Page 85 of From Coast to Coast

“Gray?”

I shake myself and meet his eyes. I don’t know what it is, but something about him on the beach does it for me. If it wasn’t broad daylight and my friends weren’t a few yards away, I might throw him down on the sand and have my way with him.

“Sex on the beach never works out the way you think it’ll work out,” he says, correctly interpreting the way I’m staring at him.

“I guess I won’t know until I try it.”

He laughs and mouthslater. “So, as I was saying, have you heard from the others?”

“Nope, no messages. But it should be any minute, especially since when I checked their flight earlier, it said they’d get in early?—”

A car door slams, cutting off the rest of what I was going to say. Remy and I exchange grins, turning toward his house—that sounded way too close to have been one of the neighboring driveways. Sure enough, barely a minute passes before Lawson comes into view, dark curls blown amok in the breeze. He raises a hand in greeting before turning around to help the rest get the car unloaded.

“I’ll do the welcoming party,” Remy tells me, pointing to Troy and Sam in the water. “You go keep them distracted.”

“Deal.”

The water in July is a hell of a lot warmer than it was in February, so I have no qualms about swimming out to where the others are. When I get to them, Sam is treading water as Troy freestyle swims in the opposite direction of the beach. I watch him, too, a little worried about him going that far out. The Troy who billeted with my family back when we were kids hadn’t known how to swim.

“Uhm, should he be going that far out do you think?” I ask Sam. He brushes the wet hair from his face, foot nudging mine beneath the water as we float near one another.

“He’s a strong swimmer. We sometimes go kayaking in the Atlantic and it can get pretty rough. We’ve flipped before and he’s never had a problem. Still…” He trails of, squinting into the distance. “I wish he wouldn’t gothatfar.”

Putting his thumb and pointer finger into his mouth, he gives a sharp whistle. Waiting, he watches until he sees Troy’s dark head pop up and then does it again. Seeing what he’s doing, I raise an arm out of the water and wave it, trying to give him the universal signal forcome back.

“He’s flipped around,” Sam says, and the pair of us keep our backs to the beach as we watch him approach. I glance over my shoulder a couple times, but with the sun reflecting off the water and all the windows on Remy’s house, it’s impossible to see.

Troy swims back to us without taking a break. By the time he reaches us, I’m impressed.

“You’re a good swimmer,” I tell him. Much better than me. I’m not super comfortable even being this far out, and today is a pretty mild day as far as waves.

“Thanks. I like it, it’s a good workout.”

“Could you stay closer to shore, though, if you’re going to swim out here?” Sam asks nervously. “We don’t know the water here. There could be rip currents. Or sharks. Jellyfish.”

“Or all of the above,” I put in.

“Sure,” Troy says immediately, swimming closer to Sam. “Sorry.”

I chance another look toward shore, squinting and trying to ascertain whether they’ve got the car unloaded yet. I can’t see any motion, so I’m guessing they’re all inside.

“Want to head back?” I ask, and am grateful when they both immediately agree. The waves are getting stronger and more frequent, so by the time we wash up on the beach, we’re all a little bedraggled and out of breath.

“Yeah,pleasedon’t swim out that far ever,” Sam gasps, carding his fingers through Troy’s wet hair.

“I won’t. Sorry,” Troy says again.

“It’s okay, just…please don’t. Also, let’s make another rule: no swimming in the ocean without supervision.”

I smile to myself, bending over to hide my face under the pretense of grabbing a towel. There’s something satisfying about knowing I’m not the only one who wants their partner to stay a little closer to land. Unlike mine, however, something tells me Troy will listen to Sam’s request. Glancing up at the house, I lock eyes with Remy who’s leaning on the porch railing watching us. I give him a little wave and he returns it before turning around and calling out to the others.

The volume gets Sam’s attention. He turns and looks toward the house just as Corwin and Nigel join Remy on the patio. I watch as his eyes pop wide in surprise before a smile stretches across his face.

“Surprise,” I say, catching Troy’s attention. He looks at me, then at Sam, before finally turning toward the house. Having just joined the others—and with an arm flung over Nico’s shoulders—Lawson calls out.

“Thought we might crash your vacation.”

If I thought Sam looked happy to see them, it’s nothing compared to the literal sun that shines out of Troy’s face. Abandoning his towel, he jogs toward the stairs. Lawson catches him at the top before anyone else has the chance,pulling him into the kind of hug that suggests it’s been years not days since they’ve seen one another.

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