The air between them felt charged, electric with possibility. Alex was acutely aware of every point where their bodies nearly touched beneath the water—her leg brushing his, his hand hovering inches from her hip.
Kiss her, some part of his brain demanded.Just lean in and?—
For once in his life, Alex stopped thinking.
His hand found the curve of her waist beneath the water, pulling her toward him as his mouth captured hers. Lily made a small sound of surprise that meltedinstantly into something hungrier, her arms winding around his neck as she pressed against him.
The kiss was nothing like he'd imagined—and he had imagined it, despite his best efforts not to. It wasn't tentative or questioning. It was fire. Pure, unleashed heat that burned through every logical objection he'd constructed over the past week.
Her lips parted beneath his, and Alex deepened the kiss, one hand sliding up her spine while the other tangled in her wet curls. She tasted like the fresh spring water and something sweeter underneath—something that was purely, intoxicatingly Lily.
"Alex," she breathed against his mouth, and the sound of his name in her voice—wrecked, wanting—sent a jolt of desire straight through him.
He walked them backward until her shoulders met the smooth volcanic rock at the lagoon's edge, his body pressing hers against it. The water lapped at their chests as Lily wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer, and Alex groaned at the friction.
"God, you're—" He kissed down her jaw, her neck, the hollow of her throat. "I've been trying so hard not to do this."
"I noticed." Her head fell back against the rock, giving him better access. "You're really bad at it."
"Clearly." He nipped at her collarbone, and she gasped. "Terrible self-control."
"The worst." Her fingers raked through his hair, pulling him back up to her mouth. "Don't stop."
He had no intention of stopping. His hands explored the curves he'd been studiously ignoring for days—the dip of her waist, the flare of her hips, the smooth expanse of her back. When his fingers found the tie of her bikini top, he paused, a question in his eyes.
Lily answered by reaching back and tugging the knot loose herself.
The fabric floated away, and Alex's brain short-circuited entirely.
"You're so fucking beautiful," he managed, his voice raw.
"Less talking," she murmured against his lips. "More of whatever you were just doing."
He was happy to comply.
His mouth traced a path down her neck to her chest, and Lily arched into him when his lips found her breast. She moaned—a real, unguarded sound thatechoed off the lagoon walls—and Alex felt something primal surge through him. He wanted to hear that sound again. Wanted to be the cause of it, over and over.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, but neither of them paid attention.
His hand slid down her stomach, fingers teasing along the waistband of her bikini bottoms. Lily's hips rolled against him, seeking friction, and Alex was so hard it was actually painful.
“Yesss,” she whispered, and the word nearly undid him.
A crack of lightning split the sky, followed immediately by a boom of thunder so loud it vibrated through the water and Lily yelped, clinging to him like a spider monkey.
They both froze.
"That was close," Lily said, her voice breathless but tinged with something else now.
Alex looked up. Through the canopy, the sky had transformed from tropical blue to an ominous gray-green. The dark clouds he'd noted earlier had arrived faster than expected, and the first fat drops of rain were alreadybeginning to fall.
"We need to go." He pulled back reluctantly, his body screaming in protest. "Now. This is going to get bad."
For once, Lily didn’t argue, quickly retrieving her bikini top, refastening it with fumbling fingers as the rain intensified. By the time they'd climbed out of the lagoon, it was coming down in sheets.
"Stay close!" Alex grabbed her hand, leading her toward the path. "The ground gets slick!"
They ran.
