Page 43 of Caught in the Middle

“It’s a good day for the ocean,” he said. “I overheard it might do some raining tomorrow.”

“I bet there’ll still be plenty of time to swim or get outside,” Lauren commented. “I feel like it always rains off and on at the beach.”

“That’s a good point.” Henry clapped his hands as if the matter was discussed. “I’m going to swim. It’s too hot to lay in the sun.”

“I plan to read and get a tan,” Emma said, sitting her bag down next to one of the lounge chairs.

“I intend to join you after I take a quick dip.” Lauren turned toward Asher. “Are you coming?”

“Oh, yeah. I need to take advantage of the water before I crisp.” He laughed as he followed his girlfriend to the ocean where Henry had already waded out into the water knee-deep.

“He really does fry,” Emma said, watching as they all made their way to the water.

Cam could care less about Asher frying, even if he was a good guy from what he could tell. “I don’t,” he said and smiled over at her. “In case you want to start taking notes.”

“And why would I need to take notes?” She pulled a towel out of her bag and splayed it across the chair.

She felt him step closer, his body like an immovable mountain behind her.

“So you can pretend you know everything about me, remember?” he asked over her shoulder.

Emma turned and gave him a sweet smile. “Can you do me a favor?”

“What’s that?” He cocked a brow, knowing damn well not to trust that face she was giving him.

She reached down into her bag and pulled out a bottle of sun tanning lotion. “Can you rub this on me?”

Ah hell. Cam knew his little charade in the room was going to bite him in the ass, and he even tried talking himself out of it, but he liked seeing desire light up those dark eyes of hers. “Can’t you? I’ve seen you put on lotion a million times in the short window of knowing you.”

Technically, he was right, even if most of those times were sunscreen. Either way, she planned to seek her revenge. “No. I want to lay out on my stomach first to tan my back. If I try to put it on, I’m likely to get sand all over me or lose the lotion to the towel.”

He growled, holding his hand out for the bottle.

She refrained from letting him see her smile as she laid the headrest of the chair flat so that she could lie on it.

“This is bronzing crap,” he said. “The stuff that gets you more sun.”

“Duh,” she gave him an expression to suggest he had stated the obvious.

He frowned, still examining the bottle. “But you’re always slathering on SPF to protect you from the sun. Why do all that just to put this on now?”

“Because it’s a beach day,” she said as if that was explanation enough.

However, he didn’t hear it because the moment he quit reading the label on the bottle and looked down at the woman who’d stripped down into her bikini and was now laid out on the lounger in front of him, all functional thoughts and senses quit working in his brain. Unfortunately, his friend down south didn’t get the message and was ready to jump to attention at the sight.

Emma could’ve sworn she heard him mutter something along the lines of “You hate me,” under his breath, but she didn’t say a word as she bit back her smile.

Of course, she had to pick a pair of bottoms that didn’t even begin to cover a fraction of her ass cheeks, he thought, unable to quit staring. No wonder she’d opted to wear that button-down over her suit today. Because there was no way he would have been able to keep his hands off her back in the room if he’d seen her walk out of the bathroom in this.

And the irony of it wasn’t lost on him that now he would get to do just that, but she knew damn well what she was doing, asking him to rub lotion on her where everyone could see and he couldn’t dare take it to the next level.

Cam gritted his teeth as he lowered himself to sit on the chair next to her. “Nice bikini,” he commented.

She smiled. “Oh, you like it? Today felt like a good day for something simple.”

He grunted. “More like skimpy.”

She turned to glare at him.

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