Wet (The Water's Edge #1) (21 page)

“What if there is?”

“You’re wearing jeans,” I pointed out, trying a different tactic.

“And they can get wet.”

I looked at him helplessly, and he stared back at me, a mischievous grin softening his features. He pulled me closer to where the waves began lapping at our feet as they rushed up to reclaim the beach for themselves. I squealed and jumped when a larger wave splashed over my ankles.

West laughed and kept walking, keeping my hand tight in his. “You’re enjoying this too much,” I said, grumbling.

“Walking in the moonlight on an empty beach with a beautiful girl? Yeah, I am.”

His words melted my lingering resistance. I probably would have followed him anywhere at that moment.

He started rubbing his thumb against the sensitive skin above my wrist as we walked, and I didn’t even notice the tickle of the waves against my ankles for several minutes.

I didn’t notice much of anything except for the nerve endings prickling up and down my arm in response to his slow caresses.

I relaxed by degrees, listening to the soft slurping sound of the wet sand trying to trap our feet with every step and the lullaby of the waves rushing up the shore and then retreating. My arm rubbed against West’s as we meandered up the beach. The silence between us felt comfortable, and my mind wasn’t racing with ways to fill it. I let the calm seep through me. Trusting West to lead me, I tilted my head back to gaze up at the stars. You could see so many from here, away from the city lights.

It was beautiful.

When I looked over at West, his eyes were locked on the curve of my neck, and I stumbled. His

hand tightened around mine until I regained my footing. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I got you.”

I bit my lip. I liked the sound of that far too much.

Six steps later, my foot landed on something slimy. I squealed and started hopping on my tiptoes, whimpering.

West raised his eyebrows and continued his steady pace up the beach, pulling me with him. “You gonna live over there?”

My fear mixed with irritation. Who knew what my foot had come in contact with? I turned back to investigate, but West just kept tugging me forward.

“You’re fine. Get over it. Keep walking.” I could hear the laughter in his voice, and I glared at him.

I kept up with him, but now I was on hyperalert, trying to peer through the sudsy water in the dark at the sand where my feet were about to step each time.

West jiggled my arm. “Stop that. Just walk.”

“But what if—?”

“What if what? You step on something? Then you step on something.”

“But what if it… hurts me?” My voice cracked on the last words, and I realized how stupid I sounded, but I couldn’t help it.

“Then I’ll save you from whatever evil ocean crap might wash up on the exact speck of beach you plant your perfect, dainty foot on.”

“It’s not funny.” I half-whimpered, half-laughed.

“Yeah.” He glanced at me. “It kinda is.”

Just then my other foot landed on something decidedly squishy. Slimy was one thing, but squishy? Oh, hell no.

I squeaked and ran a few steps like a chicken on a hot plate until our arms were stretched to their max between us and then I stopped, yanking my hand from his. “I think that’s enough for tonight.” Yeah, I was trembling like a baby, but I was done.

West stopped next to me, nonplussed. “So, now what? You just going to stand here all night? The tide’s coming in.”

I started to hightail it higher up the beach, but West caught me by the wrist before I could get more than three steps away. Sighing, he said. “Are you really that scared?”

Hot, embarrassed tears pricked the backs of my eyes, but I refused to cry in front of West. Willpower alone held them back as I nodded.

Turning his back to me, he faced the water, his shoulders drooping with resignation. “Well, I promised.” He crouched down and patted the top of his back. “Come on.”

I looked at him blankly. “Come on, what?”

“Hop on. I told you we’re taking a walk in the water, and I meant it. If you’re that scared, I’ll do the walking for the both of us. You can ride piggyback.”

I rolled my eyes and wiped away the one traitorous tear that had escaped. “You’re not carrying me. We’re almost a mile from your house.”

He glanced back over his shoulder at me. “Are you trying to get me to flex? Prove my strength? ’Cause I can do that for you.”

I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m not doubting your strength per se. But, West, I’m not exactly tiny, and we’re almost a mile from home.” I said the last words slowly, emphasizing them in case he didn’t hear me the first time.

He remained crouched over. “Two choices. Hop on or walk through the water.”

