Page 12 of College Boy

“Well,” he hemmed, the waves pulling his flesh against her own even as she struggled not to press right back. “I promised you a spring break do-over and, unfortunately, that lasts a whole week, so there’s a slight flaw in your reasoning, however mature and grownup it might sound in your own head.”

Emma struggled not to look relieved by his enthusiastic reply. “All the more reason to lay down a few ground rules before the week begins, don’t you think?”

“No, actually.”

“You don’t?”

“Stick with me here,” he teased, face a mask of leering mirth and youthful energy. “Springbreakis about ‘breaking’ rules, silly. Classwork’s done, finals are over, the bills are paid, so it’s actually a rule-free environment. Sorry.”

She shook her head. “Foiled again,” she blurted before she could help herself.But did she want to?she thought.Help herself, that is?

After all, he was so pretty, smooth and sexy and vibrant in the sun, his long, lean body lurking just beneath the surface, smooth young flesh rasping deliciously against her own as the waves pulled them apart only to slide them back against one another again.

“Yeah,” he murmured confidently, as if the bracing sun and cool water had helped him regain his superpowers, gradually morphing from a dweeby Clark Kent to one very sexy Superman. “Sorry about that.”

“No, you’re not!”

“You’re right, Emma, I’m so not sorry and you shouldn’t be, either.” He sighed, winked and dipped beneath the surface, wriggling from side to side and emerging to stand above her, dripping and wet, his feathery brown curls wet and clinging to his pretty young face. She lingered there beneath the surface, glad to be on her knees in the gently lolling surf, peering up the length of him to find him smiling almost triumphantly back down at her. “Listen, I know I’m coming off kind of strong so far, but I felt something last night, between you and I. I thought, for a moment or two there, you did too.”

He paused, as if waiting for an answer. She didn’t give him one. At least, not beyond a slight, almost imperceptible nod, as if to tell him he wasn’t entirely off track. He smiled almost triumphantly and glanced away, waving his long, sinewy arms, saltwater dripping from each gently defined muscle as he indicated the ocean, the beach and the entirety of Flamingo Shores. “So, I mean, what’s the big deal? You show me the beach, maybe some hot spots around town, I help you relive the spring break you never had and ... no harm, no foul if nothing happens, okay?”

“You mean that?” she croaked, nearly silenced by the prospect of spending an entire week in the company of a sleek young sex god, no strings attached, nothing weighing them down once their brief time together had come to an end. “I mean, not to flatter myself but, if nothing happens—between us I mean—you’re going to be good with that?”

“I’ll be,” he insisted, glancing down his gleaming wet torso to admire the unmistakable heft of his package, floating like a horned up display rack atop the gently bobbing waves. He paused, as if to note the way she ogled him, openly, hungrily ... helplessly. Then he teased, “this guy? Not so sure about him, Em.”

“Gross,” she murmured, struggling not to stare even as her face blushed to hear him use his first term of endearment.And,she silently hoped.Not his last.

He splashed her playfully before turning to flee, boyish and gleaming as he bounded through the gently crashing surf with long, effortless legs and ripe, bulging flanks. “If it’s so gross,” he teased over one broad, bare shoulder, the image of a lightning bolt tattooed there. “Why are you staring at it?”

Chapter Eight

Mitch

“I wasn’t staring at it, okay?”

Emma stood beneath the beach shower’s spray, every droplet caressing the smooth, feminine skin he’d been coveting all afternoon. Her arms were up, long fingers combing her wet hair straight as the water ran through it, drizzling down across the back tie of her micro-bikini top, the one that barely contained her pert, pointy breasts, thick nipples seeming to claw at the clingy striped top.

---