HAVEN
Once we had everything we needed, Wesley paid for it all—including the swimsuit I had on under my clothes from earlier—and we made our way to the sand. He had a giant bag filled with all kinds of supplies, including sunscreen and several very large beach towels, and I had my purse and a straw sun hat I had found right as he was paying for everything.
I waffled on it, trying it on in front of the mirror it had been hanging near, and when Wes saw me in it, he pointed at me and said, “Also, ring me up for her hat.”
Between the time he had left me in my fitting room and I’d met him at the register, he’d changed into his own new swimsuit and a pair of flip-flops, which he kicked off of his feet when we reached the sand.
I paused at the spot where the cement ended and the sand began and took a deep breath to prepare myself for this momentous occasion. Wesley paused his steps to turn and look at me, heaving the bag further up onto his shoulder. I kicked off my sandals and bent to pick them up, but Wesley
already had them in his hands, having crossed back over to me to grab them.
He took my hand, and I stepped over the line, then stopped again, savoring the feel of the warm, coarse sand beneath my feet and between my toes. But before I could fully absorb the moment, I had to hop between one foot and the other.
“Shit, it’s hot!” I shrieked, and Wesley laughed.
“Well, yeah, it’s been under the sun for a good chunk of the day.” “You could have warned me!”
“I didn’t think you’d try to just stand in it.” He chuckled as he started walking, and I followed him. “Come on, the sand closer to the water is cooler.”
He led us to a spot closer to the water, and just as he said, the sand here was cooler. He set out some of the towels he’d purchased, then set the bag and some of the other heavier items on the corners so the wind wouldn’t blow the towels around.
I glanced around us as I removed my hat and got ready to take my shorts and T-shirt off. The beach itself was surprisingly empty of people, considering how many were in town while we ate and shopped. I guess that was a good thing, though, since Wes had threatened eyeball ripping.
I was just about to pull my shirt over my head when Wesley did just that, revealing his bare torso to me for the first time.
I stopped everything, my hands frozen on the hem of my shirt, and just looked at him.
I was not prepared for the Greek god who stood in front of me. I mean, I had dreamed of what he might look like under his clothes, based on what I
had felt under my hands when we kissed and touched, but my imaginings didn’t even come close to reality.
My eyes started at his chest, where there was a small smattering of chest hair between his chiseled pecs. Then my gaze traveled down to his washboard abs, where more hair trailed beneath the waistband of his swim trunks, slung low across his hips.
He had those lines on either side of his lower abs, those defined muscle dips I’d only ever seen on movie stars or male models or body builders. I didn’t even know what they were called. But they made a V, and along with that hair that disappeared beneath his shorts, I knew they pointed down towards his—
“Haven,” he rumbled out, his brow raised. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I panted, my eyes snapping back up to his face. “Fine.”
I ripped my shirt over my head to hide my blushing face, my hands moving to my shorts as soon as my shirt hit the towel, my face looking down so he wouldn’t see my very pink cheeks. Despite that, I could feel his eyes boring into me, watching me, waiting for me to finish undressing and look back at him.
I feigned an air of confidence as I slid my shorts down my pale legs and stepped out of them to walk to Wesley’s end of the towels, where the sunscreen was. I plopped down on the towel, grabbed it out of the bag, and began applying it to my arms, legs, chest, and stomach, avoiding looking at Wes the entire time.
Fingertips tickled my skin and the end of the braid I’d done while in the fitting room appeared over my shoulder. I angled my head to the side just as Wesley reached for the sunscreen and squirted some into his palm.
“Let me get your back for you,” he said, rubbing his hands together.
I closed my eyes as his hands touched my back, massaging the sunscreen into my skin. My teeth sunk into my lip as I held back from making any noises or releasing any incriminating sighs while his hands explored my bare back.
He started at my shoulders, then worked his way down, taking care to ensure every inch of my ivory skin was protected from the blazing sun. Despite his large, calloused hands, his touch was soft and careful, with just the right amount of pressure to rub the lotion into my skin.
