I closed my eyes, waiting for the rejection I knew was coming. I slid my cock from between her legs, feeling our arousal dripping from her body. I braced myself for it. I braced for the walls that would come shooting up between us again. I formulated yet another plan of attack, not allowing myself to succumb to her stubbornness.
But instead of rejection, what I got was hope.
“I can’t promise you anything,” Sam said. “But, I’ll try.”
“You’ll try?”
I cupped her face in my hands and held her gaze steadily with mine.
“I’ll try,” she said in a whisper.
“That’s all I’m asking,” I said, smiling. “That’s all I could ever ask of you.”
Chapter 12
Sam
A DAY ON THE BEACH was just what the two of us needed. But the bathing suits I had to choose from were skimpy, to say the least. They were essentially pieces of fabric strung together with string. The bikinis Derek had stuffed in my closet were beautiful, but they were revealing. There was nothing to them, and no matter which one I tried on, I could not get myself covered as much as I wanted to be.
“Seriously?” I asked. “This is all I’ve got to try on?”
“What’s wrong with them?” Derek asked.
“Because some of the tops barely cover my nipples. My ass hangs out of all of them.”
“Not my fault you’re hot.”
“And people can see my scars.”
“You mean that badass skin that proves you’re stronger than anyone on this damn island? Why would you want to cover those up? Plus, this little stretch of the beach is private. Just for us, so no one will see you in that but me.”
“I still don’t like it,” I said.
“You could always swim naked,” he said with a grin.
“You’d like that a little too much.”
“I’d love you in anything.”
I blushed underneath his words before I grabbed a towel. I wrapped the towel around my body, slipped into some flip-flops, and then took Derek's hand so he could lead me to the beach. He was right. The beach was private. Only for us to enjoy. No one could see us, no one could get to us, and I felt the stress of our day yesterday beginning to leave my body. All of the walls I had thrown up during our argument on the porch had come crashing down, and the beautiful words he had spoken to me in the bathroom came flooding back to my mind.
And all because I was simply in his presence.
We dropped our towels to the sand and slipped out of our shoes before we went running into the ocean. My hand was tightly held in Derek's, and we laughed as the waves crashed against our bodies. I could see the whole bottom of the ocean, all the sand and the life and the fish that swam around our ankles. The water was crystal clear and unlike anything I had ever seen before. How in the world could I have come to such a beautiful place and missed out on things like this? How in the world could I have denied myself these simpli
stic pleasures after some of the darkest nights I’d ever experienced?
I had no idea why I had done that to myself, but I was glad Derek was opening my eyes to it.
We bobbed around in the water, his arms tightly wrapped around me. I slid my legs around his hips and held him around his neck. I ignored the dull ache still throbbing my arm, favoring the feel of him over the feeling of pain shooting into my shoulder. Our foreheads connected as the wave started to pick up a bit, carrying us farther and farther out into the ocean.
Everything about this was beautiful and serene. There wasn't one threat I could perceive nor were there any walls between Derek and me. My grip held tightly onto him as I closed my eyes, allowing the waves to rock us along their natural rhythm. The movement was soothing and simple. I felt myself becoming one with the very earth I’d cursed throughout the duration of my career.
Then I unhooked my body from his and started splashing him.
“Oh, you won’t win that fight,” Derek said.
“Try me,” I said. “Just try to win something like this.”