A little while later, Lolli joins us, so we make our way to the small cove where a large group has formed.
“Okay, Ari,” Lolli begins, dropping back on her board to sunbathe. She cups her hand over her eyes to shade them from the sun and looks to me with a smirk. “Share the dirty deets. There’s a reason that Abercrombie model of yours keeps glancing this way and it’s not the same reason Mason and Nate are.”
I grin, glancing over my shoulder, and sure enough, he’s staring, but they all are at this point, each pushing their boards into the water, so who knows. “He has been a little more—”
“Frisky? Touchy? Noticeably horny?” she fires off, making the three of us laugh.
“Something like that.” I chuckle. “I don’t really know what to think of it. On one hand, he’s just Chase being Chase, and on the other he’s…” I lift my shoulders, unsure of how to explain it.
I try not to read too much into things, but it’s getting harder and harder not to wonder what if.
Lolli nods, facing the sun with her eyes closed. “I say you grab his junk underwater and see what happens. Bet he pokes you with it.”
Cam and I laugh, mimicking Lolli’s position on the board, but it’s not long before the others join, and we’re all playing around in the ocean.
Brady and I race from the flatland to the cove, Mason, of course, paddled out to the middle point ahead of us, and hovers there just in case I get a cramp.
Got to love him.
The boys play a game of paddle board dodgeball with a group of guys and we sit back to cheer them on.
Brady is last man standing, so when Chase knocks Mason’s leg with his hand, and the two slowly begin to climb to their feet, Cam quickly pulls her phone up from around her neck—waterproof sleeves are a must when you live ocean life.
Brady faces the crowd, gloating in the way only Brady can, and the boys throw their bodies at him, tackling him into the water.
“You sons of bitches!” He laughs, as he goes down, and then takes turns catching each in a headlock, swiftly dunking them under.
Prepared for what always comes next, we ready for them, quickly covering our faces as we’re flipped into the water and tossed from one to the next like hot potatoes.
Lolli shrieks when Nate does the same to her, and then she’s shoving us. “Thanks for the warning, assholes!” She laughs. “Handsome, you’re so not getting any tonight!”
“Baby, I’m sorry!” Nate grins, grabs her face and lays one on her, effectively changing her mind.
“All right, we ready to hit the sand, eat and toss a couple back?” Brady grips his board, pulling himself up into a sitting position.
“Yeah, I’m starved.” I move toward my board but lay across it longways to use my feet rather than paddle to get me back.
Everyone agrees and it’s back toward the shore we go.
Brady pulls out a few beers, pouring them into Solo cups, so the beach patrol has no reason to come over and question us. They know what’s up, but it’s a ‘no harm, no foul’ kind of thing.
Once our hands are dry enough to wipe the sand away, we head over to the barbeque station set up and grab some Tri-Tip sandwiches.
The sun falls behind a wall fog, not long later, and the firepits are put to use, so while the others dance around to the music, refilling their cups for the third time, I move toward the flame.
It’s not exactly cold, but there’s a light chill in the air and my hair is still wet, so I wrap it in my palms and hold it away from my skin, spinning so the heat warms my back.
“Smore?”
I glance to the side to find a blond guy, his hair tied back in a tight man bun and a grin on his lips.
“Yeah, actually.” I turn, lifting my hair fall and step up beside him.
He hands me a stick and I poke it into the bag of marshmallows. “Thanks.”
His smile deepens. “No problem. I’d offer you a hot dog to roast, but I ate the last one already.”
I chuckle. “You roasted a hot dog right here?”
He holds his finger to his lips. “Don’t tell, technically this fire belongs to the food truck, and I don’t think they’d be cool with me grilling my own and not buying theirs.”
Glancing around, I nod and hold my marshmallow over the flame. “I think they’re doing just fine without your sale.”
“It is a pretty good turnout, huh?”
I blow the fire out over my stick and he squeezes it between two graham crackers, right over a slab of chocolate and hands it to me.