A slightly larger wave rushed us, reaching mid-calf, and I leapt at him, scrambling up his broad back. West teetered and then wrapped my legs around his waist before reaching up to tug at my arms. “Sadie?” he croaked. “You’re choking me.”

I readjusted and looped my arms more across his shoulders than his windpipe. My chin settled into the slope where his neck and shoulder met, and I couldn’t stop myself from inhaling him. His scent was drugging. They should make candles that smelled like that.

Gripping me under my knees, he started back the way we came. I shifted from side to side as he walked, my open legs pressed against his back, my breasts plastered against him, my nipples hardening from the friction. My breath caught and then began to speed up.

The muscles in his arms and torso and flexed, moving sinuously under me. I exhaled and couldn’t resist trying to press my pelvis a little firmer against him, trying to get some pressure where I wanted it most. West bounced me up higher on his back and picked up his pace. Oh, dear God, yes. Somehow that motion bunched up his tee between my thighs a little more, giving just enough pressure to drive me crazy. I buried my nose against his skin and breathed in his citrusy, sweaty scent.

We were halfway back, and I was halfway to release.

There was just something about West that my body craved.

His voice floated across the salty air, his tone conversational. “I know I’m good, but I’ve never gotten a girl off before with a piggyback ride. If you finish back there before we get home, I’m writing ‘I’ll give you a piggyback ride’ on a dollar bill and posting that baby at the bar tomorrow. Is faster better?”

I stiffened, trying not to move at all, trying not to even breathe as the mortification washed over me. West tried to jog, but I bounced against him roughly, and his steps slowed, my rigidness hindering his stride. “Hey, babe, relax back there. I’m not complaining. Trust me. I am not complaining one bit.” Amusement radiated off of him.

All of a sudden, I tipped hard to the right. West’s leg seemed to just sink into the sand, and I gripped him desperately. He tried to yank his leg free, but stumbled with my extra weight, and we both fell over, splashing sideways into the waves.

Caught by surprise, my hair covered my face when I first surfaced, and I couldn’t see anything. I was lying on my side with West’s shoulder pinning me down. The water wasn’t deep, but I was practically horizontal, and when the next wave rolled through, my head went under, and I sucked in a burning lungful of seawater. While I hacked and choked, West yanked me up and dragged me higher to the edge of the waterline. He scooped the wet strands off my face and rubbed my back as I coughed and spit into the sand.

“Sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to land on you.”

I nodded, trying to slow my breathing back to normal. Jesus, that saltwater burned.

When I raised my face to his, West looked at me apologetically. “I feel like we’ve done this before,” he tried to joke.

I tried for a smile. “You can’t blame this one on me.”

“Really? Because I was pretty distracted with you pressing and rubbing against me, all but moaning.”

My face flushed, and I was glad yet again it was night and he couldn’t see.

He lowered his head and put his mouth right up to my ear. “It was so damn unexpected, it’s no wonder I couldn’t walk right.” His hot breath burned the side of my neck, and I couldn’t help but close my eyes and bite my lip. I leaned toward him, and his lips brushed my ear, his tongue tracing the rim. I let out a shaky breath. “Sadie? As much as I want to rip your wet clothes off right here, right now, I’ve learned that sex on the beach is a little overrated. Sand gets in places it shouldn’t, and, yeah, it doesn’t always end well.”

I jerked away from him. I was such a slut. I was all but panting because a hot guy was touching me. Oh Lord, what was wrong with me? I braced my arms on my bent knees and stared down between them at the sand.

West stood next to me and hauled me up by the armpits. I wavered for a second, and he grabbed my waist to steady me. “You gonna be okay there, babe?”

I took a step away from him, causing his hands to drop. “I’m fine.” I didn’t know what to feel. The dunk in the ocean was exactly what I needed. My body seemed to catch fire whenever I got to close to West, but from what I’d heard, that kind of thing happened all the time to him. I didn’t want to be just another mindless fuck.

That made me pause.

What did I want to be to him?

We slogged back toward his house. My shirt hung heavily on me, clinging to my body, water dripping in a steady rhythm down my legs as we walked.

West walked awkwardly next to me, holding his jeans at the waistband.

“Problem?” I asked, watching him clutch at his pants and take wide, stiff-legged steps.

