I fling water off my face with my hand and laugh even though my nose is burning. I can taste even more lake gunk now, and it’s not so good on its own. Not so good at all. “Take me to the beach then. I want you to fuck me into the sand.”
“Gah!” He coughs, probably more from what I just said than the need to clear his throat of lake water. “Jesus, Darby.”
“Is that a good Jesus, Darby, or a bad Jesus, Darby?”
“I don’t…I don’t know. We…this is…there isn’t any going back if we do this. I’m still your boss, and we’re still kind of just fake married.”
I roll my eyes at that. “Right.” He doesn’t say anything. “I’m honored that you’re worried about those things, but right now, I just want you. I don’t want my complicated, broody, handsome boss, and I don’t want my fake husband. I want you, Leon Montague.”
“But I’m all of those things.”
“Okay, I want them all then. I’m also on the pill, so we don’t need to worry about condoms, and even though I’m majorly scared of getting sand shoved up my hoo-ha or my ass crack and having major chafing issues, I’m willing to take that risk because I’ve never had beach sex and everyone makes it seem so hot. And, I really, really want to have beach sex with you.”
“It’s quite irresponsible. It would change everything.”
I tread water, spreading my arms out in small circles in front of me. I don’t want to push Leon, and I’m not just saying crazy things because my body might wither up and die if I don’t kiss him again. But I need him. I freaking need him like air and lake water and the sun and the sky out here. I don’t need him like breaths since I can fundamentally make myself happy and depend on myself. I’m okay alone. But he’s like the cabin. Like the lake. My happy place. A place that I cherish so, so much. When I’m not here, I want to be here. The cabin and I have a unique relationship. It shelters my family and me, and we care for it in return. Maybe this is a bad analogy, so I’ll stop now.
“I know,” I whisper. “But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe change isn’t so bad. We can figure it out. We’re both adults.”
“I’m worried you’ll read too much into this. That you’ll want something that I can’t give you.”
That’s my worry too. That Leon will try and pull away and away and away because he thinks he isn’t capable of giving it. It’s not my job to prove him wrong. It’s not a job at all. “This is something we can grow into and decide together.” I turn to the beach. “I’m going to swim back. Keep swimming until you’re over the weeds, then run like hell when the lake mud tries to suck you down.”
I head for the beach, and Leon follows. He could overtake me since he’s a better swimmer, but he stays right behind me. Then, we both run through the squishy, nasty, slightly smelly lake mud and breathe sighs of relief when our feet hit the sand. I turn, and he’s there, all big and powerful and manly, water running down his huge shoulders, square pecs, and chiseled abs.
My god, he’s good enough to taste. All over. There isn’t an inch of him that I wouldn’t like to lick. Yes, I’m standing by that. Take it however you will.
My eyes land on the bulge in his boxers, and holy shit, the cold lake water did nothing to diminish his size. My eyes flick back to his face when he groans. “Killing me, Darbs,” he mutters, using the nickname that lots of people use, but when he says it, it makes me glow.
“I’d like it if you killed me a little in return.”
That’s all I get out before I’m in his arms, and he’s kissing me and replacing my air with his, our lips clashing together and wild again. He lowers me to the sand, and yup, both my back and bottom are coated with it. He’s careful as he undoes the strings on my bikini bottoms and throws them behind us, baring me to him. I haven’t opened my eyes. When he picks my hips up with one huge hand—his right hand because the palm is smooth—I arch into him.
His mouth is hot against my chilled skin. He spreads me open with his fingers, not at all shy about what he’s doing. I feel shy, but that’s because I’m rolling around in the sand and being bared six ways to Sunday. Thank god the beach is private, and there aren’t any other cabins around. Thank god because I can’t stop. Leon’s mouth is a sinful delight, and he is wickedly talented with his tongue.
I squirm because the pleasure is so intense that I can’t stay still. I don’t care that I’m becoming a sandy sand monster. I need his tongue, and I need it all over. And inside. He’s not just teasing me with it. He’s straight-up fucking me with it, and it’s the hottest thing anyone has ever done to me.
Soon, I manage to wrench my eyes open, and I come face to face with a hand—Leon’s prosthetic hand.
The discarded prosthetic hand looks so freaking real that it’s kind of scary.
“Gah! Leon! The hand!” I point at it. I’m completely covered in sand, and grains fall off my arms.
“Should I stop?” he asks.
I bury my fingers in his wet hair, getting sand everywhere. “My god, please, no.”
“Okay.”
He doesn’t let up. He keeps working his magic with his tongue until I’m right on the brink. I’m so on edge that I barely feel the breeze kicking up over my skin until I realize I’m shivering, and not just from pleasure. I crack my eyes open again, and my first instinct is to watch Leon. I nearly melt right into the beach from the level of heat he’s producing between my legs, and it’s even hotter watching him do it. He’s feasting on me like I’m his favorite meal, and he doesn’t care how loud or wet or messy it sounds.
I’m so captivated by Leon that it takes me a second to realize the wind is really starting to kick up. The lake, which was calm before, now has whitecaps, and the boat is slamming against the dock. The only time the wind whips itself into a fury like this is when a storm rolls in hard and fast. When it rains out here, it’s not like regular rain. At least not when storms like this come in.
“Leon!” I grasp his hair again. “It’s going to storm.”
He rips his head away and tuns to the water, where he goes totally still for a second. Then, we’re moving. He springs up and grasps my hand, pulling me to my feet. I’m covered in sand—we both are—so we both race to the lake. After diving back in and racing out, I run around the beach, grabbing our clothes, my towel, and the prosthetic hand. I’m not going to leave it out here at the mercy of some storm, especially since Leon said it cost a fortune. It’s strange and rubbery and kind of awesome when I grab it. I’m not wearing any bottoms, but we race up the beach and across the grass together.
We’re almost at the porch when a loud crack of thunder shakes the earth, and the sky opens up. Torrents of rain come down with such force that I’m not sure why I went into the lake to wash off. We race up the porch steps and under the cover as the storm really starts raging.