Page 32 of Hot Saltwater Kisses

True. I exhaled a breathy laugh, heart fluttering against my ribcage. “Such eloquence.”

“Most of my blood’s gone south.” A tiny smirk colored his voice, flickering light reflecting in his eyes as his attention dropped back to my mouth. “My point stands, though.”

“It’s a good point.” I set down my beer and did the same with his bottle. Then I tugged him back to me.

His lips parted easily, hot and sweet as our tongues met. I moved my hands to sketch twin lines up the sides of his throat, his pulse fast under my touch, skin soft as my fingers bloomed out across his cheeks. He eased away to let his teeth catch on my bottom lip, licking along the edge, before he pushed back in to taste me with a thoroughness that was almost lazy. Heady and natural, like everyone before had been a trial run.

“Why did we wait so long to do this?” I shaped the question against his lips and felt them curve into a smile.

“Beats me.”

One of his hands slid under my T-shirt to trace my spine. I arched closer without thought. Wasn’t like we were the only couple making out, night bleeding shadows to protect us. I nudged a leg between his thighs and felt him hot against my hip. Heat snapped through me, bright like lightning.

“Let’s leave,” I managed to get out.

“Yeah.” His voice came out like sun-kissed gravel. “Let’s. I’ve got the car key.”

”Good. Tom can get a ride from Nia.” I clamped a hand around Logan’s wrist, his pulse hot and fast under my touch. Sand shifted beneath our feet, darkness clinging to our bodies.

I pulled, and he followed.

8

Sticky night brushed against my skin. The car windows were down, the air heavy with salt and a distant promise of rain. As we left the coast behind, the island’s heartbeat slowed, sudden quiet wrapping a blanket around our shoulders. The beach bar seemed worlds away.

“Having second thoughts?” Logan asked, his voice like velvet.

I exhaled. “If I had my wits about me, I would.”

“And do you?” Humor glinted in his tone, and I took him in—one hand on the wheel and the other on the gearshift, his knuckles gleaming faintly in the light of a passing car.

“No.” I reached out to trace the hard line of his thigh, his muscles flexing under my touch. “As much as I shouldn’t do this, I’m in.”

He parted his thighs. “Same.”

“You’re in, or you shouldn’t do this?”

The car’s tires thrummed along the patchy road. “Both,” he said.

I glanced at his profile. “Why—you got a boyfriend at home?”

“No.” He lifted his hand off the gearshift and laced our fingers, guiding my touch higher up between his legs. “No girlfriend either, if that was gonna be your next question. I’m not a cheater.”

“Good to know.” I dragged my knuckles along the half-hard lineof his cock, hot through the thin fabric of his shorts. Big,God. Just like I’d suspected. “So what makes this a bad idea for you?”

“Didn’t intend to meet anyone here.” A breathless edge frayed his words, hips tilting off the seat. Good thing this wasn’t rush hour in Miami. “I was going to focus on my thesis—prove I can take things seriously for once.”

“Sorry for your loss.”

“No, you’re not.”

I leaned closer to kiss his throat, sparks twisting through my veins. Warm skin, slightly salty, a hint of sandalwood and soap. “You’re right,” I agreed in a murmur. “I’m not sorry. Three years, and I’ve never hooked up with a guest. I didn’t plan you either, so it’s only fair.”

He drew in a shaky breath, fingers tightening around my hand, pressing it down against his cock. “All right, yeah. Fair.” Another breath as he shot me a quick, glittering look. “But this isn’t about the resort or hierarchies. Nothing like that. It’s just us, yeah?”

If only it were that easy. It wasn’t—no way to snap our fingers and poof, goodbye reality. But I did believe that he meant it, and that eased something in me, my next words coming out in a light tease.

“So you wouldn’t use your status to help me out either?” I let my nails catch against the head of his dick and felt it twitch against my palm. “Commend me on…” My lips followed the curve of his jaw, slight scrape of teeth. “Impeccable service and attention to detail?”

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