I open the door, and walk confidently to the shore and strike a pose. Bryan freezes before bending down and whispering something to Pip who looks at me and then dives under the water and rockets off to the other side of the beach.
“What did you tell him?” I ask, bemused at his antics.
“I told him he should give us a moment.” Bryan’s looking at me like I’m the last meal he’ll ever have and he is starving.
“Oh, only a moment, eh? Do you think that’s all it takes?” I tease Bryan, gesturing down to my outfit. I want so many moments.
He prowls out of the water and doesn’t stop until he’s standing before me, dripping with water and masculinity.
Heat floods through me and the way he’s looking at me is really, really working for me. When he reaches for me, I melt a little bit. He traces my jaw line with his finger and I forget how to breathe.
“You look beautiful, Ronnie,” he whispers to me. I can’t tear my gaze away from him anymore.
“Thanks for the bathing suit,” I whisper back. I want him to kiss me. I haven’t tasted him yet and I am aching to. I’ve had moments with Trevor and Earl already, and technically I’ve felt Darren up. Bryan is the one I’ve had the least interaction with. But he doesn’t make his move. He leans in and presses a soft kiss to my forehead and then grabs my hand and pulls me towards the surf.
Hand and hand, we wade out until we are waist deep in the water. We just stand there. Bryan looks like he’s meditating. It’s cold. The California coast often is. But standing with Bryan warms me from the inside out.
I just lean into him. It’s the kind of companionable silence that comes from years of being together, but I don’t even know his last name.
“What’s your full name” I blurt anxiously.
Bryan looks down on me, his finger stroking my cheek.
“Bryan Emilio Del Mar. What’s yours?”
Del Mar. Like the ocean. Fitting. “Mine is boring. Veronica Marie Meryn.”
“Your name means ‘of the sea’,” he says with a twinge of awe in his voice. He leans in and I start to tingle in anticipation. This chemistry thing really is the definition of explosive. Shooting sparks are literally flying up my legs as he leans in. With his lips just a centimeter away, the burning starts.
What. The. Hell.
That is not anticipation or lust.
Nope.
That stings.
That stings real bad.
I screech bloody murder directly into his face.
To his credit, he doesn’t punch me or shove me into the water or any number of reactions that would have absolutely happened if the roles were reversed. No. He takes it in stride and starts scanning the area for the source of the danger.
“Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Fucking Ouch. Ow. Ow. Water. In the water.” I gasp, hopping back and forth on one leg in the surf.
The little seal pup swims over with a worried look on his cute little fuzzball face. He dives in and around my legs.
I hop backwards, hoping that I can shake off whatever creature is attacking me but the pain continues and I trip over a rock, landing hard just as a wave crashes over me.
The ocean is trying to kill me.
Something tugs the back of my bathing suit and pulls me back towards the shore and I feel like a beached whale being pushed ashore by the tide. I don’t have to look behind me to know that it’s Bryan and that he shifted. I just...know. The amount of pain in my legs is excruciating.
Looking down, I can see the angry red marks from a jellyfish wrapped around my calf. A very loud bark from over my left shoulder stops me from reaching down to unwind the stinger. Instead, he lumbers over to me, pressing his head against mine, his whiskers tickling my chin.
Slowly, he moves his head towards the stinger and then waves it back at me.
Don’t touch it. Got it.
I’m crying and my muscles are cramping. He barks several times in quick succession and then shifts, suddenly hovering over me in all his naked glory.
My brain blanks out at me. Probably because I am suddenly eye level with his dick. Again. They are actually going to kill me with this constant nudity. Has anyone ever died from Blue Ovaries? Maybe I’ll be the first.
“Oh, Ronnie,” he whispers, his voice tight with worry, “I am so, so sorry. We’ll get this taken care of. I promise. The guys are on their way.”
“Please, don’t let anyone pee on me...” I clutch his leg and stare up at him.
His lips twitch, but he nods instead of laughing. “No one will pee on you, honey. I promise.”
I’m shaking from the cold and the pain and he looks worried. Sitting down behind me, he pulls me up into his lap and wraps his arms around me in a bear hug. Even naked and wet, he’s still generating an insane amount of warmth and I snuggle in, eager for the comfort.
Footsteps and shouting come down the steps and soon we are surrounded by the entire Club in various states of undress.
Darren looks down at the sting and winces before shouting orders out to Chuck and Trevor who are carrying a blanket and a first aid kit.
Earl looks wild-eyed and suspiciously wet. He still has soap bubbles in his beard and I wonder if he came straight from the shower. He keeps sending murderous looks towards Bryan which I don’t think is necessarily fair.
“She got hurt on your watch,” Earl growls menacingly, hovering like a malevolent spectre over the entire proceeding.
Bryan growls something unintelligible back. Trevor and Darren both freeze and raise their eyes to stare at Earl and I can feel the situation deteriorating.
“Uh, guys. I know how much you enjoy whipping out the dicks and measuring them and all that. And frankly, I enjoy it too. But... my leg is on fire. It’s
