“I’m going to go flirt with the lifeguard again. Come get me when it’s time for food.” Harlow waves and skips in the direction of the lifeguard stand.
I kick off my sandals and walk toward the ocean, relaxing whenthe waves crest over my feet. I shuffle out until the water reaches my chest then turn onto my back, floating while I stare up at the sky.
The waves gently lap at my shoulders and I blow out a breath as a patch of clouds cover the sun. A noise catches my attention and I turn my chin, glad to see Sebastian standing nearby and smiling down at me.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hi.” I stretch my arms out at my sides then bring them down, making an ocean angel. “Having fun?”
“More fun now. I’m admiring the view.”
“Like what you see?”
“Fucking love what I see.”
Sebastian bit his fist and had to look away when I shrugged off my oversize T-shirt earlier and revealed the navy-blue bathing suit I’m wearing.
He’s making up for lost time now, moving my way and filling the distance between us. When he’s close, his thumb brushes along the string of my bikini. It’s a reminder he could take off the piece of fabric off with a single tug if he wanted to, but he’s choosing to torture himself instead.
I’m torturing myself when I stare at the salt water running down his chest. The drops cling to the hollow of his throat, the lines of his pecs. The pink on his shoulders from a couple hours in the sun somehow makes his body look more divine, and I feel my heart stuck somewhere in my throat when he scrubs a hand over his face and smiles my way.
“You’re quiet,” he says, breaking the silence. “Everything okay?”
“I’m thinking up an insult to lob your way.”
“Anything good coming to mind?”
“Not yet, but the day is young.”
“You’ll think of something.” He slips his thumb under the strap of my bathing suit and presses into the muscles at the top of myspine. A soft moan works its way free from my chest. “You always do,” he adds, his voice a husk of a rasp.
“Do you think it’s eerie?”
“What? The space-time continuum? The possibility of alternate realities?” Sebastian moves closer, hand fully resting on my neck. “You’re going to have to be more specific, Pres.”
“We’re here, living our lives. Having a good time and enjoying a nice day. Somewhere in this very ocean, a storm with the potential to hurt a lot of people is becoming stronger by the minute.” I lower my feet to the ocean floor, my toes digging into the sand. “It’s hard to balance the two sometimes. To enjoy the good things without realizing how privileged we are to have the resources we do.”
“The juxtaposition is hard. You’re excited for the opportunity to see something historic, but in the same breath, you’re worried about how Georgianna is going to impact communities.”
“Do you miss New York?” I find myself asking, and his answer is a low hum.
“Some days I miss parts of New York. You can get a pizza at three in the morning. I go for a run at ten p.m. and I’m not the only one in the park. It’s busy and chaotic, but I thrive on that.” Sebastian waves to our friends on the shore. “It’s not the worst place in the world.”
“What’s the weather like? Nicer than here?”
“You’ve never been?”
“No. Am I missing out?”
“Maybe. Nicer is a subjective word,” he says.
“How so?” I ask.
“Fall is better. The leaves change. There’s this crispness in the air you can’t find here. And snow isn’t all that bad. Other than that, it’s not special. It doesn’t have you, for starters.”
“What?” I laugh and splash a small wave at him. “What do I have to do with weather in New York?”
“A lot of things.”
