Page 36 of The Last Sunrise

My knees nearly buckle under me, and he laughs lightly, clearly feeling my body react. This cat-and-mouse game isaddicting as sin and frustrating as hell. Even the warmth of his breath against my ear makes me shiver despite the sun soaking into my skin.

“You’re driving me crazy,” I admit, my breath coming out in short pants.

The tip of his index finger touches my necklace, trailing down the rising and falling of my dripping chest, all the way down to my bare stomach, circling my belly button. I suck in a breath. The floor beneath me feels more than unstable as his fingertip brushes up against the seam of my bathing suit bottoms, going just a touch under them.My god.

“I know. And I quite enjoy it,” he finally replies, and I can barely remember what he’s replying to.

All I can see, hear, and feel is my body aching for him, the wetness and throbbing under my bottoms. He gently pulls away, kissing my cheek, and taps his finger on the tip of my nose. He anchors the boat and I look around. The sea is so vast, yet around us is nearly empty. A couple small boats freckled across the horizon, all different shapes and sizes, but not close enough to make out the people on them.

“Patience. It’s a virtue,” he tells me, his tongue sliding over his top lip as he steps back and tosses a net over the side of the boat. It disappears beneath the steady waves.

As my body and hormones cool down, Julián shows off his fishing abilities by catching, scaling, and deboning fish. I try not to be squeamish as he works. The muscles in his shoulders flex as he does his thing. I’m impressed and in awe of how natural he is and can tell this is totally his element. We talk about how he spent more time in a boat on the sea than on land as a child,teen, and now adult. He tells me how his grandfather started this family business and how many times they’ve struggled to evolve and keep up with the ever-changing modern world.

He sails us out to what he tells me is one of the few areas that haven’t been polluted beyond repair now because of all the resorts being built. On his phone, he shows me photos of before and after the tourists started flocking here in throngs and tells me how passionately he feels about keeping their ocean clean, their people employed. He asks me about my dancing, how I learned to move the way I did at the lounge. I tell him the fast version, the nondramatic, not lying to him, but choosing to avoid the end of the saga.

“There’s so much to know about you. I could talk to you for hours, days, months,” he says as he rinses his hands off over the side of the boat.

“Well, we only have one summer, so you’ll have to pack it all in,” I remind him, and myself, of our limited time together. I hate that I keep doing that, but it’s better for both of us to not get too caught up in this.As if it’s so simple.I mentally roll my eyes at myself for how annoying I can be.

“Don’t remind me,” he says, and begins to clean up.

He, of course, refuses to allow me to help, telling me to put more sunscreen on and giving me more water in the reusable cup. Despite his harsh persona, he’s someone who’s used to taking care of people and enjoys it; I can tell by his every move.

A honking noise startles me, and I look over, hoping to god it’s not my mom, but instead it’s a man on a small fishing boat, waving at us. His hair is shoulder-length and dark, his build is solid, and he’s… Julián’s dad. I can tell even from a distance.

“Pare!” He waves back with a smile.

Am I about to meet his father? Like this? Soaked and awkward… I run my fingers through my tangled hair, looking for clothes to put on over my bathing suit.

“Estic en una cita, vés a casa. O en qualsevol altre lloc, però vés!” he yells to his dad, and I keep awkwardly waving my hand and smiling, unsure what to do. A bellowing laugh reaches our boat from his, and he waves once more before turning his boat around and heading the opposite way.

“Was that your dad?”

“Yep. In the flesh.”

I widen my eyes. “Why did he leave? Should I have said hi?”

Julián laughs. “I told him to go away. He’s fine. You can meet him later. We’re on a date, remember?”

I look up at him with a teasing skepticism. “A date, are we? You practically kidnapped me and now you’ve sent the only other human in our vicinity away?”

He grins, his entire face full of a dazzling, otherworldly smile. “Exactly.”

“You’re crazy,” I tell him as we both settle back into our seats.

“Yeah, so I’ve been told,” he says, a little bit of sarcasm mixed with something else in his tone.

“I should have asked you before, but you eat seafood, right?” he asks a few moments later, his hands busy laying slices of fish onto a metal platter.

“I…” I sort of want to lie, but what’s the point? He’ll be able to tell the moment I pop it into my mouth.

“No, actually. But I want to try it. All of it.”

His sparkling eyes widen in surprise. “I thought all rich American girls loved sushi.”

I shake my head. “I thought sushi was the roll things? Either way, never had it.”

“Technically this is sashimi, but I’m just surprised you haven’t had it. I heard in the States they charge tons of money for this.” He waves at the growing platter.

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