Page 60 of Forbid It

“He’s got great aim,” Cassie says, gently patting my shoulder. I almost want to roll around a bit more like I sometimes do on the pitch after a harsh challenge for a penalty, anything to get her to keep touching me.

“The best,” I grunt.

When I can finally catch my breath and tell Sammy I’ll be there in five, Cassie is still staring at Ffion and Iwan. “I think you could go and help.”

Cassie turns to me, shy for once.

I hold up a hand. “You’re the pro.”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not a pro.”

“A pro boogie boarder, sure.”

She bites her lip.

“Come on, why else did you buy that bikini if you didn’t want to wear it?”

Her head spins to me so fast, her braid almost hits her face. I feel heat in my cheeks so I clear my throat. “Go and help my niece.”

I don’t look at her until she stands and all I can see is her long tanned legs and the green nail polish on each of her perfect toes. I’m so focussed on her legs that I barely notice the dress when it drops onto my towel next to me.

She’s standing above me, her neon bikini clinging to her trim hips, the strings on either side so close to my mouth that I could open them with my teeth. My eyes follow up her torso, to the faint abs from all her time on her board, and up to the perfect breasts hidden behind a scrap of fabric. Her nipples are pebbled and hard, and all I want to do is pull the neckline down and bare her to me.

By the time I reach her face, she’s already staring down at me.

Fuck.

“Are you going in, flower?” my mother asks, bursting the moment like a bucket of cold sea water.

Cassie rips her gaze from me, and I quickly grab the material of her dress, yanking it over my groin and my steadily growing erection. Fuck my life. I can not get a boner on the family beach day.

“I’m bracing for the cold,” Cassie tells my mum with a smile, the moment forgotten.

Cassie pulls her hat further down her head and turns to the water without a backwards glance. I keep my eyes firmly on my own towel to avoid watching her walk away. I only saw the front of her, heaven help me if I see her from behind and the ass I already know is perfect.

I cannot let this happen. I’m just here to help her get away from her life for a few days. She does not need me pouncing on her. She doesn’t want it anyway. She hasn’t even mentioned wanting me in that way since the surfing lesson. She’s just my friend who’s a global superstar and the only child of the owner of my team.

There is absolutely no way that anything remotely sexual could happen.

Even if it’s the only thing I can think about when she’s near. Even if my body is aching for her from the second I wake up until the second I fall asleep, and then she lingers in my dreams too.

Sammy runs up beside me, and I let him haul me to my feet with a dramatic huff that he returns with a smile full of teeth. After hours of technical drills, repeating the same thing over and over, Sammy is finally able to keep the ball balanced on his foot too.

By the time the sun is starting to lower in the sky, Cassie and Ffion finally emerge from the sea. Ffion’s hair is plastered to her pink wetsuit and her cheeks are rosy, her boogie board thrown to the sand at her parents feet, and her stories of how she managed to ride a wave burst from her mouth in an excited babble.

“Did you see me? Did you see? I went so fast!”

I keep my attention on my niece, but I can’t help my eyes from wandering to Cassie.

Water glistens off her tanned skin and the end of her braid is dark from the water. I grab her dress from where she left it draped across the towel and cross to her. I want her to wear it, to cover up so I can stop my eyes from drinking her in, like I’ve been desperate to all day.

“Thanks,” she says softly as she takes it from my hands, glancing down. She slips it over her head, and I don’t move. The material traps her braid and without thinking, I reach underneath the neckline and scoop it out, gently resting it across her chest. The backs of my fingers graze her breast, damp from the wet bikini underneath.

I gently let her hair go when all I want to do is curl it around my fist and tug her towards me, capture the lip that she’s biting with her teeth until her green eyes flutter shut.

“Have you been in the water today?” she blurts out, her fingers playing with her braid.

“No,” I say, my voice hoarse.