Glancing over at him, I couldn’t help my smile. He’d breathed a heavy sigh of relief the moment his body sank into the salt water, and he was lounging back, buoyed by a pool noodle with his face tipped up toward the sun.
I swam a little closer, my fingertips trailing along his legs. He didn’t seem to notice until my touch went higher on his hip, and then he jolted and sat halfway up, pulling his sunglasses down on his nose.
His lips stretched into an indulgent smile. “Hey, gorgeous.”
I was not used to that. No one I’d dated in the past had taken the time to make me feel wanted. I was supposed to assume theywere into me when their dick was hard and they were rubbing up on me like a drunk, horny frat bro.
Everything about Atlas was different.
“Want to go in soon? I think I’m getting burned,” I said, poking at the reddening skin on my arm.
Atlas sat up a little more, tugged his shades down, and squinted. “Maybe a bit. I don’t want to get out, but I don’t want you to spend the rest of the week peeling.” He dropped his legs into the water and let the pool noodle go, reaching for me instead.
Holding him like this was easy. His body swayed into mine with the movement of the water, and the kiss he gave me was salty and cool. He groaned, letting his tongue slide along mine before pulling back and dropping his head to my shoulder.
“If there weren’t people here, this would be a lot more fun.”
I eased him back and nipped at his jawline. “We have two very nice rooms with very nice beds we can make use of. And a hot tub.”
“I’m not fucking in there. Germs,” he said with a shudder.
I laughed, but he wasn’t wrong. I’d worked as an EMT for too long not to see some people calling with painful skin rashes after wild nights.
Letting my hands slide down to his fingers, I linked his with mine, and we headed back to shore. We had a couple of towels on loungers, and my little crab bag was filled with a handful of empty shells I’d found just past the shoreline.
It was exactly what I’d planned my vacation to be like—except with one massive difference—but I wasn’t angry at Atlas throwing off my routine. He was the most welcome disruption.
“We can come back for our stuff,” Atlas said, sliding his arm around my waist. “I want to go inside before someone notices the problem I have.”
I glanced down, and it was clear he’d tucked himself into his waistband again, but the outline of his dick was obvious. I grinned, reaching between us to rub the heel of my hand over it before leaning over to snag his towel.
“Take this so no one carts you away for indecent exposure.”
He didn’t break eye contact as he secured the towel around his waist, then grabbed my arm for support as we headed up the loose sand toward the walkway. He was slow here—I could feel the strain and the effort it took for him to remain upright, but I trusted he would tell me if he needed something more than my arm.
He was slightly out of breath by the time we made it to the wooden walkway to our rooms, and when he stepped inside his sliding back door, he collapsed on the bed, his legs spasming gently.
“Please ignore them,” he said when he caught me staring.
I shook my head, then dropped to my knees and took his left calf in my hand. “Just tell me if where I’m rubbing is too sensitive.”
“Ryan—”
“Trust me? I won’t touch you if you don’t like it, but I want to help.”
He bit his lip, then nodded and flopped backward. “Yeah. Okay.”
It would have been easier with oil, but I took his muscles in long, firm sweeps of my hand, drawing the blood down to his feet. He was silent at first, then let out a tiny moan as his body began to relax.
“I won’t ask when the last time was that you had this done,” I murmured.
He snorted and shook his head. “How about never? I mean, my physical therapist would do massages after long sessions, but it was different.”
“How so?”
He pushed up on his elbows and looked down at me. “I didn’t want to fuck him.” When I raised a brow, he shrugged. “He was, like, eighty-five.”
I grinned and began to rub his feet, which twitched in my hands. “Come on, now. There’s something to be said about a silver fox.”
