He couldn’t stop himself from leaning over and locking his lips over hers. Their mouths moved in perfect harmony, a sexy back-and-forth movement of sun-heated lips and pliant tongues.
Whenever they kissed, he no longer worried about…anything. His stomach fluttered each time her lips touched his. She did this to him—gave him this amazing feeling. This overwhelming happiness. He honestly didn’t know what to do with it. It was so new and unfamiliar.
With a contented sigh, he pulled away. “Your turn to get up on the board.”
“Do I really have to?”
“Yep.”
She paddled out and he followed, yelling after her, “Relax your body. When I tell you to jump up, try not to let your feet drag. Find your balance and just let the wave take you.”
“I don’t want to do this,” she shouted.
“Yes, you do. You can do it!”
They waited for the right wave. Tiny ripples and mediocre swells passed under them.
“No, really. I can’t do this,” she protested as they waited. “One time, my family rented a house on the lake, and Pete took me out on one of those paddle boat thingies.” Her arms waved all over the place as she spoke, sending rivulets of water cascading down her face and neck. Pearls of water accumulated on her cleavage, and he wished he were close enough to bend down and lick them off her warm skin. “We got stuck in some weeds or vines or something. I don’t know…”
She was so fucking adorable. So adorable that just watching her tell the story made his insides flip-flop with happiness. Frustration grabbed hold of him. Why couldn’t her vacation be two weeks long? He hadn’t expected their time together to go beyond sex, to move past the alarming chemistry that had crackled between them for so long. But it had. And he was going to damn well enjoy it, because he’d miss this feeling when their fling came to an abrupt end.
He closed the distance between them, then cleared his throat and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to stop talking and look him in the eye.
“Forget about the damn lake house.”
She nodded. “Right. Okay.”
“It’s just you and me, no judgment. Just fun. If you fall, who gives a shit? I already fell about a million times. Did you think I was a loser?”
She laughed and shook her head.
“Exactly. Time for you to fall on your face.”
The laughter died. “But, Cole, I—”
In the distance, he saw it. A perfect wave for her to try.
“Paddle. Go! Paddle!”
She squealed and began to paddle, looking over her shoulder at him.
He waved his hand toward the beach, and she finally turned her head forward. “Jump up!” he yelled.
Her ass lifted, and then her feet
slid down the board, and she rolled off into the waves.
She popped up through the water and rested her arms on her board.
“Again,” he yelled.
Again and again, she tried to ride a wave. Every time she fell. But she got right back up. Each time, staying on a little longer. At one point, she took off the sundress and threw it at him. When her bikini shifted and exposed her breasts, he’d have been more than happy to paddle over and put them back in place. With her back turned to the beach, of course.
As if he needed another Penn Foster image in his spank-bank. After the week so far, it was already overloaded.
Finally, she caught the perfect wave. She jumped up and steadied herself, both feet firmly planted on the board, her knees bent, arms out. Her cherry blossoms were more vivid when wet, the pink, brown, and white ink catching his attention. As it always did whenever she was naked.
She rode the wave like a pro. Then she wiped out.