“Eric, how long have you liked me?”

I was horrified by the question—did I seriously just ask him that? Am I twelve? Should I ask him if he has cooties while I’m at it?—but now that it was out there, I looked up at Eric, curious what his answer would be.

If he was surprised by the question, he didn’t let on. He just shrugged casually. “Oh, I don’t know. I mean—I kind of just acted on impulse yesterday when I asked you out.”

“Impulse?” I repeated, wondering what that might mean.

He smiled. “But I’m really glad I did, because you’re the prettiest girl here by a mile. And you want to be here with me. That’s something, isn’t it?”

He looked so genuine when he asked the question that I blushed, then nodded.

“Yeah,” I admitted.

He glanced toward the ocean. “Hey, you want to get in the water for a bit?”

I nodded. It was early, so I knew it was going to be chilly. I’d felt it for myself the other day when I’d waded in after my run. But I didn’t care. Eric had asked me, so I was going to say yes.

Besides that, it was tradition. You were supposed to get your hair wet at the cookout—that was the “Summer is Coming” part of the celebration.

“Let’s go,” Eric said, grabbing my hand and leading me toward the water.

We stopped right before we reached the crashing waves, and he pulled his shirt over his head, then dropped it on the sand.

I tried not to stare at his bare, toned chest and got to work kicking off my sandals and pulling off my sundress—the yellow one Jonah had picked out for me.

When I dropped my dress on the beach, Eric turned to me, and I watched as his eyes scanned down, taking in the tiny white bikini.

When he met my eyes again, his smile was wide and appreciative. “Shall we?” he asked, holding out his hand to me.

I grabbed it, and we ran toward the water. When we reached the edge, he let go of my hand and sprinted in, ducking under as a wave crested and crashed.

Laughing, I followed, trying to ignore the shocking chill of the water. It made me breathless, so I struggled to take a deep breath before diving into the next wave.

I could feel the wave rolling over the top of me, and when the water was calm over my head, I came up for a gasp of air.

Holy shit! The water was so cold.

“You okay?” Eric called to me, swimming over.

“It’s freezing!” I squealed, half laughing.

He laughed too, and when he reached me, he caught me up and pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me.

“So, is this a little more private?” he asked, his voice barely audible over the crash of the waves.

I looked into his green eyes, then up toward the beach. We were the only ones in the water, and though the beach was crowded with people, no one seemed to be looking our way.

So I nodded. “Yeah, it’s private enough.”

He leaned in and kissed me. This felt more intense than the quick kisses he’d given me before, and when his tongue pressed against my lips, I was surprised, but glad to open my mouth to him. His tongue slid along mine as his hand drifted down below the water to squeeze my ass.

That, combined with the cold of the water, was making me feel light-headed and dizzy, so I pulled back, smiling sheepishly.

“It’s freezing in here,” I said, and it wasn’t just an excuse. My teeth were chattering, and I was starting to shake with the cold. “I’m way too cold. I need to get out.”
“Yeah, okay,” Eric agreed. Still holding my hand, he walked me out of the water and back onto shore.

In the park above us, the cookout celebration was in full swing. More people had shown up, and the band that had just been setting up when I walked had started to play. It was just a bunch of older guys from the VA, but they loved playing at the town celebrations, and they started into a quick tempo version of “Sweet Caroline,” one of their standards. They had a limited repertoire, and Jonah and I always like to bet on how many times they would play “American Pie.” I’d won three years ago with a guess of a startling seven times.

My parents had brought our beach towels, but they were still in the car somewhere, so I was just considering wrapping myself in my sundress when Eric handed me a bright green beach towel.

“Here you go,” he said with a smile.

“Thanks,” I said, accepting the towel and wrapping it gratefully around my shoulders.

I was just drying out my hair when he walked over and—stepping behind me—wrapped us both in his towel. His bare chest was against my back, and it felt cold from the water, but firm, too.

My heart beat fast—I’d never been this close to a boy before. It was overwhelming, and wonderful, and…

Oh my god. I felt Eric stiffen against my leg.

Holy shit.

I looked quickly around to confirm what I already knew—he was getting hard, and we were surrounded by people.