“You already have a great ass.” Hayden twisted around to look behind me, making me laugh all over again.
“Mmhm,” I agreed, slapping his with my free hand and giggling the entire time as he gave me the most precious scandalized look. “That’s true, your assismine.”
“We’re not fighting over who’s got a better ass,” Hayden said. “Seth’s up there by the dunes, by the way. Saw him while you were betting me he didn’t know how to start a fire.”
I peered around Hayden to see Seth in the middle of doingexactlythat, jaw dropping as I watched him stack firewood just-so, encouraging the flames with the same kind of confidence he had when he was applying false lashes.
“Wow. He really is setting his own fire,” I said, genuinely surprised.
“I think a lot of people misunderstand him,” Hayden said quietly. “He’s not anything like me, but I do think Igethim, all the same.”
“You’re adorable,” I said, darting in and brushing a kiss over his lips. “And sweet. And I think a lot of people misunderstand you, too. But I’m trying not to.”
“Sometimes I think you understand me better than I understand myself,” Hayden said softly.
A heartbeat of silence passed between us, still holding hands, standing awkwardly by the shoreline, the retreating tide not quite touching our feet anymore. All the sound faded into the background, distant, like a movie soundtrack as I looked at him, eyes glinting in the failing light, reflecting the few tiny bonfires further down the beach, around the curve.
This time, when he kissed me, it wasn’t a light brush, it wasn’t the desperate kiss of a man turned on by ice cream drips, or marking his territory when he hadn’t been sure of me.
Hayden’s hand slid up my neck, fingertips just barely nestled in my hair, head tilted, eyes closed, fingers trembling in my hand.
He was scared, and I was scared, too, because I knew we’d crossed a line somewhere that neither of us had intended to, and I didn’t know what that meant or how we were going to handle it or what came next.
But I knew that I couldn’t get enough of the way his mouth felt on me, or the warmth of his skin, or the all-consumingcomfortof the way he kissed me. Like it meant something. Like I wasn’t a disposable warm body to him. Like he cared that it wasme.
My heart was definitely doing something stupid right now.
A wolf-whistle broke us apart with a start, Andre grinning and waving at us from a few yards away.
… holding Isaac’s hand.
Just as well it was dark, because I knew I was blushing all the way to my hairline.
But I was happy for Andre. Isaac seemed sweet, and he’d been heartbroken since Blake left. I wanted him to be happy.
All I wanted was forallof us to be happy.
And right now, holding Hayden’s hand, smiling like busted schoolboys who’d been caught eating candy before dinner, Iwashappy.
“C’mon,” I said, tightening my grip on Hayden’s hand and dragging him toward the fire. “There are marshmallows up there.”
* * *
“Can’t believeyou’re wearing the rainbow swim trunks,” Hayden said as I dropped my shorts, ready to rush into the water and cool off for a few minutes before we all settled in for the evening.
“Can’t believe you’re not wearingany,” I said in response, pausing to look up and down the beach. “No one would notice, y’know. There’s almost no light left.”
“I’m not getting in the water in my underwear,” Hayden said.
“Who said anything about underwear?” I teased, grinning at him and accepting the playful swat to my leg as making us even again.
Hayden was sitting cross-legged on a rug Seth had brought—just as well, because we didn’t have one.
Seth seemed to have about fifty, which was surprising preparedness for him.
“Isaac’s coming,” I said, folding my shorts neatly to make sure Hayden got a really good view of me back and front. “Sure you wanna leave me alone with him?”
“You’re not gonna be alone with him,” Hayden said, settling his stuffed otter in his lap so it had a view of the beach. “And you’d never hurt Andre.And,” he added, voice dropping a little. “You know you’ll be coming later.”
