich.”
Food has never tasted so good. We demolish the picnic I packed, passing around chips and fruit and sandwiches, drinking the cold sodas I stashed in the cooler. Sierra sits close, and every so often she’ll catch my eye and smile.
Like we have a secret.
Which I guess we do.
The afternoon stretches on, perfect and golden. And I don’t want it to end.
At some point, Jalen produces the speaker and puts on music. Something with a good beat that makes Sierra start dancing, moving to the rhythm like no one’s watching, even though we definitely all are.
“Come on!” she calls, beckoning to us. “Dance with me!”
“I don’t dance,” Dax says immediately.
“Everyone dances,” Sierra insists. “You just haven’t found the right song yet.”
She grabs his hands and pulls, and after a moment of resistance, Dax gives in. Lets her lead him in what can only generously be called dancing. It’s more like swaying with occasional arm movements, but Sierra’s laughing and Dax is actually smiling, so I’m calling it a win.
Malik goes next, and he’s surprisingly good. Smooth and confident, spinning Sierra out and back in with an ease that makes her giggle.
Then Jalen joins them, every step nonchalant, but he still manages to make it work.
I can’t help it. I join in too.
I pull Sierra close, one hand on her waist, and we move to the music. Fast at first, playful and energetic, then slowing as the song changes to something softer.
“This is perfect,” she murmurs, her head resting against my chest.
“It is,” I agree, and I’m not just talking about the dancing.
I’m talking about all of it. This day, this moment, this feeling of rightness that I’ve been chasing without knowing it.
The sun starts to sink lower, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink and gold. We gather our things slowly, reluctant to let the day end. But we can’t stay on the beach forever.
As much as I might want to.
I watch as she laughs when Malik cracks a joke, and I can’t look away.
She laughs, and the sound fills the world with light.