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Noah browses a rack of swimwear. I join him and find a little black brief that is cut so low that it leaves nothing to the imagination. Pulling it out, I dangle it in front of him.
‘You like?’
Noah turns bright red. ‘Jesus, no. Buy regular swimmers, please. We can’t haveanotheroutfit incident.’
I put the briefs back onto the rack. ‘Fine.’
‘Just pick a pair you like and try them on,’ he insists, clearly flustered.
There’s not a lot to choose from so I grab a pair of navy shorts with a retro purple-and-white palm print on them. Noah nods his head in approval.
‘Looks good. Let’s go.’
I’m about to go into the change room when I seethem. Frankly, I don’t know how I missed them. It’s not like one can just walk past hot-pink swimming briefs without picking them off the rack. They’re practicallyalluring. Checking they’ve got my size, I sneak them into the dressing-room while Noah tries on a pair of sunglasses. Clearly, the comment about his current pair being ‘bitchy’ got to him.
I try on the hot-pink briefs first. I’d grabbed them for a laugh but as I pull them on, I’m surprised at how good I look. They hug my arse and look great against my dark skin. Discarding the navy shorts, I pull my clothes back on. Noah’s going to have a heart attack when he sees me in these, and it’s going to be delightful.
Before he realises my plan, I make a beeline to the counter and pay.
‘No,’ Noah hisses when he sees the pink swimmers folded up on the cash register. ‘Gabriel,no.’
‘You won’t say that when you see them on me.’
His face is flushed red, and he keeps giving the retail girl apologetic little looks, though it’s clear she’s as amused by the situation as I am. He’s embarrassed, I realise with a thrill. Finally, I’ve crawled under his skin just as he’s managed to crawl under mine.
‘Have a nice day,’ I tell the shop assistant.
‘You too,’ she says with a grin.
As soon as we’re out of the surf shop, Noah pushes my shoulder. I catch his wrist and pull him towards me.
‘I cannot believe you just did that,’ he huffs as he tries to evade my embrace. ‘Boughtthose.’
‘I think I look incredible in them,’ I say. ‘You will see.’
We make our way over to the public toilets and get changed. They’re old but well-maintained and clean. I pull on my new swimmers and parade out of the cubicle.
Noah rolls his eyes. ‘They’re garish,’ he says. ‘But they do look nice on you.’ His eyes roam over me again, and I feel a shiver run up my spine. I like the way he looks at my body. I like knowing hewantsme.
I kiss him, rough and quick. He’s warm and tastes like coffee. I pull away and Noah’s mouth twitches as his brain processes the action. Before he has a chance to complain, I grab his hand and tug him towards the beach. ‘Come on. I want to go swimming.’
The beach is a long, vast strip of white. The sky is cloudless and the most brilliant blue I’ve ever seen. Someone calls behind us as we make our way down the beach, and I turn just in time to see a border collie bolt past us, nearly knocking us over, its sights set on the water. When it finally reaches the surf, it leaps in. Its owner apologises profusely as she rushes after it.
We trudge up the beach, our feet sinking into the loose sand, and find a quiet spot away from the crowd and enthusiastic dogs to settle our bags and towels.
Noah rummages through his beach bag and pulls out a tube of sunscreen. ‘Come here, I’ll do your back.’
I sit down on the towel and try not to flinch when Noah rubs cold sunscreen between my shoulder blades. He works the lotion down my back, his hands moving in sweeping circles. When he’s done, he tips my jaw back and kisses me, Spiderman-style.
‘Do me next?’ he asks against my mouth, except then he kisses me again, and I kiss him back, and the sunscreen bottle is forgotten.
We don’t go into the water right away, too caught up in each other to bother with the surf. Noah’s mouth opens against mine and I feel his tongue brush against my lips. Burying my fingers in his hair, I kiss him back harder. He’s so good at this. I feel like I’m a bad kisser, unskilled and unrefined in my technique and far too enthusiastic.
He pulls me closer as his mouth moves against mine, and it feels like I’m drowning. I love the feeling of his body, how he takes charge, how he holds me to him like he never wants to let me go.
Noah breaks the kiss and rests his forehead against mine. ‘Should we go in, then?’
To be honest, I’d be happy to spend the rest of the morning curled up on our towels and hidden away in our own little corner of this beach, but we did drive all this way to swim. Noah slaps on a layer of sunscreen and then we walk towards the water.
