Page 73 of Bookworm and the Beast
But by the time I was knee deep, I still hadn’t acclimated.
I was about to make my excuses and go back to shore when a sizable wave started rolling in. When it hit, I was going to getall the waywet in a hurry. I turned and started running awkwardly through the surf, screaming.
“Get me out, Jack, get me out.”
Suddenly I lost my footing. Then I realized I wasn’t falling but being lifted. Jack had swept my legs from beneath me and now had me securely locked against his body in a cradle hold.
“Gotcha.”
He smiled down at me as the incoming wave hit his back and rushed harmlessly around his legs. How was he so warm? Everywhere our skin touched it felt like an inferno.
“My hero,” I joked.
But the smile left my face as I stared up into those mesmerizing blue eyes and recognized the hungry expression. In this position our faces were nearly even. I couldn’t keep my eyes from dropping to his mouth. Lips had never looked so delicious, so tempting, so—
I couldn’t see his lips anymore, but I could feel them.
Yassssssss.Jack Bestia’s kiss was literally better than breathing.
Which I wasn’t doing a whole lot of at the moment.His lips were soft and hot, and God, thewayhe used them.
He was so skillful, so completely sexy, he took me from freezing-my-ass off to how-fast-can-I-get-his-trunks-off?
Pressed against his bare skin like this, the feelings coursing through my body were almost overwhelming, like a monster wave I couldn’t escape—and was happy to drown in.
My arms went around Jack’s neck, clinging to him. It was a good thing I was already off my feet because my whole body felt weak, and my heart thumped so hard I might have passed out if I were standing.
The sounds of laughter and conversation broke the spell and our mouth-to-mouth contact. I looked around, blinking against the bright sun and feeling like I was in a daze. A group of high school-aged kids had set up a blanket not far from our things and were tossing a frisbee around.
Really?The entire stretch of sandy shoreline was available, but they’d picked a spot right next to us.
“Whoooo! Get a room,” one of the boys called out, and the others in the group laughed like a pack of hyenas.
Jack gently lowered me until my feet touched the ground. Somehow, we were no longer in the water but on dry sand.
Stepping back a few inches, he smiled down into my eyes. His chest rose and fell in a rapid rhythm.
“I’d love to do that all day, but it seems we have an audience. Besides, I’m a little out of shape.”
My eyes roamed over his fit chest and muscled arms and shoulders. “I wouldn’t say that atall.”
Jack grinned. “No, I work out every day. I was talking about the kissing. It’s… been a long time. Honestly, my knees feel a little wobbly.” He sobered. “I haven’t been with anyone since Claudia.”
“Me either.”
I made his knees wobble?I blinked and shook my head. “I mean, it’s been a long time for me, too.” A pause. “I don’t think you’ve lost a step or anything—meaning—you are very good—thatwas very good… kissing. Your kisses are always really good. You’re a good kisser—excellent, actually.”
His grin widened, and he laughed. “Did you know you babble when you’re nervous?”
I rolled my eyes, chagrined. “I’m aware.”
Jack grabbed our picnic basket and the duffle bag, and we walked farther down the beach to a semi-secluded spot tucked between two sand dunes.
Pulling a red beach blanket from the bag, he spread it on the sand and invited me to have a seat. Then he stretched out on the blanket himself, dragging the picnic basket closer.
“I’m starved,” he said. “You?”
Still rattled from the kiss and now focused on the sight of his lean, powerful body drying in the sun, I giggled involuntarily.
