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Zann cradled Lydia against her as she pressed forward again. “Never,” she exhaled, the promise a gentle breeze against Lydia’s lips.
“Eyyy,” Kit drawled, smirking and pointedly glancing at the large diver’s watch on her wrist as Lydia allowed Zann to help her up onto the stern deck of the thirty-foot catamaran Alder had rented for the day to ferry them out to Anacapa Island. “Glad you could make it.”
Lydia resisted the urge to blush. Truthfully, they very nearly hadn’t made it down to the dock in time, but it was hard to be bothered by their near tardiness when her lips were still tingling from the way Zann had stopped her on the porch of their cottage and gently pressed her back against the door to claim her lips with a desperate, “Please let me have one last kiss before we go.”
Never mind the fact that, once they’d finally forced themselves out of bed, they’d lingered far too long in the shower, still too wrapped up in the emotions of the morning to truly start the day. She shivered as she remembered the way Zann’s hands had slid heavily up her arms to pin her wrists against the wall over her head, and her stomach fluttered with a ripple of remembered pleasure at everything that followed.
Zann’s fingers pressing so wonderfully deep inside her.
Zann’s breath falling in ragged pants against her ear as she fucked her slowly beneath the hot, beating spray.
Shit, it was a goddamn miracle they even made it down here at all.
“That good, huh?” Kit teased.
“Oh, fuck off,” Lydia muttered, giving Kit’s shoulder a playful shove as she and Zann slipped past her to grab a couple of seats in the cabin. “We’ve still got five minutes.”
Kit cackled. “More like two. But who’s counting?”
“You, clearly,” Zann retorted as she dropped casually onto a banquette bench.
Lydia smiled at Zann’s sass as she allowed herself to be pulled down onto the seat beside her. If it were any other morning, she’d probably be freaking out at having cut it so close, but she didn’t have it in herself to care today. “Don’t act like we weren’t literally three minutes behind you,” she pointed out as she rested a hand on Zann’s thigh. “We followed you and Shannon down here.”
“And you two were looking pretty cozy.” Zann smirked. “Is there something you’d like to share with the class, Hawthorne?”
Kit’s eyes shot toward where Shannon was chatting with Bonnie and Alder. “Fuck off.”
Lydia arched a brow as Zann sniggered at Kit’s response. It wasn’t like Kit to be shy.
She rubbed Zann’s thigh as she tried to get a better read on what was going on with Kit, and she bit her lip when she spotted the shadow of a bruise peeking past the collar of Kit’s shirt. Oh. There it is. “Kit…” She pointed at her neck. “Is that a hickey?”
“I didn’t do it,” Michael said as he all but flung himself into the booth beside Zann.
“It’s a good one, though,” Jack chimed in as he toppled in next to Michael.
They all laughed at the way Kit blushed and muttered a half-assed, “Fuck you, Jack,” and then laughed harder when Michael threw his arms in the air triumphantly as he told Jack, “You owe me fifty bucks. I told you it’d be before the wedding.”
Kit gaped at him. “You were betting on that?”
Michael rolled his eyes. “Fucking duh.”
Lydia arched a brow. The fact that the guys were betting on when Kit would hook up with Shannon wasn’t really a surprise, but the fact that they’d kept it to themselves was. Stuff like that was normally the kind of thing they tried to get as many people in on as possible. She leaned past Zann to regard Jack and Michael with a stern glare. “Why weren’t we included in the bet?”
Michael blinked at her like she was stupid. “Um, because you two were too wrapped up in speed-running the lesbian experience?”
“Damn, Mikey,” Zann muttered, shaking her head in feigned offense while Jack and Kit positively hooted with laughter.
Lydia pursed her lips against the grin she could feel threatening and flipped him off. “Rude.”
He winked at her and blew her a kiss. “Am I wrong?” he asked, and then laughed when Lydia just responded by showing him her other middle finger.
“You all sound way more awake than I was expecting since I didn’t see any of you at breakfast,” Aspen declared as she joined the group. She looped a playful headlock around Kit’s neck and pulled her into her side. “Should I be worried?”
“Nope,” Kit said as she ducked out of Aspen’s hold.
“Hey, guys. I’m Charlie, the captain of the Sandbar.” A smiling blonde in a navy blue Helly Hansen jacket and khakis hovered at the doorway to the cabin and surveyed their group. “My husband, Gino, who you all met on the dock, is finishing loading the coolers of food from the restaurant for your picnic lunch, and we’ll be heading out once he’s done. He’ll be in and out while we’re crossing to check on you guys and help with whatever you need, but feel free to help yourselves to any of the drinks and snacks in the galley while we’re underway.” She tipped her head toward where Eve, Bonnie, Shannon, and Alder were gathered. “The wind is steady today, and the ocean is pretty calm, so it should be an easy crossing. The forecast is fantastic, so you’ll have great weather to explore the island. Do you have any questions before we shove?”
When everyone shook their head, she beamed at them all. “Great. Then I’ll leave you to enjoy the ride.” She touched two fingers to her forehead in a little salute before, with a crisp nod, she turned and left.
