Page 30 of Little Boy Toy

In my immaturity, what did I know?

When I focused away from my long-winded thoughts, Kendry was gazing at me. “You went far away,” he said.

“Sorry. I’m right here and having the time of my life.”

“Good.” He tilted his head. “Me, too.”

When we both sat back and stared at our creation, we oohed and ahhed in unison.

“It looks great.” I winked at Kendry.

“It really does,” he replied.

Our castle had three levels if you counted the towers we’d balanced on the second level rooftop. We had walls that went around the structure leaving room for landscaping and outbuildings, which we’d meticulously added. We had both participated in digging the moat, then made a flat square from part of a mold as a little bridge. I got more water in a bucket and slowly poured it into the moat.

“We’re good together,” I said.

“We are,” Kendry agreed.

There were multiple levels to our words now. At least, I hoped so. We were good together. Kendry and I. We fit.

11

Kendry

We’d been in the sun building our sandcastle for a long time. I was hot all over. Part of that was from being with the most handsomest man and not-daddy on the whole beach.

We left our toys behind and together jumped back into the waves to cool off.

This time I wasn’t as shy about grabbing Zale, pulling him with me, holding his hand or playfully pushing him under small waves.

He was stronger and bigger than I was. He could have dunked me and been done. But he let me push and pull and tug. He wanted to play. There was a real daddy in him somewhere, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. I didn’t need him to know it consciously. I liked him the way he was and whether he said he was or wasn’t one thing or another didn’t matter to me.

We stayed in the water until our skin prickled and our fingers prunified again. It was so much fun.

After we got out, Zale gave me juice and cookies. I was a totally spoiled little, grinning as I ate and drank. I even had a nap on the soft warm blanket, waking to see Zale had covered me with a big fluffy towel. He slept beside me, curled on his side to face me. I stared at him for a long time memorizing his features, the fall of his dark hair over his eyes, the set of his wide mouth, the slight dimple in his chin. Every moment, I was falling for him even harder.

This day could not have been better.

I was sad when it grew later and we packed up to go.

The tide had tried to take our sandcastle building toys, but I successfully retrieved them from the klepto waves with their lace fingers that tried to steal them. A swift breeze blew through my damp hair. My legs—and other places—itched with sand. Salt from the sea had dried on my arms, back and chest.

I hurried back to Zale, my arms filled with toys. He had the bag and held it open for me to dump everything into. Together we made two trips to carry everything back to the trunk of his car.

We quickly rinsed off at the beach showers.

“Should I change into my clothes?” I asked.

Zale looked at me. “If you’re more comfortable.”

We both nodded at once and went into the bathroom in separate stalls. I peeled off my suit and dried off a little more. Then I put on my shorts, going commando, and my shirt.

When I came out, Zale was waiting for me in his shorts and t-shirt, his white teeth gleaming behind a beautiful smile. My heart skipped.

In the car, Zale said, “We can have dinner at my place if you’d like. You can have a proper shower there. Unless it’s too much for the day and you’re tired. I can easily take you home, too.”

I didn’t want our day to end. “Is it really okay if I come with you?”

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