Before he could respond, she took off across the sand, kicking up streams of the tiny grains in her wake. The moment her feet touched the water, she squealed.
In a few long strides, Jack was following her in, wading out until the water was just past his knees.
Jessica took a few steps away from him and threw her arms out, spinning in a circle, the water eddying and foaming around her thighs.
“This place is beautiful,” she said, tilting her face to the sky like a flower searching for sunlight. “I don’t ever want to leave.”
Jack stood still, watching her, the ocean breeze and sunshine on his skin distant sensations to the emotion taking root in his chest.
Life was a funny thing, and the timing of it all never ceased to amaze Jack. How he and Jessica had been born around the same time, grown up miles and states apart, yet every choice, every misstep and victory, every tear and smile led them to right here, right now. To this moment—this week—together.
Jessica paused her spinning when she caught him staring, and something on his face prompted her to ask, “What are you thinking about?”
“Do you believe in fate?”
She waded over to him and slid her arms around his waist. He mimicked her, slipping his palms down her sides, settling them low on her hips, over the ties of her bikini bottoms.
“I’m not sure,” Jessica said. “I like to think there’s some higher power at work, nudging us all along the paths we’re meant to walk, but…I don’t know. The concept of fate seems cheesy to me, like it’s some cosmic force that drives why good or bad things happen to people. I think certain things happen for a reason, butI don’t know that I agree thatfateis a blanket explanation for all of it.”
Jack nodded, swallowing hard.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I mean…I’m a guy, Jess. We don’t get all existential like that. But…”
“But?” she prompted, rising onto her tiptoes and pressing her body against his, grabbing a fistful of his hair at the back of his head.
“But…being here? With you? If fate isn’t the force that brought us together, then I don’t know what is.”
Her answering smile shone brighter than the sun, and Jack kissed it, kissedher—this girl who, in three days, had turned his life completely upside down in the best way.
Jack bent her backward slightly, sliding his hands over the humps of her ass and down the backs of her thighs, then gripped and lifted her off her feet in one smooth motion. With a squeal, and exactly as she had in the pool earlier, she wrapped her legs around his middle.
Jack lost himself in that kiss, in her lush mouth against his, in her sun-warmed skin under his fingers, in the way she wound her arms around his neck and pulled herself impossibly closer to him. He shifted so one arm was a bar beneath her thighs while the other lifted so he could angle her head and deepen the kiss. When he brushed his tongue along her bottom lip, then her tongue when she opened on a gasp, Jack groaned, and his dick swelled.
The roar of the ocean, the calls of birds and the squeals and yells and cheers from people on the beach all fell away. For those moments they were connected, all that mattered to Jack, all that penetrated his senses, was being here with her and holding her in his arms as long as possible.
Abruptly, Jessica pulled away, head turning toward the beach.
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.
“Someone is yelling at us,” she said with a giggle, pointing at a man standing on the shore, waving his arms, gesturing for them to come in.
“Wanna go see what he wants?” Jessica asked.
“Not really,” he said, dropping his head to her neck and pressing a kiss there.
Jessica released her legs from his waist and dropped into the water, instantly reaching for his hand.
“C’mon, big guy,” she said. “Plus, we’re going to have to go in before too long so I can get ready for our date.”
Our date, Jack thought, a grin splitting his face. He couldn’t wait to show her what he’d planned.
When they waded to shore, Jack discovered the man yelling at them had a camera slung around his neck, and he approached them eagerly.
“You two are like Ken and Barbie!” he said excitedly, brandishing his camera. “Can I take some photos of you?”
“Uhh…” Jack said, looking to Jessica for guidance.
