She snickered. “Not exactly my strong point.”
Arching a brow suggestively, he grinned. “I’ve seen you loosen up plenty.”
She huffed. “Very specific circumstance.”
“Well, pretend it’s the circumstance right now.” He put his palm on her hip. “Let the waves move you.”
She scowled, but her posture softened. Transcribing his every movement, he drew her in closer until her breasts brushed his chest. Their legs tangled beneath the water.
Heat pooled low in his gut.
“See?” he asked, mouth close to hers. “Isn’t that better?”
“I suppose…” She pushed off the bottom, rising with the swelling of the tide. Her thigh slid against him, slipping between his knees.
His hindbrain had him reacting. He curled his arms around her. She was so warm, so soft in his arms, there in the sun and the calm cool of the ocean. He trailed his lips along her cheek, giving her plenty of room to stop him. She didn’t.
The kiss tasted of summer and salt, and he glided his hands up and down the bare expanses of her back and shoulders as he licked into her mouth. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he scraped his teeth against her lip.
They were getting carried away, and fast.
His voice came out gravelly as he forced himself to break the kiss. “I thought you wanted to spend some time in the water?”
“I do.” Her hips ground into his, and he hissed at the relief—pleasure and torment all at once—before grasping her more tightly. Stilling her.
“I really don’t think you want me to take you up on that.”
As if to underscore his point, laughter from just behind them interrupted the quiet bubble they’d dropped themselves into. She glanced over his shoulder and sighed. “You’re probably right.”
He twisted to follow her gaze. Kim sat atop Jared’s shoulders, hands clasped with Carol’s, who was riding Anna. Struggling, Carol shrieked. Their kicking churned the water.
Jared noticed Adam and Jo, nodding at them cockily from between Kim’s thighs. “You guys want winner?” he called.
For fuck’s sake.
Adam nudged at Jo, prompting her to unwind herself from around him. Getting himself some breathing room. Looking to her, he asked, “What do you say?”
“What the hell are they doing?” Jo’s forehead was all scrunched, her mouth confused.
Oh, this was going to be fun. “What? You’ve never been in a chicken fight before?”
“A what fight?”
That decided that. “Come on.” He took her hand again and led her into deeper waters.
They’d nearly reached the rest of them when, with a squeal, Carol toppled over, falling from Anna’s shoulders. She came up spitting seconds later while Kim raised her hands in the air in triumph. Jared squeezed her thighs, beaming up at her before turning to Jo and Adam.
“You guys up for this?” Jared asked.
“Hell, yeah, we are.” Adam grabbed Jo, unsurprised when she flinched.
“Um, no.”
“It’ll be fine.” He lowered himself so his shoulders sank beneath the surface of the water. “Just climb on board. It’s easy.”
“You have got to be kidding me.” She came up behind him despite her protests.
He took it as the closest to permission he was going to get. “Hop up.” Hooking one hand under her leg, he gave her a boost, while with the other he plugged his nose and dropped down.
He held his breath as he got her situated. She clawed at his hair, clambering and sliding slick skin over skin as she fought her way onto his shoulders. When he rose above the surface again, it was to a chorus of noises he had never heard from her before.
“What do I do?” It was nearly a wail.
He sluiced the water from his face, shoving his wet hair back before grabbing her legs and holding them to his chest. “Just lean forward. You’re fine. You got this.”
“I don’t know—”
“I do.”
He didn’t care if they won or lost. She was here with him, on the most beautiful sort of day, in front of their friends. A couple.
A team.
Before Jo could protest any further, he located Kim and Jared in the water. “Okay, no big. You just lock hands with Kim and try to shove her off.”
“But—”
“No one gets hurt. Jared’s got her and I’ve got you. Whoever falls just ends up wetter.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
He stood a couple of feet from Jared.
“Oh, man, you’re going down,” Jared says.
Maybe. But either way, Adam was pretty sure he won.
Still looking hesitant as hell, Jo took Kim’s hands. Jared counted off. As soon as he got to three, all hell broke loose, water everywhere. Jo may have been out of her element, but the girl was a fighter, both on land and at sea.
And she was gorgeous. Wet and half naked and sitting astride him, her thighs closed tight around his ears. Bare arms glistening, teeth bared.
Just as soon as it had begun, it was over. Jo gave a particularly savage twist, and Kim screamed before toppling, taking Jared with her. Adam whooped, gazing up at Jo, whose smile lit the whole damn world.
Instead of issuing any additional challenges, Jo released her grip on him, widening her legs to slip down his body. He swiveled with her fall, coming to meet her face-to-face and nose to nose. Lip to lip.
And suddenly they were right back there, curled around each other, the simmering heat of holding her and touching her like this bringing desire screaming to life.
“Good job,” he said, tugging her close.
“I had a good partner.”
With that, she threaded a hand through his hair and tugged him down and kissed him. He was done worrying about the world around them or about who might see or what they might think. He’d been done with that, and she was clearly right there with him now. Around them, whistling and catcalls erupted, but he didn’t care.
She jerked away, eyes hooded, fingernails digging into his scalp. “Want to go find that dark corner somewhere?”
They’d been building up to it all day. And yet, as he gripped her ass and wound her leg around his hips, all he could say was, “I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jo was scarcely listening as Adam made their excuses. All she could hear was the buzzing in her ears, the rush of blood through her veins overriding the hum of the surf. The sounds of the people around her faded into white noise.
She’d just… Fuck, what had she done? She’d kissed this man, this boy who stripped her of so many of her defenses, in front of her boss and her colleagues and the world. She’d let him lead her out beyond her comfort zone in every possible sense of the words.
She’d put her feet in the ocean. And she hadn’t even come close to drifting away.
Now, with the memory of his head between her legs, his shoulders strong and firm beneath her thighs, she took his hand. Leaving yet more chatter behind them, they traversed the tricky layer of shells beaten into the sand, emerging out to a point where they were scarcely wading. The tide pulled at the sand beneath her toes with every lap of the waves. And yet she remained on solid ground.
Only after they’d gotten a decent ways off did she find her voice again, the noises of the world filtering back in.
“What did you even say to them?”
He cast her an uncertain look but didn’t question her. Maybe he was just as far gone as she was. Driven by lust, if not by the tangled exhilaration of letting go. Of not keeping her distance anymore.
“Just that we were going to walk along the beach a little. Maybe see if we can find something to eat.”
It was a flimsy excuse at best. There were carts all over the place peddling empanadillas and ice cream. They really didn’t need to go very far to find one of them.