He quirked a brow at me. “You ever try walking in wet jeans with a raging hard-on? Not that easy.”

A small, satisfied smile crept across my face. At least I wasn’t the only one affected tonight.

We walked a little farther before West cursed and stopped. “I give up.” He turned away from me, and the next thing I knew, he jeans were slipping downward, before getting hung up at his knees. He tried to get one leg free, but the wet denim was uncooperative, and he lost his balance, falling on his ass in the hard sand. Laughing, he wrestled with his jeans until they were off and then picked them up, tossed them over his arm, and started walking again.

I was a step or two behind him, choosing to stay there so I could sneak a peek at his sand-encrusted, wet boxer briefs. Catching up to him, I rubbed my hand over his ass, brushing the sand off. “I think you have something here.” West stopped mid-step and looked over at me, his eyelids closing partway. “There. That’s better.”

West shook his head at me. “Yeah, I think I have something here too.” Grabbing my hand, he pressed it against his erection. “Now,
that’s
better.”

I cupped him and ran my hand up his length once before I lost my nerve and pulled away. Wrapping his arm around my wet shoulders, West pulled me into his side and kissed the top of my head. “Oh, Sadie. What am I going to do with you?”

I have a few ideas.
But I couldn’t bring myself to speak up. I wanted to be more than a quick lay, more than a convenient fuck.

I wanted to be… more.

When we got back to the steps where we left our shoes, West started up to his room. “C’mon. Let me get you some dry clothes.”

I followed behind him. When I stepped through the sliding glass doors, West was rustling through his dresser. Snagging some drawstring gym shorts and a shirt that would come to my knees, he herded me to the bathroom. “Here. I know you have to be freezing. Take a hot shower and warm up and then you can put these on. I’m going to run over to Wyatt’s bathroom and do the same.”

I was tempted to ask him to stay, to share this shower, but before I could work up the courage, he was gone, pulling the door shut behind him. Jumping in his shower, I quickly cleaned myself, washing my hair as best I could without conditioner. It was still tangled in places, especially by the nape of my neck. When I got out, I pulled his shirt over my head and took a deep inhale. Between wearing his shirt and using his shower products, the smell of West surrounded me. I liked it. After wrapping my hair up turban style, I slipped back into his bedroom.

He was already waiting for me, perched on the side of the bed. A hairbrush lay next to him. He saw me looking at it and held it out to me. “I found this in Wyatt’s bathroom. Not sure what chick left it here, but I thought you might need it. It looks clean enough.”

I was oddly touched by his thoughtfulness. I pulled the towel off my head and sat next to him, wincing when I tried to pull the brush through my snarled strands. West’s hands took the brush from me.

“Here, let me. It’s my fault your hair got all messed up in the first place.” West grabbed my hips and moved me until I was positioned sideways on the bed between his outstretched legs. Pushing me forward at the waist so he could reach the ends of my hair, he started working the brush through the tangles, gently tugging the knots free.

My scalp tingled as he worked, and I relaxed, slumping forward and letting him do as he pleased. By the time he finished, I was almost asleep. He dropped the brush and ran his hands through my damp hair, the locks sliding smoothly between his fingers.

I sighed in utter contentment and leaned back against his chest. “You ready to take me home?”

His hands tightened around my upper arms. “What if you stayed here tonight? We could have a sleepover. Old-school style. No sex, just two people sharing a bed.”

I arched an eyebrow. “No sex?”

“No sex. But if you ask nicely, I might go for a cuddle.”

“Why no sex?”

He hesitated and ran his hands down my arms and back up again. “You’re different. You make me want to do things the right way with you.” He leaned his forehead against the back of my head. “But I’m also a selfish bastard, and I want to go to sleep knowing you’re in my arms. Knowing I get to wake up to you.”

I melted farther back into his chest, nuzzling against him. “A sleepover sounds good.”

He smiled against the back of my head.

“You know you’re too good for me, right? That I don’t deserve you.”

My answer was muffled against his pectoral muscle.

Hugging me to him, he scooped me up in his arms and lifted me off the bed before yanking the covers back with one hand and depositing me on the mattress. “Lady’s choice. Which side do you want?”