Page 23 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

He stared at my legs and then quickly stood up. "Well I kind of have to. I need to protect you from everything that wants to bite or sting you." He pulled his shirt off, revealing his perfectly sculpted torso.

That was the sweetest thing anyone had said to me in a long time. I smiled at him. "I'll race you."

He didn't say anything. Instead he started running.

"Hey!" I ran as fast as I could after him and into the water. "Oh my God, it's so much colder at night!" I said after I came up from a wave. I grabbed his arm as another wave came crashing down. He pulled me against his chest so I wouldn't get crushed. His hand was pressed firmly against the small of my back.

"Shit it's cold," he said.

"It is.” But I wasn’t cold. His hands on me felt warm. I felt myself pulling even closer to him. And even though the water had settled, he kept his hand on the small of my back.

"Okay, you made me come in, so it's kind of your job to keep me warm." He grabbed my thigh and brought it up to his waist.

I lifted my other thigh and crossed my legs behind him.

Both his hands drifted to right under my ass.

No, I was definitely not cold. My body felt like it was on fire. "Better?" I asked. My voice came out weird, and I hoped he couldn’t tell how much I loved being in his arms.

"Much better." He looked down at me. His Adam's apple rose and then fell.

Oh, he can tell. Despite everything we had just talked about, I wanted him to kiss me. And it seemed like he wanted to kiss me too. But he just stared at me with his perfect blue eyes.

I wasn’t sure what felt better, his eyes on me or his hands holding me against him. Who was I kidding, it was the hands. They were so close to…my mind suddenly took a weird turn. Was he a butt guy? Was he going to want to Thanksgiving turkey me? Stop ruining the moment! Now that my mind was racing it was hard to stop, though. He didn’t look like he’d be into anal. But what do guys who are into anal look like anyway? For some reason I was thinking bald. Probably everywhere. Luckily he broke my dirty train of though.

"Are you wet enough now?" He raised his left eyebrow.

I was. In more ways than one. "Are you?" Again with the weird voice. I cleared my throat, trying to rid it from neediness.

He laughed. "Yeah, and I'm frozen. I can't feel my legs." But he didn’t move to get out.

It was like we were locked in a trance. And if either of us broke it, we could never go back. He didn’t do long distance. I didn’t have time to focus on a relationship, I needed to focus on myself for once. And yet…I didn’t move to get out either. I could have stayed like that forever. I liked the feeling of his hands on me. And I liked being so close to him. "Then let's get out." For a second, I didn’t realize who said it. But from the disappointment on his face, I knew it was me. My brain was sensible, even though my body was absolutely not. I reluctantly unclasped my hands from around his neck.

He looked down at me as he let go of my thighs. "Yeah, let's get the hell out of here before we get eaten by sharks." He grabbed my hand and we ran together out of the water.

Even though it wasn't cold outside, we were drenched in the icy water and there was a constant breeze coming off the ocean. My lifeguard picked up the towel before I could reach it and wrapped it around himself.

How rude. "Stop hogging the towel." My teeth were chattering.

He spread out his arms. "We can share, I guess."

I laughed as he wrapped it around the two of us together. The side of my face was pressed against his chest. He smelled like sunscreen, sweat, and saltwater. He smelled just like summer. Kristen was going to be so proud of me for finally figuring out what he smelled like.

I wrapped my arms around his torso. His back was so muscular. I kept my hands completely still and tried to absorb this moment. Maybe I wrong about what I needed. Maybe I was ready for another relationship. He was so nice and handsome. And he actually listened to me. I liked him. I liked him a lot.

"It's getting late," he said.

He didn't feel the same. I quickly unwound myself from him and the towel. I must have imagined the disappointed look on his face earlier. But it didn’t feel like I could just be imagining the chemistry between us.

"Yeah.” I looked around for my clothes that he’d dumped into the sand. “I should get going." I grabbed my shirt off the ground.

"I'll walk you home."

I was about to protest, but then I realized I didn't want to. I wanted to spend more time with him. "That would be really nice."

He pulled his shi

rt back on and I quickly pulled on my shorts. I could feel his eyes on me as I zipped my jean shorts back up. I looked up at him but he quickly looked away. He ran his hand through his wet hair. Everything he did was so sexy.

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