and Mak had spent hours tossing a rugby ball to Deon, much to his delight. They’d all taken turns to swim with him too, and the little guy was utterly, happily exhausted.
Lu scooped him up, gave him a huge kiss and handed him over to Will, who piggy-backed him back to their bags and towels scattered over the still hot sand. Will put Deon on his feet, helped Mak load up their bags and rubbed Deon’s head.
‘Are you coming to the stadium with the St Clare’s kids on Tuesday?’
Deon nodded. ‘I’m their main man.’
Will grinned. ‘That you are. Later, dude.’
‘Later, dude,’ Deon echoed and the adults laughed.
After they’d left, Will cocked his head at Lu. ‘I’m going back in. You coming?’
Lu nodded and they turned back to the sea, sighing as the warm Indian Ocean crept higher the further in they went.
‘School and work day tomorrow,’ Lu said, as the waves lapped against her chest.
She wondered what the twins had been up to today...if they’d had as much fun as she had. On days like these—beach days, happy days—she missed them with every cell in her body. She’d been fighting the urge to call them all day, and the couple of messages she’d sent them still, as of ten minutes ago, remained unread. They were never without their phones, so what had they been doing all day?
Lu felt Will’s thumb brush the space between her eyebrows and she turned her head to look at him. ‘Sometimes you drift away and then this frown appears.’
‘Sun in my eyes,’ Lu replied blithely.
‘Yeah, tell me another one.’ Will snorted.
Lu snuck a look at his frustrated face. ‘How come you want me to talk but you don’t...or won’t?’
‘Because I’m a guy.’
Lu’s snort was bigger than his. ‘We’re really good at having fun and really bad at talking to each other about the things that go deep,’ she commented. ‘I know that you were seriously upset after seeing your ex on TV—’
‘I wasn’t.’
‘Will.’ Just her saying his name had his protest dying on his lips. ‘And I’m missing the twins. Yet we still try to pretend that everything is fine.’
‘I don’t know how to—’ Will stopped and automatically reached out to steady her as a large wave broke over them. Using his strength, he planted his feet and kept her upright as water rushed over her head. Lu linked her arms around his neck, droplets of water on her face.
‘I wish you’d talk to me, Will,’ Lu murmured, frustrated. He was holding back, keeping her at arm’s length mentally, and she didn’t like it. If he could push her out of her comfort zone why couldn’t she do the same for him?
The problem was that he just had to look at her with those hot eyes and she forgot about comfort zones and talking and anything else but her need to have his mouth on hers.
Will kissed her shoulder as he whispered, ‘I’ll tell you that I think you are incredibly beautiful.”
Lu hiccupped a laugh. ‘Freckly and skinny.’
‘Beautifully, gorgeously freckly and skinny,’ Will insisted. He looked down into her eyes. ‘I don’t know how to do this...the other stuff...the talking stuff. I can’t do it—haven’t the skills. But this...this I know.’
Yes, Lu thought. And it was the perfect end to a wonderful day as Will’s tongue slipped into her mouth and his hands pulled her hips into his.
Her stomach pressed against his erection and her breasts were flattened against his chest. She felt uninhibited and free. His actions under the water were hidden from the last few people on the beach, and the surfers were too far away for them to see and too uninterested to give a hoot. Scooting her hand up his hip, she caressed his stomach, feeling the wonder of the warm skin over hard muscles. Will responded by cupping her breast, instinctively seeking her nipple, which instantly bloomed in his hand.
Lu gasped and wrenched her mouth away from his, arching her back as she buried her face in his neck and swiped her tongue across his skin. This was what she’d been missing—this intensity, this flood of lust and emotion that she hadn’t experienced with a man in a long, long time.
Will groaned as he snuck his hands under her pink bikini top and tangled her tongue with his. He sensed her frustration and responded with a silent chuckle. She wasn’t the only one who craved more. But suddenly this wasn’t about him. This was about Lu and the pleasure he could give her—the pleasure he knew she hadn’t experienced in a long, long time...if ever.
‘Wrap your legs around my waist, honey,’ he murmured against her mouth.
Lu, eyes glazed with passion, obliged. Will dropped his gaze to look down between them. Her thighs were slim and baby-smooth; he could feel her hipbone under the palm of his other hand. A beaded ring was hooked through her belly button.
‘Just enjoy, Lu,’ Will told her, and saw the soft reply in her eyes, tasted it in her lifted lips.
She became compliant beneath him, her trust that he would take care of her blindingly obvious. Will braced himself by pushing his feet into the sand while kissing her—he couldn’t get enough of her luscious mouth. He moved his hand over her ankle and calf, tracing his way up her thigh, lingering to knead her bottom. His long fingers slid under her bikini bottom to stroke lightly between her legs. He ignored her whimper and felt her intake of breath as he moved his hand between them and trailed it over her, bending his head to kiss her again, feeling her throb beneath his fingertips. His fingers—urgent now—slid into her furrows, automatically finding her nub, causing her to lift her hips, thrusting into his hand. Astounded at her passionate reaction, by the tension he could feel in her, Will felt immensely powerful, intensely male.
He felt her orgasm against his hand, saw it in her eyes, heard it in her whimpered cries.
She made him feel more of a man...
Long, long minutes later she dropped her feet back into the sand and pushed her hands through her hair. As long as he lived Will knew that he’d never forget Lu standing chest deep in the sea, tipping her face up to catch the last of the sunshine, looking a lot like the mermaid he sometimes imagined her to be.
‘What are we going to do about this, Lu?’ he demanded as they walked back towards the beach. ‘We’re dancing around it and something is going to have to give—soon.’
Lu ran her hands through her hair again, making spikes. ‘I don’t know, Will! I don’t! I know that I want you, but I don’t want to stop having fun with you either—and that was the deal, remember? Sex and you walk. No sex and you don’t.’
‘Whose stupid idea was that?’ he muttered under his breath. ‘Oh, that must have been yours, Scott. Moron.’
It was the deal, and he’d thought it made sense all those weeks back, when his life had made sense. Will grabbed a towel off the beach mat and swiped it across his face. He didn’t know how much longer he could resist her—resist the temptation to take her to bed, to make her his. But she terrified him. She had the ability
