I grab it and look inside. Holy crap, he bought me a bathing suit. I pull it out excitedly…until I realize it’s a one-piece, and not just a one-piece, but one that looks like it was designed a hundred years ago. It even has a little skirt at the bottom. Does he think I’m five?
I glance over to where he said I could change. It’s a sunny day in mid-summer and the beach is buzzing with people. And right beside the restrooms is a little shop.
I smile breezily up at Logan. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll go find us a place on the beach,” he says.
“Perfect.”
He walks me to the bathrooms, then continues on to the beach. I wait until he’s out of sight, then duck inside the small shop.
They don’t have a huge selection of bikinis, but I find one that will do. It’s bright red and while it covers the important bits, it also shows plenty of skin. After I buy it along with some flip-flops, I change in the bathroom. But I only dare a few seconds of looking at myself in the mirror.
I’ve never worn anything so skimpy in my entire life. And I’m going to go spend the day with Logan in this thing?
Maybe I should abandon ship and just put on the swimsuit he brought for me.
But then I hold up the shapeless, dark, unflattering thing, and with one last glance in the mirror at all my curves on display in the red bikini, toss the other swimsuit in the trash and head out the door.
Confident. Wear the swimsuit, don’t let the swimsuit wear you.
The only way Logan will ever start to see me as a woman is if I act like one. But crap, how do women act? I don’t know any women other than Mom, and she’s so sick…
I blink away the thought. Gods, it’s horrible, but for one day I want to just be a girl at the beach with a cute guy. It’s a terrible thought to have. I’m a terrible person for having it.
By then I’ve walked down the little path and I see Logan in the distance. He’s standing with his hand over his eyes looking my way. He doesn’t realize it’s me until I get really close, though. Understandably, since he’s looking for a dowdy girl in that terrible swimsuit.
When I wave and he finally realizes that I’m the one walking up to him, red bikini and all, he does a double take. And then he swallows really hard.
“What are you wearing?” he demands in a voice harsher than I’ve ever heard from him.
It makes me bite my lip for a second, but then I straighten my spine.
“I’m supposed to get Vitamin D, right? I can’t do that if I’m all covered up. I picked this up at the little shop.”
He looks away towards the ocean, his jaw tensing so hard, I can see a vein on his neck popping out. He gives a single sharp nod.
Things are tense for a few moments as I settle myself on the towel beside him. He sits at the furthest edge of the towel from me, half on the sand. And he won’t look at me.
But that’s okay, because it gives me the opportunity to look at him.
I didn’t realize it earlier, but the shorts he was wearing were swim trunks, so all he had to do was take off his shirt.
And holy moly.
He’s not huge or anything. He actually looks younger without his shirt on. I bet when he’s older he’ll be big—his shoulders are already really wide but they haven’t quite filled in all the way.
But he’s still so much bigger than me. And there’s this crazy sexy dusting of hair across his pecs.
Sexy.
That is the word for Logan Wulfe. He. Is. So. Sexy.
He’s leaning back casually on his elbows, the salty wind blowing in his hair, his tan skin shining in the sun.
My stomach swoops with feelings I’ve never felt before. All I know is that I want to crawl on top of him. I want to bury my face against his chest and have him wrap those arms around me.
The swoopy, liquid feeling in my tummy zings lower, between my legs and I inhale sharply, which makes Logan look my way.
Our eyes catch. Oh crap, oh crap, can he tell what I’m thinking? Does he know I’ve just been ogling him for the past five minutes and that I’m having sexy feelings about him?
Is it just me feeling like there’s a sizzling intensity in his eyes as we continue to lock gazes? Am I imagining his nostrils flaring? His eyes darkening? Could he possibly feel even a morsel of what I’m feeling back?
“Want to go for a swim?” he finally says, his words an explosion of air as he hops up from the blanket. “I’m going for a swim.”
He’s already walking away from me before I can agree and jump up to join him.
But he slows down as I hurry after him and he holds out a hand to me as I unsteadily follow him into the water.
“You’ve swam in the ocean before, right?” he checks.
“Once. A long time ago. I was a kid though and it was mainly splashing on the shore.”
He mutters something under his breath, I think about my dad, but then he moves closer. “Stay beside me.”
I nod as we move into the water up to our hips and the incoming waves are stronger.
“Okay, now let's start to swim. Once we get past that break it should settle out.”
I nod as he lets go, following him and abandoning my feet on the ground as we start to swim along the shoreline.
The ocean swells with a small wave, but we swim through it and avoid the whitewater of the break.
“You’re doing great,” he encourages.
The truth is I’d be terrified if I was out here by myself. But with him, I feel invincible.
We don’t go far and he warns me about undercurrents. We hang out and I’m exhilarated by riding the swells of the waves.
“Oh my gosh, here comes a big one. Logan, look how big it is!”
“I’ve got you,” he laughs, swimming over to my side. “We’ll ride it together.”
I nod as he holds onto me from behind, his arms wrapped around my waist. I hold out my arms and tread water as the biggest swell yet comes.
“Swim towards it,” Logan says in my ear.
I do, and I feel like I’m flying with him so close. The swell comes and we rise so high, so high, it feels like breathing with the huge animal that is the ocean. And then down we come as the wave crashes down.
I laugh and spin in Logan’s arms.
I want to kiss him but I wouldn’t even begin to know how. So I hug him instead. “Thank you. Thank you, Logan. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
His arms come back around me, but only for a quick squeeze, lingering a moment before he pulls away.
I’m so caught up in him that I’m not watching the waves. I guess Logan isn’t either because all I hear is, “Oh shit!” before we’re suddenly doused by white-water.
It knocks us apart and I come up sputtering and laughing. Logan immediately swims back over to me once he surfaces. “Shit, Daph, are you okay? Shit, I’m sorry.”
“I’m fine,” I laugh, pushing my wet hair out of my face. “Now see if you can catch me.”
I start to swim away from him. He gives me a head start but then catches me in about three seconds anyway, and again, his amazing arms wrap around me.
Can I please stay in this ocean forever if it means he’ll keep touching me like this?
But he says it’s time for us to get out only fifteen minutes later, though I make him promise we’ll go for another swim before we leave.