Page 31 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
Nearmidnight? Oratmidnight? Oraftermidnight? Specification words were important.
Unless he’d slipped one in and my brain had blipped it out?
Which…possible.
I didn’t even know what time it was, to be honest. It’d been nineishwhen we went to get dinner. And still daylightish—which had been a little weird, for spring. And I never would’ve pegged it as being that late if I hadn’t glanced at the mechanical clock hanging in the living room of our cottage. A clock that had tobe wound every day, or so read the instruction pamphlet on the coffee table.
But without phones, without digital watches, without computers…time just kinda slipped away.
Frigid water smacked against my calves. “You’re sure we’re not gonna get kicked out for this?” I asked.
“Kicked out ofwhere?”
“Y’know”—I waved an arm behind me—“here.”
Jackson shook his head. “How are they gonna kick us off the island if the ship doesn’t come back ‘til next Sunday?”
“I dunno. Maybe they’ll make us swim?” I shuddered.
“We’re fine, babe.” He shimmied out a little further, making a heavysploshas his ankles cut through the next weedy wave.
I squealed when the water splashed against my calves. “Ooooh.It’s cold!”
“It is a bit, yeah.”
“Too cold for me.” I tugged back against him.
“Uh-uh.” He scooped an arm around my waist and blew a playful raspberry against my cheek. “The cold just means we gotta gofast.”
Something built in my throat—a protest, a scream, a squawk, I wasn’t sure. But it didn’t matter. By the time it wriggled out of my mouth, Jackson had already whipped me forward and plunged us both neck-high into the frigid water.
The cold took the air, the voice, thewords, right out of me. I gasped. Tried to suck in a breath. Couldn’t. And started to flail.
“Head under”—Jackson pressed his palm to the top of my head—“real quick. It won’t seem so cold after.” And then he shoved me straight down into the curve of an oncoming wave.
Saltwater rushed up my nose and flooded my mouth. My eyes burned. My lungs seared. But, as panic snaked around my heart, Jackson pulled me back up, holding me flush against his chest as I sputtered.
“See?” He swiped the water out of my eyes, peppering little kisses over my cheek. “It’s not so bad when you go quick, huh?”
“It’s f-f-f-freezing.” The words came out broken. Because my teeth were chattering and chomping them up.
“It’s not so bad, actually.” Jackson squeezed me tighter, slapping our slick, bare bodies against each other.
“So says the man w-who just had the cold s-s-steal his erection,” I grouched.
Jackson had been proud and erect before we’d gotten into the water.
Now?
Limp. He wastotallylimp.
“Ah”—he rolled his hips into mine—“it’ll warm back up again. Don’t worry.”
His cock gave a feeble twitch.
I snorted. “Sure it will.”
“We won’t stay in long, babe.” He turned his mouth to the side of my neck, nibbling lightly. “But itisromantic, isn’t it?”
