Mouth to Mouth (Beach Kingdom 1)

He made a choked noise and stood, pressing their mouths together and they panted for heavy moments, the steam curling around them. “Shhh.” His right hand cupped the juncture of her thighs, massaging it gently with his roughened palm. “Easy, sunbeam. Easy. We can’t go there.” Her thighs tightened around his hand and they groaned into a kiss, the waves of pleasure continuing to coast over her, wracking her with tremors. “Goddammit, I’m not going to survive you,” he muttered thickly against her mouth. “I just have to make sure you survive me, okay? Help me do that.”

Finally, the shaking lessened and Olive slumped into Rory’s welcoming arms. She could feel his long erection between them, trapped by the wet material of his shorts, but every time she tried to reach for it, he caught her wrists and distracted her with kisses…until she was incapable of focusing on anything but the give and take of his tongue, the gruff sounds he made in his throat, the hands that smoothed down her hips, tracing the curve of her waist—

A door crashed open somewhere out in the locker room. Rory tensed and pulled away, visibly struggling to become alert, his breathing labored, pupils dilated. His hands shook as he covered her breasts with the bathing suit top and dragged the bottoms back up her legs. Fighting through her lethargy, Olive reached back and turned off the shower in an attempt to be useful, a veil of silence dropping around them, save their heavy breathing.

“He’s too unpredictable,” came a weary male voice from the other room. “I can’t afford him anymore.” A curse. “He’s not even answering his phone.”

A lightly accented female voice responded. “There has to be an explanation. He’s never just left the beach before, has he?”

“No, but it was only a matter of time. We’re talking about the guy who started a bar fight last summer because a customer snapped to get his attention.” the male voice answered. “Or the time he just didn’t show up at all and called me from a holding cell? I can’t make allowances anymore. If someone were to get hurt or worse while his chair is sitting vacant, I could lose the lifeguarding contract with the town.”

Olive didn’t register that the man was talking about Rory until she noticed the distance in his gaze, the hard line of his jaw. “Stay here,” he murmured, backing away from her.

Olive could only watch in silence as Rory sauntered into the locker room, still dripping from their shower. “You can stop calling me, Andrew. I’m right here.”

A beat passed. “Where the hell did you go?”

“Had to take care of something.” He propped a hand on the archway. “You don’t want to make allowances for me anymore, just say the word.”

“And you’d be fine with that.” Andrew’s voice was flat. “Just abandoning ship and leaving me and Jamie to hold everything down?”

“Just trying to give you what you want,” Rory shot back, the muscle patterns shifting on his broad back. “Look, I don’t get choices, I get marching orders. Would that work for you?”

“You think I do this by choice?” There was something written in between the lines of Andrew’s incredulity. “We both know I don’t.”

Olive couldn’t resist a step forward to peek at the newcomers. She’d barely managed to see around Rory’s elbow when she locked eyes with the woman. A gorgeous young woman with an apron tied around her waist, her long, dark hair in a braid. Her eyes widened when she saw Olive, but instead of drawing attention to her presence in the shower, the woman snagged a towel from a stack near the lockers and oh-so-casually sidestepped in Olive’s direction, holding it out. Olive took the offering with a whispered thank you, deciding they were going to be friends.

They didn’t get away with their covert mission, however.

“Is someone in there with you?” Andrew asked.

Rory blocked her more completely. “That’s my business.”

“For fuck’s sake, Rory.”

It had taken Olive a minute to regain her wits and process the conversation. Now that she’d come back down to earth, the reality of the situation was hitting home. Rory was in trouble for leaving the beach with her. Was he getting fired? She couldn’t let him lose his job because she’d kept him from it. The guilt would kill her. Not to mention, he was incredible at being a lifeguard. Hadn’t he just proven that? Who did this guy Andrew think he was?

Olive wrapped the towel around her shoulders and marched out of the shower. “Excuse me.” She lost a little steam at the sight of Andrew, who was easily the second-hottest man she’d ever witnessed up close, right behind Rory—Rory, who tried to block her from view. Olive dodged him. “This man just saved my life. He was heroic,” she sputtered. “I would have drowned if he hadn’t reached me in time. It’s my fault he left the beach. I was freezing to death and…pretty scared, okay? If you’re going to blame someone, blame me.”