More Than Possess You

I have to hide in the water until I get control of my embarrassingly unruly cock.

Then a crashing wave sneaks up behind her and knocks her over. Quickly, I swim over to help her up. “You okay, shortcake?”

Echo nods, teeth chattering as she crosses her arms over her chest, making her breasts nearly bulge from her top. “Just a little colder than I thought. The sun will warm me up. I’m going to lay out.”

“I’ll come with you.” Maybe I can close my eyes and pretend she’s wearing one of her usual sacks with granny flowers.

As we trek up the beach, I catch sight of a couple eating sandwiches, and my stomach starts to rumble.

“Mind telling me where you found those?” I ask as we pass.

Unfortunately, the guy points up beyond the pool closest to the hotel, and I can just make out a tiki-style stand the resort set up for hungry guests. “It’s good, but the line is long. Be prepared.”

Even though we should be an hour or two past the lunch rush, he’s right. “Thanks.”

“Go ahead,” Echo says as soon as we reach our chaises.

I don’t want to leave her here alone, so I scan the beach for Xavian. No sign of him.

“It’ll wait.”

She frowns. “Don’t be silly. You’re hungry. I’ll just chill on my lounger and catch some sun. I’ll be here when you get back.”

My stomach rumbles again. “You sure?”

“Totally.” She settles onto her back and closes her eyes, seemingly unaware of the water drops caressing her as they make love to her golden skin.

My mouth goes dry.

“Want anything?”

“Bottle of water.”

“Sure. I’ll be back.” But I can’t find the will to leave. I gape. I can’t keep my fucking stare off her.

I’m getting hard again. And if she opens her eyes, there’s no way she won’t see that.

Stop being a lech.

She cracks an eye open. “Something wrong?”

“Nope. I’m, um…making sure I’ve got my room key.”

And now you’re a liar, too?

With a sigh, I look around for Xavian one more time. He’s nowhere. I sigh.

The hike up to the stand takes forever. Darting around playing kids and resort employees delivering drinks poolside isn’t easy. And like the thirty-something guy on the beach warned, the line is long. Thankfully, it moves. And fifteen minutes later, I have a turkey on wheat with swiss and spinach, along with a bag of chips and two bottles of water.

Juggling the food, I trudge back to the beach. As soon as I hit the sand, I glance toward my bestie. But I can’t see her anymore. She’s been swallowed up by a wall of testosterone.

Are you fucking kidding me?

At least a half dozen guys crowd around Echo, all gawking and drooling, trying to chat her up.

Xavian wasn’t lying when he said he couldn’t leave her alone on the beach.

Wearing that bikini, what did you expect?

“C’mon, baby. What’s your name?” calls one.

Another curls his hand along the side of the lounger, hovering too close. “How long are you here?”

A guy eye-fucking her creeps in. “Did you come with anyone?”

That’s my cue.

“She came with me. Get lost.” I wedge in between a hulk who’s the size of a pro football player and a dude who’s got the surfer-bro thing down, complete with a long-bang flip.

Echo sits up as I lower myself to the chaise beside hers. “Here’s your water…sweetheart.”

She flashes her dimple at me as she takes the bottle from my hand. “Thanks…babe.”

With a chorus of groans and grumbles, her horde of boy-toy wannabes wander away.

“Holy shit,” I mutter once we’re alone. “I wasn’t gone twenty minutes.”

With a shrug, she perches a pair of round, wire-rimmed sunglasses on her nose and stares at me over the top. “About thirty seconds after you left they started coming over. Xavian shooed them away once. I don’t know what they want.”

Can she seriously put on that bikini, look in a mirror, and still say that with a straight face?

Maybe she doesn’t understand. Has she been wearing her baggy-saggies and flown under the radar of every guy on campus—me included—for so long that she doesn’t realize how sexy she is? It’s a shock to me, so maybe it’s even a shock to her.

“They want you.”

She frowns. “Not sure why, but whatever. So what did you get?”

“Turkey and swiss.” I take a bite, and we talk about dinner, the honeymoon couple a few loungers down who are getting awfully serious with their PDA for a semi-public beach, and the sublime Hawaiian weather.

After I’m done eating, I spray on some sunscreen Echo brought in her oversize beach bag, then ease back to my chaise. At least since I’ve returned, the dudes have backed off from my bestie. But I still see them staring. I wish they would fuck off.

But they won’t. Neither will Xavian; he’s made that clear. And Echo seems determined to lose her virginity this week. Hell, if I hadn’t intervened, she would have already spent a night in X’s bed…and probably regretted it. She didn’t ask me to save her from herself, but shouldn’t a good friend do that?