After he’d finished my lower back, his hands stopped in the smallest part of my waist, his thumbs tracing little swirls and circles into my skin. It was a small, familiar touch that sent warmth through my body to my heart. I let out the sigh I’d been holding back and leaned back into his touch.
He leaned forward and kissed the top of my shoulder. “Let’s go swimming.”
He stood up, reaching for my hand, but I shook my head and pointed at the towel in front of me. “You need sunscreen too.”
“I don’t sunburn.” He shrugged.
“But you can still get skin cancer without ever getting sunburned.”
He grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck, then nodded. “Right. You’re right,” he said, sitting himself down on the towel in front of me with his knees up and his arms resting on them.
I had to sit up on my knees to reach his shoulders, but after I put the sunscreen in my hands, I mimicked his method, starting at his shoulders and neck and working my way down his back to the waistband of his swim trunks.
It had been tough enough to hold in my sounds and hold back my thoughts when it was his hands on me. But now that I was exploring his
bare skin for the first time, getting an up close and personal look at what lay under his clothes, and feeling the power of his muscles, it was even more difficult.
The intentional in-and-out rhythm of breathing I felt and heard coming from him told me I wasn’t the only one of us affected by this situation, and while it turned me on and made my heart beat faster, it also put my mind at ease to know it wasn’t all one-sided. That I wasn’t the only one of us who fought a losing battle. The only question was, which of us would give in first?
“Finished,” I breathed out, wiping my hands on my thighs to get rid of the excess sunscreen.
“Great!” Wes exclaimed, jumping up to his feet in one smooth motion.
He hopped back and forth between his feet, his excitement bubbling up and out of him like an overgrown puppy. I don’t know if it was his nostalgia at being somewhere he’d come a lot growing up or if it was because it was my first time at the beach at all, but his enthusiasm was adorable and contagious.
“Let’s race!” he said as I got to my feet.
“You’ll win,” I pointed out with an eye roll. “You don’t know that.”
“Wesley, if I win, it would only be because you let me.” “Hmm…” he mused. “Fair point. Come on.”
With that, he turned and started running towards the water.
“Wes!” I yelled, taking off after him, my feet fumbling through the thick sand.
He somehow made it look so easy. Even though he had to be at least twice my weight, he floated over the top of the sand as if he weighed nothing.
“Wesley!” I yelled again, laughing at myself and my dismal attempts to run.
He turned and ran backwards a few steps, then when he saw I was struggling, he stopped running and waited, allowing me to slow to a walk.
“Maybe Twinkle Toes isn’t a good nickname for you,” he said as I reached him. “Maybe I should call you—“ I raised a brow at him, and he stopped and just smiled at me. “Kidding. Kidding. Twinkle Toes is perfect,” he added with a nod, bending down and kissing the tip of my nose. “After you.”
He gestured towards the water, which we were only a few steps away from. I moved the last few steps forward to where I could see where the waves had been only moments before, and I stood there, waiting for the water to come and splash around my feet.
The next wave came closer and closer, white sea foam bubbling at the front of it. It was beautiful and looked just how I’d imagined.
What I didn’t expect, though, was the temperature.
“Fuck me, that is COLD!” I said, jumping back several steps to the safety of the hot sand.
I stared out at the ocean, at the crashing waves and the handful of people surfing, and decided that even though I was thrilled to be there, I didn’t need to go IN the ocean to enjoy this spontaneous beach day.
“Nope. No thanks. I’m good,” I declared, then turned to walk back to our towels.
I only made it two steps before Wesley’s arms grabbed me around my middle, pulling me back into his body and tossing me over his shoulder. My head hung down over his back, and his hands gripped my thighs to keep me in place.
I ignored the somewhat intimate touch, though, and the rather delightful view of his perfect ass because I knew what his intentions were.
