Cam grinned. “Well, then I’ll do my very best to make it up to you.” He began softly rubbing the lotion into her skin, trying not to dwell on how badly he wanted to squeeze her ass cheeks. Hell, screw squeezing them. He wanted to slap her ass and then bite it.

He swallowed back the temptation and began making larger circles, his hands caressing the sides of her hips and up toward her lower back, his fingers slipping beneath the material.

Mmm. Emma refrained from squeezing her legs together, wanting the friction to offer relief from the frustrating throbbing he was awakening between her legs. Thank god her bikini was black or she’d fear he could tell that the ocean wasn’t the only thing guaranteed to be wet around here.

“Did I understand it right earlier? Lulu moved in next door and will be our neighbor going forward?” Cam continued to massage, his fingers taking hold and using his thumbs to press in and around in small circles. He could feel the tension through her body, how stiff she’d become the moment his hands began caressing her. If it wasn’t for the hard-on he was trying to keep at bay, he’d feel like the victory was all his because this little plan was affecting her as much as it was him.

“Mhmm,” was all Emma offered, unsure if her brain could form coherent words. She couldn’t focus on anything with this incessant craving to have those wicked hands move further south.

“So last night was all for nothing?”

“Mhmm,” she repeated.

His thumbs slipped beneath the edges of her bikini bottom that went down the middle, and he could feel her body slightly curve upward into his touch. He smirked. At least he wasn’t the only one being betrayed by their body.

She felt him remove his hands and a sigh of relief fluttered through her lips. But then they were back and much lower, and Emma didn’t know if she should thank her luck or curse it, because as his thumbs tucked under the lower portion of her ass and hands framed the rest of it, she couldn’t think of anything except how badly she liked the idea of Cam raising her up right here on this beach chair and burying himself in her from behind.

If he clamped down on his teeth any harder, he was sure he’d be paying the dentist a lot of money. He kneaded–no, more like grabbed and pawed at–the lower half of Emma’s ass like a man who couldn’t control his hunger. If he could just run his tongue along the curvature of where her butt met the back of her thigh, he was sure he could die a happy man.

In fact, maybe he should thank her for this torture because he knew damn well no woman would ever compare to the one lying out in front of him right now.

“Well, isn’t this an interesting sight?”

Cam retracted his hands back so fast like a kid getting caught in the cookie jar. Emma popped up instantly.

Lulu stood there, one arm on her hip, the other stuck through the hole of an inflated float, and a knowing grin on her face. “Should I come back so you two can finish?”

Cam had never been more thankful for a pool float in his life, because he grabbed it from his coworker before she realized what he’d intended, and then headed off for the water, the float conveniently positioned in front of him. “I’m going swimming,” he shouted, leaving an amused and still shocked Emma to face her best friend.

Chapter 17

Cam heard the splashing of feet running into the water behind him as he made his way deeper into the ocean.

“Oh no, buddy. You’re not leaving me to face her alone.” Emma caught up to him and grabbed the float from his arms.

“Hey,” he exclaimed, instantly sinking under the water. Lulu’s interruption may have stopped things from escalating any further, and thank god since they were fully visible on the beach, but that didn’t put an end to his persistent boner.

Emma laughed, earning her a glare from the sun-kissed man now sunken into the water. She reached out and combed her fingers through his floppy hair. “Don’t worry. It happens to the best of us,” she teased.

Cam grabbed her wrist, pulling her down into the water before she could brace her feet to stop him. She came up laughing and splashing at him.

“Ass,” she said, smoothing her now-soaked hair back behind her ears.

“Mmm, don’t remind me.” Cam’s voice dropped to something dark and dangerous.

She bit her lip at what that sexy sound did to her insides.

“Are you two coming out here or not?” Lauren called from farther out.

“Until next time,” Emma said with a curl of her lips before heading toward their group.

Cam followed beside her, pushing the floaty out with them. “Don’t tempt me, Emma.”

That sent a shiver down her that had nothing to do with the water’s temperature. “And why not? You don’t seem the type to take matters into your own hands.”

The slow look he gave her would send a heart doctor on full alert. “Hasn’t anyone ever taught you not to make assumptions?”

She swallowed. “I don’t think I have anything to worry about.”