Page 35 of Fast Fury

She was so caught up in staring at him that she forgot to be self-conscious of him seeing her until he said, “You planning to snorkel in the cover up?”

Her gaze jerked to his, that old, familiar anxiety tingling in her gut once again. “Um, no.” She fought the urge to fidget, her muscles suddenly tight as cables. “I thought maybe we’d wait until…” Until it was dark enough that he wouldn’t be able to see every imperfection on her body highlighted by the bright, unforgiving sun.

He shook his head at her, eyes brimming with amusement. “You got sunscreen on?”

“Oh.” Turning, she dug out the can from her bag.

Kai took it from her with a heavy sigh that was full of disappointment. “You mainlanders.” He tossed it back in her bag, caught her hand before she could protest and pulled her out of the tent into the shade. “That stuff’s toxic as hell to our coral and marine life, and gives our sea turtles cancer. You don’t want to give our sacredhonucancer, do you?”

“No, of course not, but—”

“I brought some other stuff, just in case. Gotta make sure we protect that pretty fair skin from this sun, or it’ll burn you to a crisp in no time.” Bending, he spread out a towel on the sand and straightened, the sheer authority of him as he stood in front of her making her stomach do a little flip. God, that was sexy. “Take off the cover up and lie face down.”

Abby squirmed inside. Having him see her thighs and butt up close and personal right off the bat?

He raised a dark eyebrow. “You’re not getting shy with me, are you, shortcake?”

Yep. But she wasn’t going to let her insecurity ruin this. That was Old Abby BS. Old Abby would have stayed in her cover up in the shade the entire time. New Abby was confident, knew who she was and what she wanted. Didn’t give a shit what other people thought about her body.

New Abby also wanted Kai. So he could just deal with a bit of cellulite, stretch marks and a few jiggly spots.

Drawing her New Abby armor around her, she pulled off the cover up and went straight to the towel, lying flat on her stomach, thankful that at least in this position she didn’t have to look at his face.

Her entire body buzzed with awareness as he knelt beside her in the sand. A cap popped open, and she jumped slightly when his large hands touched between her shoulder blades.

“Cold?” he murmured.

“A little,” she said, fighting the urge to tense as his hands began to smooth the sunblock over her skin.

“It’ll warm up fast.”

She was already hot and on her way to overheating, and all he’d done was touch her back. She bit the inside of her cheek as he worked his way across her shoulders and down the length of her spine, his touch firm and slow and so damn erotic she was throbbing and wet by the time he reached the small of her back. He smoothed the lotion over her skin like she was the most precious thing in the universe to him, being careful to cover every inch of her.

Abby couldn’t help but flinch when he shifted lower and flipped up the skirt of her bikini bottoms. Her muscles went rigid, her heart hammering as her mind flashed back to that horrific field trip at the end of ninth grade when she’d come out of the changing room wearing her new red bathing suit to find the rest of the class watching her. She’d been so excited about the trip, about wearing her new suit.

She’d also been carrying an extra twenty pounds back then, resulting in a few rolls. Which was why she’d agonized over selecting a new swimsuit, one that would make her feel confident about how she looked, and maybe get her noticed by the boy she had a crush on.

Instead of a fun day at the pool with her friends that she’d been looking forward to for weeks, it turned out to be her nightmare. The boys in her class had been mean little shits, making snide comments that cut deeper than knives because the teacher hadn’t come out of the changing room yet. Including the boy she’d had a crush on.

Quick, get a harpoon, there’s a beached whale on deck!

Must be jelly ‘cause jam don’t shake like that!

Kai’s hands stilled, squeezing the backs of her thighs. “Hey. Relax.” He shook her legs gently.

With effort, Abby exhaled and forced her muscles to loosen, shoving those memories back into the box she’d put them in. Some part of her would always feel like that awkward, overweight and self-conscious teenager.

“That’s better,” Kai murmured, and resumed the motion of his hands.

Now that she’d consciously surrendered that most vulnerable part of herself to him, it felt like a weight lifted from her. He wasn’t making snide comments, didn’t appear disgusted by what he saw, just kept going with those smooth, firm yet gentle strokes over her most hated body parts. And with every glide of his palms and fingers, something loosened inside her. Healed.

Closing her eyes against the sudden sting there, she swallowed back the lump clogging her throat and gave into his touch, grateful that he was unaware of her thoughts.

By the time he’d finished with her calves she was a human puddle laid out on the towel, utterly relaxed. Safe.

And aroused as all hell.

“Okay, turn over.”

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