“Whoa,” he exhaled heavily. “What if your mom wakes up?”
“She’s all the way over there,” I said.
“Yeah, but this looks…”
“So?”
“I just don’t want her to think I’m trying to take advantage of you.”
I squeezed my calves in tighter. I could feel him pulsing between my legs, waking up my nervous system, lighting up all of my extremities. I couldn’t help myself. I crushed my hips against his length, just to feel him. “Don’t worry so much,” I whispered. I put my lips on his earlobe and flicked my tongue against it.
“Jesus,” he sighed. “What’s gotten into you?”
“I’m sorry,” I replied. “You took your shirt off, and it just…did things to me.”
He chuckled. “I get that. I’m sure you would ‘do things to me,’ too, if you took your shirt off.”
“Yeah?” I asked. I unlocked my legs from their new happy place around his waist. Placing my feet on the seafloor, I took two steps backward and reached my hands behind my back. The water came up to my neck, so Beckett could only minimally know what was happening beneath the surface. I unclasped my strapless top and lifted it out of the water triumphantly. I held it out to him. “Here you go,” I said, a naughty grin plastered on my face.
“Good lord,” Beckett rasped. He grabbed the swimsuit top and held it under the surface, eyes darting around nervously. “What are you trying to do to me?”
I stepped in and gave him a hug. His bare chest against mine sent my heart into my throat. I could feel my pulse pounding in my neck. “Nothing,” I cooed. “Not my fault it’s a toptional beach.”
“May I?” he asked, sliding his hand up my stomach.
“Uh huh,” I agreed. My eyes rolled back. He had one arm wrapped all the way around my waist, and the other snaked its way between us to explore my breasts. I was grateful to be in the water; if we’d been on dry land, I might have flooded my bikini bottoms from the sensation of his thumb slowly sweeping across each of my hard nipples.
Beckett leaned in and kissed me, hard. My yearning tongue spiraled his: in, out, around. I savored the mix of salt water and sweet spearmint in his mouth and began to buck my hips against him as discreetly as possible in the water.
“Oh my God, Mel. You can’t do that,” he sighed breathlessly. I pulled away, just to give him a quick break so he could regain his composure.
I scanned our surroundings. The closest swimmer was at least thirty feet away and was just another topless lady on a float with her eyes closed. I scanned the beach next. Sure as shit, my mom was sitting up in the lounge chair. When she saw me, she waved dramatically and gave me a very nonchalant thumbs up into the air. “Damn,” I said. “So much for that.”
Beckett stared at me, eyes wide. “Is she watching us?” He handed me my top. “Put this back on.”
I laughed. “Dude, she just gave me the biggest thumbs up. Planes flying overhead could see it.”
“Please put your top back on, Mel. I’ll be mortified.”
“Okay, okay,” I replied in a singsong voice. “But can we take a rain check on whatever was about to happen there?”
“Yes! Obviously. Although, I’m not sure exactly what you wanted to have happen there—here, I should say. In this extremely public place with your mother sun-bathing forty yards away.” Poor Beckett was so flustered.
I sighed. “It’sparadise, Beckett. And you’re awriter. And you look likethis.You’re like a wet dream come true for a nerdy author. Can you blame me?” I asked. “I mean, I’m only human.” I pulled the purple fabric around my middle, clasped it shut, then twisted it around until the clasp was in the back and lifted it up to cover my breasts.
“First of all, you are the furthest thing from nerdy. And second, I’m not saying Iblameyou. I’m just trying to be civil here. Courteous. Refined.Gracious, you know? And, to be clear, you are making that extremely difficult.”
I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Then I whispered in his ear. “I want to see you beferal, Beckett Nash.” I could feel the rise and fall of his Adam’s apple as he gulped. “Like a rabid fucking wildebeest.”
“Holy shit,” he seethed. “Who even are you, Melody Adams?”
Chapter 18
I was full of shit, that’s who I was.
Well, full of rum too.
I was never the kind of girl who would do anything like that—I was certainly too self-conscious to take my top off in public, for one thing. And then, to talk like that to someone I barely knew!Thatgirl was drunk on rum and sunshine and lust and who knows what else. Sometimes it sucks being a grown-up and doing grown-up things, like caring for your sick mother. Sometimes, you just need a break.