“WES!” I shrieked as he marched us towards the water. “What are you doing?!”
“We’re going swimming,” he stated. “But it’s freezing!”
“I’ll keep you warm,” he rumbled, pausing in knee-deep water.
“No,” I repeated, shaking my head as he started moving through the water again. “No. No. No.”
“Haven,” he soothed, stopping again when he was about waist deep.
I pushed my torso up with my hands, moving my body and wrapping my legs around Wesley’s waist as his grip on me loosened and he tried to lower me into the water. My arms clung to his neck like a mother fucking koala, and he chuckled, wrapping his arms around my waist and rubbing my back.
“Can you swim?” he asked softly. “Yes,” I grumbled.
“Okay,” he murmured, his hands still caressing my back. “Then just take your time. I don’t mind staying like this,” he said into my ear, placing a small kiss right next to it.
“It’s like arctic temperatures in there. How are you not freezing?” “It’s not THAT cold.” He chuckled. “And I run pretty warm.”
“Yes, I did notice that,” I said, pulling myself tighter against his body so my skin could soak in more warmth from his.
“So, then, you can just stay close to me in the water, and I’ll keep you nice and warm.” His palms splayed across my bare back and pressed me somehow closer to him.
“Hmm,” I hummed, my eyes shutting in contentment at our closeness.
His nose trailed down my face to my neck, nuzzling into it and then kissing it. The feather-light touch sent a little shiver through my body and I didn’t even try to hide it from him. If he wasn’t aware of the effect he had on my body by this point, well, then he was denser than I thought.
I swallowed back some of my nerves and started to unwrap my legs from his waist when I had another thought and instead tightened them. “What about sharks??”
“Trust me, Twinkle Toes, you don’t need to worry about sharks,” he said with a laugh.
“Why? Did you put on shark repellent or something?” “No, they’re frightened of short ballerinas with red hair.”
I snapped my head backwards and stared at him with my jaw dropped. “Wesley!” I exclaimed, smacking his chest with the back of my hand as he let out a loud, deep laugh, his head falling backwards. “I’m not that short!”
His laughter continued as he lifted his head to look at me again. He pursed his lips to hold it in, his whole body shaking from the effort.
“Seriously, though, you don’t have to worry about sharks,” he managed to say. “They, uh… they prefer warmer water.”
“I don’t blame them,” I grumbled under my breath. “Just trust me, Haven. I promise I will keep you safe.”
I took in several deep breaths, breathing in Wesley’s smoky, spicy, yet sweet cologne. His hands on my back kept rubbing and caressing me, the callouses and his touch sending little tingles all over my body. His scent and his touch grounded me, reminding me he was right there, that he wasn’t going anywhere, that I was safe when I was with him.
And even though I was nervous, and the water was frigid, this was something I’d wanted to do for a long time—swim in the ocean. Ever since
we started writing to each other twelve years ago, I’d dreamed of coming to California, going to the beach, and swimming in the deep blue waters. I would not let the temperature prevent me from living that dream.
With one last deep breath, I unwrapped my body from Wesley’s, turned, and hopped down into the water, ripping the bandaid off and just taking the plunge instead of trying to ease into it. I shrieked as the water hit my navel and wrapped my arms around myself to keep any warmth from escaping.
Wesley’s arms also came back around me, his broad, warm chest pressing into my back. His hands rubbed my upper arms, and he tucked his chin over my shoulder. I leaned back against him, not even bothering to pretend like I wasn’t trying to steal his body heat.
Like he could read my mind—or maybe because he could see the goosebumps on my skin—he pulled me in closer to him, tightening those powerful arms and trapping me within their circle.
Not that I cared. There was no use denying how much I wanted him. How much I wanted him to own me, body and soul.
On the drive in, I’d thought I wasn’t ready to give him all my heart. But standing there with him embracing me in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I realized how much of a lie that was. I couldn’t give him my heart at all. Not even piece by piece because he already owned it in its entirety.
