Chapter 9
Cienna
After Sebas left us, Reed and I stood in silence, and I plastered my robe around me despite the sweat clinging to my skin. Is it possible to turn a cabana into a sauna?
Reed wiped his brow and dragged a hand through his hair, fluffing his damp curls in the most adorable way. “Beach?” He scrunched his lips with a shrug.
“Sure… yes!” Speaking was hard when my mind was consumed with him. I moved to retrieve my clothes, and he moved to his side of the room, grabbing his pile as well.
“No peeking game in three, two, one,” Reed called out, forcing a giggle from me. He had an impeccable talent for cooling our heat to the perfect temperature for functioning. Barely. But I was able to dress myself and pull my hair up into a messy bun.
“Ready?” I called over my shoulder.
“Yep.”
We spun around at the same time, and his grin was contagious.
Working together, we opened the curtains, leaving them haphazardly dangling. The sun was setting, creating an ombre of blue, pink, and vibrant magenta. The waves crashed louder than before, but the buzzing of people was gone, mostly cleared, except for the tequila bar a little down the beach.
Reed laced our fingers together and tugged me toward the shoreline. We walked in silence, the crashing waves growing louder the closer we drew.
The camera shuttered as Reed stayed behind to take some photos, but I tiptoed to the shoreline and paused, dipping a toe in the lapping waves.
I stepped in a little more, letting the water splash up my ankles, enjoying the mix of cool water, squishy sand, and warm breeze.
I closed my eyes for a moment, taking in the sounds around me, still seeing the twilight colors across the inside of my eyelids.
“What’s the verdict?” Reed called out.
“It’s pretty warm,” I called back but was greeted by a splash as he ran past me and dove into the water. I squealed both in shock and delight when his head bobbed up momentarily, and then it was back under the water.
Suddenly, my feet swooped out from under me, but I wasn’t falling… I was being lifted. My stomach landed on Reed’s shoulder, and my head dangled down his back. The wet fabric of his shirt clung to his muscles, and I wanted to tug it up to feel him. More skin. More touch.
I screeched and kicked, but he kept his hold on me, the vibrations of his chuckle traveling all the way through his body into mine.
“Did you bring a towel?” The impish tone of his voice should have been a warning.
I paused my flailing to answer, “No?” I was about to ask why, when his body jerked under me, and I flew through the air, then splashed into the water.
My body submerged, and I cursed at him on my way back up to the surface.
Luckily, I could stand on my tiptoes where I was.
I pulled my hair back from my face, expecting to see his shit-eating grin in front of me, but instead, there was nothing. Just the sound of the waves rolling.
Turning circles in the water, I looked for any sign of him but found none. Then, like some kind of water ninja, he popped up right in front of me. As much as I hated being soaking wet, I enjoyed the mischievous smile and glint in his eyes.
“I cannot believe you just did that,” I screeched with a gasping laugh. “We are soaking wet!”
He laughed with me, then stilled. His eyes darted to my lips so fast that I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been so intensely focused on his features.
This is it. If there was ever a perfect time to kiss me, this was it. How could it not be? We were so close, wet, breaths heaving.
“Whoooooo! Give us a show, young lovers,” a familiar accented voice hollered from the shore. Fucking Ray.
I didn’t want to turn toward the voice. I didn’t want to lose focus on this moment.
But I felt the instant Reed’s attention shifted.
He turned and glared in Ray’s direction, and when his attention returned to my face, I thought we might fall back into the moment that had been disturbed, but he breathed a deep sigh and dropped his head.
I was sure I didn’t hide the disappointment on my face very well. Our bubble had been popped, and each time reality sank back in, I feared that tomorrow, this whole day would feel so much bigger than what it truly was.
Reed tucked his index finger under my chin and lifted it. He commanded me with his gaze to listen. “Our first kiss will not be because some asswipe wanted to gawk.” His thumb grazed my lower lip. “When we kiss for the first time, it will be undeniable that it is not for anyone but us.”
The air whooshed from my lungs. All of it. And I was sure I was bright red from a fluttery heart and lack of oxygen.
Tomorrow’s headline: Woman Drowns in Ocean Without Even Having Her Head Underwater.
Breathe, you moron.
I allowed myself one more millisecond of eye contact, then glanced away before I combusted. “C’mon,” he whispered, his hand tugging mine under the water.
The sand was coarse beneath my feet once we stepped back onto shore. I rolled my eyes at him but gladly accepted the towel he conveniently pulled out of his backpack and wrapped around my arms, holding me for a minute, warming me.
All too soon, he pulled away and stripped out of his T-shirt. Goose bumps dotted his toned stomach. My focus traveled down his chest and roamed over his abs, and I nearly licked my lips at the waistline of his swim trunks hanging low from the weight of being soaked.
He made a “brrr” sound, and I snapped out of it, realizing I was perusing too long and had selfishly taken over his towel while he froze.
“I can’t hog it all. You’re wet too.” I attempted to fling part of the towel onto his shoulder, and he wrapped it around himself, then opened his arms to me.
We swayed, just like we had on the dance floor.
His chest was soft beneath my cheek, and the waves, the buzz of people, and the clinks of glasses all faded in the background as his breathing and heartbeat filled my ear.
I felt the pressure of his chin on the top of my head, and it was like a reassurance that he was as tangled in this moment as I was. Once I finally stopped shivering, Reed dipped his head down, bringing his lips to my ear. “You hungry?”
Oh god, yes.
“Famished.”