Chapter 28 #2
I nodded even though for a fraction of a second I was disappointed that we’d miss watching the sunset from the beach.
From the corner of my eye, I watched Vince tie his towel around his waist and slip out of his wet trunks.
“So much for cooling off.” I sighed and pulled my second bikini out of the bag.
With my back turned, I undid the clasp of my top and exchanged it for the dry one in a flash.
As for my bottoms, I did the same thing Vince had done.
Then I pulled on a pair of shorts and a top.
When I was done, I met his eyes. Had he watched me changing?
Not an unpleasant thought. He took a step toward me, near enough for me to see the water dangling off his eyelids in the fading sunlight.
“I’ll wash this for you, okay?” he said, bending forward and picking up my bikini, which was just as full of sand as his swimsuit.
I couldn’t manage more than a nod. I gathered up our things and pulled on my sneakers. We didn’t speak much as we climbed back over the rocks, concentrating as we were on not slipping or scraping ourselves. Once we reached the trail I stopped and watched the sun disappear into the ocean.
“I will never understand why it doesn’t hiss when it does that,” Vince said, appearing next to me.
“Maybe you just can’t hear it,” I replied, smiling.
Once the sky had become a dark violet, we set back off to cover the last bit to the Jeep. We opened all the doors to air it out and get rid of the pent-up heat. Buckling up, the temperature was still unbearable. Vince turned on the air-conditioning and connected his phone to the stereo.
“We can listen to some of your music if you want.”
“My music?”
“That German band you like, Anna…Mary…something?”
“AnnenMayKantereit?”
“Exactly what I said.”
I laughed. “It’s really tough to pronounce.” I distractedly furrowed my brow. “I dreamed about that, you know.”
“What…Anniemaycandyride?”
I had to laugh again. “In my dream you told me that you googled me and found out that I liked that band.”
He grinned. “That wasn’t a dream.”
“Believe me, it was,” I countered with an ambiguous undertone.
He scrunched up his eyes. Then a light seemed to go off. “Oh! That dream. You still haven’t told me what all we got up to,” he said amusedly.
“And I never will.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s embarrassing.”
“Actually, I think it’s kinda unfair.”
“How so?”
The seat groaned as he turned to face me. “Because you already know what it feels like.”
I swallowed hard. “We didn’t get that far.”
His hmm vibrated throughout my chest. “How far did we get then?” He shot me a grin that set my pulse racing.
“I’m not going to tell you. You know that already.”
“Farther than today?”
My hand trembled as I zipped my mouth shut.
“Were we naked?”
I shook my head and pressed myself back into the seat, hoping he’d let me off the hook. But he didn’t. The whole ride home.
“What were we wearing?” he asked when we’d stopped at a light.
Instead of answering, however, I just rolled my eyes.
“Swim stuff?”
He fixed his eyes on me, and I was unable to keep from moving.
“Ha! We were wearing swimsuits!” he said triumphantly and stepped on the gas. “Were you wearing the same bikini as today? The turquoise one?”
My cheeks were growing steadily warmer.
“So, we were on the beach,” he continued. “In the water?”
“Enough!” I said, a bit too high-pitched.
“I bet you didn’t say that to me in your dream.”
“No, I wanted you to keep going.” I bit my lip. “Fuck.”
It took me a moment to realize that he had said the exact same thing. Then everything went really quick. He flicked on his signal and turned off into a kind of dirt road or something. It was too dark to tell.
“What are we…?” I croaked as the Jeep came to an abrupt stop.
For a second or two it was so still that I could hear our breaths.
Then he bent forward and kissed me. Hard.
Uncontrolled. Possessive. My body reacted immediately.
A hot, agonizing thrill shot unerringly through me right into my crotch.
I quickly undid my seat belt and moved toward him, knocking the dashboard with my knee.
But I forgot the pain as soon as his lips grazed my throat.
His warm breath. I broke out in goose bumps as he moved, centimeter by centimeter, downward.
“I want,” he moaned. “I have to… I… May I?”
I nodded wildly even though I had no idea what I’d just given him permission to do.
But it didn’t matter because I wanted more.
More of him. Of everything. His hand slid under my top and found my right breast. He pushed my bikini top upward and ran his thumb across the sensitive tip, which tightened beneath his touch.
Everything in me contracted. I let my head fall back and made a noise that could have been embarrassing but that moved him to put his hands on my thighs and pull me onto his lap.
I hit my back against the steering wheel and his hand got stuck on the gearshift.
“Shit, now I remember why I haven’t done this since high school.”