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The moon was in a mood. She shined her full light on the water, and it seemed to Adina that nothing had ever been so beautiful, so clear: the night-gray sand, the sound of her friends’ laughter coming from down the beach, the warm press of water against her naked body, and Duff, so near, so right. She liked him. She really, really liked him. He was gorgeous and funny with a sexy British accent and a killer smile and she didn’t care if it was like something out of a bad romance novel. How could she stop this undertow from pulling her out to sea? There had to be a flaw. A catch. There always was.
“Hey,” she said suddenly. “Do you like Feast for the Fishermen?”
Duff made a face. “The emo band? Sorry. Listening to them’s like being beaten with an eleven-year-old’s diary. I’d rather take out my own liver with a dull butter knife.”
And Adina knew she was in trouble.
Duff McAvoy’s lips were incredibly soft, and he smelled faintly of the earth and salt air.
“Is this okay?” he asked, nodding to indicate his room. The ship’s cabin was close and the bunk wasn’t the most comfortable, but it beat a pallet of palm fronds in the sand.
“Yeah.”
“Hold on.” He reached over her head and fiddled with something.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing. Alarm clock that goes off sometimes. Just turning it off.”
Adina could hear the waves as they gently rocked the boat. She had a brief recollection of a bumper sticker she’d seen once — If this van is a-rockin’, don’t come a-knockin’— and it made her giggle.
“What?” Duff asked.
“Nothing,” she said and circled his tongue with hers.
His hands were ship-calloused but warm against her br**sts beneath her shirt.
“Adina,” he moaned. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you have an absolutely bangin’ bod.”
“No offense taken,” she whispered, and kissed him again. He pressed his body against hers. They’d been dry-humping for a while, and Adina felt nearly bruised by it, but she also didn’t want to stop.
“Shirt?” Duff whispered between kisses. His fingers waited on the threshold of her hem.
“Shirt,” Adina said.
He peeled it off and stopped to admire her bareness. Adina felt suddenly shy and sexy at the same time. Her body and mind were at war. It was almost reaching tilt status. If this was what surrender felt like, she kind of liked it.
Duff’s thumbs played at the waistband of her underpants. “Pants?”
“Pants,” Adina echoed and kissed his neck.
Duff started the process and Adina finished it by kicking them off with her feet. He slipped a hand between her legs, eliciting a gasp.
She’d never been so nervous, so unhinged with excitement. He moved his hand against her again, and she buried her face against his neck. She could feel the hardness of him against her leg. They pushed against each other in small, rhythmic gyrations that were driving her wild.
“God, Adina.” He gripped her shoulders. He rested his forehead on hers. His eyes were closed in some sort of agony-ecstasy. “I really want you. Can I?”
Goose bumps of yes danced down her arms. Adina hesitated. “Condom?”
Duff went still. “Damn.” He flopped onto his back to catch his breath. Then he turned to her again, tracing a pattern down her sternum with his finger. “I promise I’ll pull out in time.”
He’d felt so good pressed against her that she hadn’t wanted to stop. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe just this once? No. She’d volunteered at Planned Parenthood one summer. She knew about birth control. She knew it only took once. God, what was happening to her brain?
“Sorry,” she said, pressing her palms against his chest. “Safety first. No glove, no love.”
He flopped onto his back again and went quiet. Adina felt a pang of worry that she should’ve said yes. She’d always been in control with guys. But Duff was no Matt Jacobs who hung on her every word. That’s the kind of guy you can lose if you’re not careful, her mother had said once about somebody else’s boyfriend, and Adina had growled in disgust and left the table. Yet that thought worked its way into her brain now. She could close a curtain on it, but the thought remained on the other side.
“Duff?” she asked. Her heartbeat thrummed in her ears. “Could you please talk to me?”
