“I think my prima donna days are over.”
“You can dance for me anytime.”
The cheeky tilt of his mouth had her laughing again. She bent down and scooped up a handful of water, flung it at him.
For a split second, he looked shocked. Several drips sat on his shades. Then he retaliated with a flick of his wrist and a spray of cold ocean.
She spun around to protect herself, then sent another splash his way, then another and another. He did the same. They went deeper.
Within seconds, they were both soaked, bodies glistening, her bikini wet through and his navy swim shorts clinging to his groin.
“Stop, stop,” she squealed, running for the shallows.
Then she was in the air, his arm a vise around her waist and her back pressed against his wet chest.
She gripped his strong forearm and laughed as he spun three-sixty. “Put me down.”
“Here, or in the deep water?” he asked beside her ear.
“Here. Here.”
He did as she’d asked, but he didn’t let her go. Instead, he turned her to face him with his arms locked around her waist.
She looked up and saw her own reflection. She wanted to see his eyes, so she reached up and propped his shades on his head. She was glad she had. He was looking at her in the sameway he had before, but this time, without any guards up. He wasn’t hiding anything.
A wave rushed toward them, and she set her hands on his shoulders. It hit, and he was a solid frame to hold on to.
“Tammy,” he said, his tone serious.
She waited for him to go on. What was he going to say that had created so much intensity in his eyes?
“It’s almost like I can’t remember a time before you and Zak were here,” he said, a small frown marring his brow. “It just feels so right to be here with you both. I thought my life was at the compound, it is there, but being on The Strand, with you…”
“I’m grateful for the change in my life, too.”
“And I’m grateful for you coming into mine. Seeing you smile, hearing you laugh, and watching Zak run into school with his friend, happy and content, it’s worth a million bucks to me. Fuck. More than a million. There’s no price to be put on it.”
Her heart squeezed. She knew this sweet, gruff man had a soft spot for her son, but to hear him say it meant the world to her. It made him all the more attractive in every way.
“So, what I really want to say is…” He held her a little tighter as another wave hit their knees. “I love you, both of you. Not what I thought would happen, but there you go. What you do with the information is up to you, Tammy, but you should have it.”
Any lingering doubts in her heart evaporated. He loved both of them, he’d said that. Accepted that she was a package deal. She’d always choose Zak over every other person on the planet. And Jayden knew that, understood, yet still he loved her.
“I…” she started. “I mean, what I think is.” She pulled in a deep breath. “I love you, too, Jayden, also not what I’d been expecting, but—”
His mouth was on hers, kissing her, and he held her so tight her breasts were squashed up against his chest.
Closing her eyes, she kissed him back, enjoying the salt on his lips, the heat of his tongue. On and on, they kissed, as if neither had a care in the world. Then he pulled back and looked at her. “What’s next?”
A tremble went through her belly, down to her thighs, spreading a heated trail as it went. “Next?”
“You wanna keep splashing in the waves or…?”
He wanted sex, of course, he did. They’d just admitted they were in love. The thought of falling into bed with him made her nervous but also excited. Sex with Gary had been a chore at best, at worst…
She pulled in a breath. “I have something to do first … out here.”
“You do?”