Page 72 of The Dom with a Safeword

“Let’s walk.”

She looked down at their hands then swept her gaze over the beach. It was empty. “Okay.” Two girls holding hands wasn’t a dead giveaway like it used to be. Lots of platonic friends did that nowadays.

“So what happened with your client?” Q asked as they strolled down the beach. “Is this the author who wanted a book cover?”

“Yes. She kept going on and on about wanting a masculine font. What the fuck is a masculine font?”

Q laughed and swung their hands between them. She liked this – walking on the beach, holding hands. It seemed so very…normal.

“I gave her several versions with different fonts I thought were masculine. But then she said they were too thin. She wanted something thick, but not cartoony. All thick fonts are cartoony!” She growled. “I could have thrown a book at her head.”

“But you didn’t. You were calm and professional.”

“Yes, though it almost killed me.”

“You’re so dramatic.” Q chuckled then looked behind them. “Jude’s back. Come on.”

“In a sec.” She dropped Q’s hand and looked out at the white crests dotting along the water. “Go spend a minute alone with Jude. He missed you.”

Q gave her a small smile. “He missed you too.”

“I had him all to myself before you showed up.”

She nodded. “Okay. Don’t be long.” Then she walked to help Jude set up the blanket.

Sabrina stayed by the water, dipping her feet into the small pools, searching for hermit crabs like she had as a child. There was something peaceful about spending the afternoon here at the beach. Even though she was hiding them from her family, having Q and Jude in her favorite childhood spot just felt…right. Like they did belong despite logic steering them away.

A piece of green, rubbery seaweed wrapped around her ankle. She untangled it and a nefarious plan came to mind. With an evil smirk she turned around, looking for Jude. He was up by the blanket, his back facing her. Perfect.

She crept up behind him quietly, keeping the long, slippery seaweed behind her back. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Q watching her. She put her fingers to her lips in a silent gesture. Q didn’t shout any warnings so Sabrina guessed she was in on it.

At the last few feet, she sprinted, grabbed the back of his shorts and pulled. She stuffed the seaweed down his pants then backed way up, almost falling down in a fit of laughter.

He grabbed his ass and spun around. The look on his face was priceless. Equal parts shock, anger, and disgust. It took him a minute to reach down and find the seaweed, grimacing the whole time.

Her stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Even Q chuckled. Finally, after throwing the seaweed on the ground, Jude looked at her. His eyes narrowed.

Oh shit. Now was the time to run. She spun on her heel and got about four steps before she felt her body lifted into the air. Jude scooped her up in his arms and jogged toward the open water.

She clung to his neck when he padded into the waves, not slowing down even for a second. “No!” she screamed, trying to climb up him, away from the rising water. “No! I’m sorry. I’ll be good.”

Jude was undeterred. He went farther in – the waves hit the bottom of his shorts. Finally he stopped then made like he was going to toss her in.

She held him tighter. How could he even breathe with her arms wrapped so tight around his neck? “No, Jude! Please!”

Just when she thought he was going to drop her, Q came to her rescue. “Don’t do it, Jude. She’ll be all sticky and salty and totally unlickable.”

That gave him pause. “Are you going to behave?” he asked her.

“Yes! Yes. I promise I’ll behave.”

He sighed and adjusted his hold before walking back to the shore. When they reached Q, he let her down and walked toward the blanket. “Come on, brats. Let’s sit and relax.”

Q looked at Sabrina and shook her head. “Sometimes I don’t know which of us is worse.”

She laughed. “Me neither.”

Jude was already sitting, legs stretched out in front of him, when they reached the blanket. Q sat down on one side of him. Sabrina bent to take the other side, but before she could make it all the way down, an arm wrapped around her waist and toppled her over. She shouted as she fell onto Jude’s lap, stomach down, ass in the air.