Page 97 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

“I didn’t think you’d try to just stand in it.” He chuckled as he started walking, and I followed him. “Come on, the sand closer to the water is cooler.”

He led us to a spot closer to the water, and just as he said, the sand here was cooler. He set out some of the towels he’d purchased, then set the bag and some of the other heavier items on the corners so the wind wouldn’t blow the towels around.

I glanced around us as I removed my hat and got ready to take my shorts and T-shirt off. The beach itself was surprisingly empty of people, considering how many were in town while we ate and shopped. I guess that was a good thing, though, since Wes had threatened eyeball ripping.

I was just about to pull my shirt over my head when Wesley did just that, revealing his bare torso to me for the first time.

I stopped everything, my hands frozen on the hem of my shirt, and just looked at him.

I was not prepared for the Greek god who stood in front of me. I mean, I had dreamed of what he might look like under his clothes, based on what I had felt under my hands when we kissed and touched, but my imaginings didn’t even come close to reality.

My eyes started at his chest, where there was a small smattering of chest hair between his chiseled pecs. Then my gaze traveled down to his washboard abs, where more hair trailed beneath the waistband of his swim trunks, slung low across his hips.

He had those lines on either side of his lower abs, those defined muscle dips I’d only ever seen on movie stars or male models or body builders. I didn’t even know what they were called. But they made a V, and along with that hair that disappeared beneath his shorts, I knew they pointed down towards his—

“Haven,” he rumbled out, his brow raised. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I panted, my eyes snapping back up to his face. “Fine.”

I ripped my shirt over my head to hide my blushing face, my hands moving to my shorts as soon as my shirt hit the towel, my face looking down so he wouldn’t see my very pink cheeks. Despite that, I could feel his eyes boring into me, watching me, waiting for me to finish undressing and look back at him.

I feigned an air of confidence as I slid my shorts down my pale legs and stepped out of them to walk to Wesley’s end of the towels, where the sunscreen was. I plopped down on the towel, grabbed it out of the bag, and began applying it to my arms, legs, chest, and stomach, avoiding looking at Wes the entire time.

Fingertips tickled my skin and the end of the braid I’d done while in the fitting room appeared over my shoulder. I angled my head to the side just as Wesley reached for the sunscreen and squirted some into his palm.

“Let me get your back for you,” he said, rubbing his hands together.

I closed my eyes as his hands touched my back, massaging the sunscreen into my skin. My teeth sunk into my lip as I held back from making any noises or releasing any incriminating sighs while his hands explored my bare back.

He started at my shoulders, then worked his way down, taking care to ensure every inch of my ivory skin was protected from the blazing sun. Despite his large, calloused hands, his touch was soft and careful, with just the right amount of pressure to rub the lotion into my skin.

After he’d finished my lower back, his hands stopped in the smallest part of my waist, his thumbs tracing little swirls and circles into my skin. It was a small, familiar touch that sent warmth through my body to my heart. I let out the sigh I’d been holding back and leaned back into his touch.

He leaned forward and kissed the top of my shoulder. “Let’s go swimming.”

He stood up, reaching for my hand, but I shook my head and pointed at the towel in front of me. “You need sunscreen too.”

“I don’t sunburn.” He shrugged.

“But you can still get skin cancer without ever getting sunburned.”

He grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck, then nodded. “Right. You’re right,” he said, sitting himself down on the towel in front of me with his knees up and his arms resting on them.

I had to sit up on my knees to reach his shoulders, but after I put the sunscreen in my hands, I mimicked his method, starting at his shoulders and neck and working my way down his back to the waistband of his swim trunks.

It had been tough enough to hold in my sounds and hold back my thoughts when it was his hands on me. But now that I was exploring his bare skin for the first time, getting an up close and personal look at what lay under his clothes, and feeling the power of his muscles, it was even more difficult.

The intentional in-and-out rhythm of breathing I felt and heard coming from him told me I wasn’t the only one of us affected by this situation, and while it turned me on and made my heart beat faster, it also put my mind at ease to know it wasn’t all one-sided. That I wasn’t the only one of us who fought a losing battle. The only question was, which of us would give in first?

“Finished,” I breathed out, wiping my hands on my thighs to get rid of the excess sunscreen.

“Great!” Wes exclaimed, jumping up to his feet in one smooth motion.

He hopped back and forth between his feet, his excitement bubbling up and out of him like an overgrown puppy. I don’t know if it was his nostalgia at being somewhere he’d come a lot growing up or if it was because it was my first time at the beach at all, but his enthusiasm was adorable and contagious.

“Let’s race!” he said as I got to my feet.

“You’ll win,” I pointed out with an eye roll.

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