“No, but if neither of us is a fan of them, do we have to stay?” There was a flash of vulnerability in her eyes.
I shook my head. “Nope. There’s a whole beach stretching out on either side of us. Want to go for a walk?” Without waiting for an answer, I stood up and held on to her hand as I helped her to her feet.
The smile she gave me was the only confirmation I needed that I’d made the right call. We talked about her studies and my career without once venturing anywhere near the topic of her father.
Eventually, we found a quiet place to sit. Sounds of the party drifted on the breeze, but we couldn’t even really see it anymore. A pier reached into the calm waters beside us, and we sat down on one of the concrete blocks anchoring it.
Sofia was so close to me she was almost in my lap, but our seat was too narrow to spread out more. I couldn’t say I minded it.
“Do you ever feel like you changed without even realizing it?” she asked after a minute of just staring out at the dark water.
The moon was almost full, and there were some yellow lights mounted on top of the pier but no other light or noise around here. This was much more my speed, and I found myself relaxing more than I had in weeks.
“Sure, but I also feel like change is necessary,” I replied. “We can’t stay the same people we used to be. Some things will never change, but most will.”
“You think?” She laid her head down on my shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world, and my arm folded around her shoulders to keep her there. “Like what?”
I took in a deep whiff of the night air. “Smell that? The saltiness of the sea, the faint fishiness around the pier?”
She followed suit, then nodded against my skin.
“That smell will always remind me of home,” I said. “So will watching the swells of the waves at night and the moon reflecting off the water.”
“Who knew you were such a romantic at heart?” she teased, but it was gentle.
I shoved her playfully with my shoulder, but the movement was so slight she didn’t even move her head. “It’s not romantic. It’s just something that will always remind me of home. No matter where I am in the world or where I go, it will always remind me of where I came from.”
“You’re wise in your old age.”
I snorted. “After witnessing that scene back there, I’m not even going to argue about being old. God, I felt positively geriatric.”
“There’s nothing wrong with getting older and not liking crowded, drunken parties anymore, right?”
“Right.” I rested my head on top of hers. “Plus, I think we’ve both lived a little more than our years might suggest. How old were you when you started cooking your own food, for example?”
She shrugged in what I assumed was agreement, pausing before she replied. “Too young. After everything you’ve probably seen, you must think I’m ridiculous for caring about not liking parties anymore.”
“You’re a lot of things, Sofia Cantor, but ridiculous isn’t one of them.” I pulled my head away, sliding a finger under her chin to angle her head up toward me. “You’re changing. That’s all.”
“It doesn’t seem quite so scary when you put it like that.” She smiled before straightening up to press her lips against mine.
The kiss was nothing but a brush of her lips against mine at first, but then we both surged forward at the same time, and it became something different entirely. Just like it had the first time we kissed, the air seemed to electrify around us and we suddenly couldn’t get enough of each other.
My cock turned to steel as her hands roamed and explored my body, sliding underneath my shirt before moving up to my chest. Kissing under the stars on a quiet beach after the kind of conversation we’d just had might have been as romantic as she’d thought my comment about home had been.
I guessed it had started out that way.
It wasn’t that now, though. Our teeth clashed as we fought for dominance, and her fingernails scraped against my skin. What had begun as an innocent kiss wasn’t going to end that way if I had anything to say about it.
Sofia seemed to be on the same page because the next thing I knew, she’d wrenched out of my grip and was tugging on my hand. “Let’s go under the pier. There might not be anyone around now, but we don’t want to risk putting ourselves on display for whoever might come past.”
I wouldn’t have had much of a problem with that, but I followed her anyway. Winding my arms around her from the back, I kept lavishing her neck and shoulders with kisses. “Tonight is your night, baby. But I think here will do just fine.”
Before I could say another word, Sofia spun around in my arms, leaned up, and kissed me again. Harder this time.
I slid my tongue against her lips, and she let me in as she reached her hands up to tug on my hair. A low groan escaped me as I walked us back until we hit the first pillar of the pier.
I trapped her body against the concrete with mine, kissing her hungrily. When I felt her hands moving away from me, I drew back enough to see what she was doing.
She grinned wickedly as she shimmied against me, then reached down and produced a bright yellow thong. “I think here will do just fine, too. Hang onto those for me. I don’t want them getting all sandy.”
“You also won’t be getting them back,” I growled as I plucked them out from between her fingers and stuffed them into my back pocket.
When I lowered my mouth to hers again, I was done waiting. Fuck being seen, fuck getting back to either of our places,
