Page 63 of Friends with Benefits

It gets her attention, even though her jaw drops as she looks at me. I go to put the potato in my mouth. Before it gets home, Jess dives on me, knocking me back in the sand and taking the food in her mouth, nipping my fingers in her teeth as she does.

She shoves my arms above my head and I let her think she’s got me as she pins them to the sand. I like the way she’s straddling me in her bikini.

‘You know what else would surprise me?’ I say.

She shakes her head.

‘If you were to slip out of those little panties and ride me on this beach.’

Her eyes widen. ‘You, sir, are a pervert.’

‘I thought you were a wild one, huh? Where did exciting Jess go?’

‘She went to jail. For having sex on a beach surrounded by people.’

My laughter is caught by her mouth crashing against mine. I wrap my arms around her and hold her to me as I part her lips with my tongue, not wanting to tell her, panties still on, she surprised me anyway, because this kiss is too damn good to stop.

I roll us on the towels so she’s on her back, her legs wrapped around my waist. She strokes her hand through my hair and gazes into my eyes.

Is she with me? Is she feeling what I’m feeling?

God, I hope so, because right now, it’s taking all the strength I have not to tell her I’m so in love with her, it hurts.

* * *

Walking back to the beach with four bottles of beer, I watch Jess, sitting on her towel, now back in her hoody and shorts, her knees tucked into her chest as the day’s light dwindles. As simple as it’s been, today has been one of the best of my life and I can’t help wondering what’s happening in that mind of hers. I’m hoping she’s feeling some of what is filling my entire body with warmth.

I slide to the ground behind her, positioning my legs either side, and I hold out the opened bottles. She digs two into the sand and keeps one for herself.

‘You smell fresh,’ I tell her, inhaling the scent of outdoors from her hair.

She leans against me and presses her lips to my arm through my sweater. ‘You smell of you,’ she says quietly.

If we could never move, if we could stay in this moment forever, I would.

We drink our first beers in silence, holding on to each other. It’s a kind of peace I’ve never felt before, and never known I would love.

As Jess switches our empty bottles for full ones, I finally ask what I’m dying to know. ‘What are you thinking?’

‘Not much.’ She chuckles in my hold and I nudge into her neck, biting her earlobe in response to her sarcasm. That’s the Brit in her. They love their sarcasm.

‘You never mentioned Emily being at the house when you got back from fishing.’

Well, that wasn’t exactly what I was expecting her to come out with but I’m sure at some point, probably when I can’t sleep at three in the morning, I’ll make the connection to what she’s actually thinking in that busy head of hers.

‘I hardly realized she was there, to be honest. In case you didn’t notice, I had eyes for only one woman at that moment.’

She bites my arm. ‘Was it strange for you, that she was there?’

‘No. I’m used to Emily being around more than her not being around. What was she doing there, though?’

‘I invited her.’

I tighten my hold on her as she shivers. ‘I have no issue with that, but can I ask why?’

‘Because I wanted to get to know her better. I figure she’s back in your life now and I’d like it if we could be friends.’

‘When you say that, I hope you understand that if she’s back in my life, she’s there as a friend. You know that, right?’

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