When I’ve come twice and he’s finished, he lies on his side and watches me put waterproof sunscreen on my naked curves.
“What a mistake I made,” he says.
“How’s that?” I whisper, rubbing a little sunblock on his nose and cheeks.
“I should’ve married you a long time ago. Right out of high school really.”
That makes me chuckle. “We weren’t ready.”
“I’m not sure about that.” He drops onto his back and closes his eyes. “Now that I’ve really got you, I realize you’re what’s been missing from my life.”
That line makes me smile, but also surprises me because it’s so unabashedly sweet. My fingers brush his hair back from his temple to give my lips room to kiss him there.
“Thanks. I’ll take one here, too,” he says, touching his mouth.
I lean over him and give him a lingering kiss, one where our tongues tangle together and taste each other.
Finally, I lie back and close my eyes.
“Hey, if I buy you an island for your birthday, will you promise to go topless every day when we visit it?”
I laugh. “There you go getting carried away again. Middle class kids from Coynston aren’t supposed to own private islands, are they? That seems like a Park Avenue New York kind of thing.”
“Middle class was a long time ago. I’m filthy rich now, and I’ll buy you an island if I want,” he says.
“You should save your money for the kids.”
“To hell with that. I’m not raising obnoxious trust fund kids. Our kids need jobs right from the jump. I figure we’ll put them to work on some chores when they’re about three or four. Instill a good work ethic.”
I exhale a rueful chuckle. “Chores at three years old? You think that’s a reasonable expectation?”
“All right, four or five.”
The laughter bubbles up in me and spills out. “That, my love, is why you don’t know how to be on vacation.”
“True enough.” He licks his lips and shields his eyes from the sun with a forearm. “Don’t you want our kids to be like us? We’re both hard workers.”
“One of us is a hard worker. That would be me. The other is a workaholic. You.”
“Beats being broke.”
There’s a languid pause.I love being here with him like this.
“So what about it, Laurelyn? If you had a beach resort island, topless all day? Give me your word on that.”
“I don’t think you’ve thought this through. Aren’t we still going to be married when we’re sixty? And seventy? You think you’ll want me topless then?”
“Yeah, I’m sure of it,” he says without a moment’s hesitation.
That makes us both laugh.
His hand finds mine on the sand, and he laces our fingers together.
“Tell me you love me,” he says. “Whisper it in my ear.”
“I love you.”
“Shh,” he says, exhaling a sleepy sigh. “You were supposed to whisper.”
