6

A shower and some distance help bring me down off the cliff I'd been walking on. After spending far too much time under the hot water, Tai greets me with a smile and pretends I didn't try to bulldoze right over this increasingly blurry line.

My mind is still a mess, but I consider it a good sign when he takes my hand and guides me from our room, promising me he's found a new adventure for us.

"This is your idea of trouble?" I ask as Tai leads me along the beach to a small dock. Two kayaks are tied up at the end, and he turns and grins at me from under his hat.

Correction—from under my hat that he stole, after making fun of it for being another item in my tourist costume.

I swat the brim and knock it over his face, and he scowls when he fixes it. "Well, it could be trouble because I don't have all those muscles like you do. There's a genuine risk that I'll get too exhausted and have to let the tides take me where they please."

"If the ocean claims you, I promise I'll use these muscles to make it pay."

"What, you plan on punching it to death? Dumbass." He tries to be serious, but his lips twitch in a smile.

"Destination, captain?" I ask, putting my hand over my eyes to scan the water, since, y'know… I don't have a hat to shield me from the sun.

Tai lifts on his tiptoes and rests his chin on my shoulder as I pull in a deep breath, trying to control my reaction to his proximity. He points at a small island not too far off the shoreline. "The guy at the rental office said it's a quiet little spot over there, and that it's close enough for a beginner."

His deadpan delivery of that last part makes me grin. "You asked for beginner spots?"

"No," he says, rolling his eyes. "He took one look at my noodle arms and offered the suggestion." When I try to hide my laughter behind a cough, he only death stares me harder.

"Should've told him you had a big, strong man to come rescue you," I tease, flexing my biceps. He laughs, obediently grabbing on and squeezing.

There are certain rules in life you don't break, and touching a flexing man's muscles is one of those.

"Do I?"

I twist towards him, his face much closer than I expected. "Do you what?"

"Have a man to swoop in like a white knight if I need him?" Fuck, he's so close.

My voice is suddenly raspy as I ask, "Is that what you want?"

"Hmm," he hums, bumping my forehead with the brim of his hat and then laughing as he lifts it, pressing another kiss to my cheek that has me seeing stars. "Answering a question with a question. Interesting."

"Why's it interesting?"

"No reason," he sing-songs as he backs up, but I grab him by the waist and tug him against me. Words fail me as I stare down into those deep brown eyes, and as I swallow, his attention drops to my throat.

"Nothing snarky to say?" he finally asks.

Consumed by the urge to get closer, I fight the compulsion and instead offer him a small smile. "Not right now."

"Have I made you speechless?"

"You've made me a lot of things." The very corner of his mouth tilts up in a pleased smirk, and my hands flex against the small of his back, trying to hold on to my slipping control.

"Well," he slides his palm up my torso, "if you have nothing to say, that's a first." His hand stops over my sternum, and he holds it there, no doubt feeling the drum of my heart against it. "Are you ready?"

"I've been ready."

He smirks again. "You're trouble." His fingers tiptoe up my chest and I tilt my chin up, exposing my throat as they walk over my neck and further, stopping just under my mouth.

"If I am, it's because you made me that way," I say, kissing the very tips of his fingers before he retreats a few steps, then turns away, unable to hide his smile. Lightheaded, I push out an exhale as he walks towards the kayaks, leaving me trying to restart my heart. When my legs decide to work again, I jog after him, only to skid to another stop.

Tai faces me with a troublemaker grin, a life jacket dangling from his fingers. "Oh, hell no," I argue, holding my hands up in front of me. "There's no way that thing's going to fit on me."

"Safety first," he taunts, swinging it back and forth before tossing it at me. I catch it out of instinct and scowl at the tiny, neon blue and yellow thing. A click pulls my attention away, and I glance at Tai fastening a matching one around his narrow chest.

"You're serious?!"

"I'd rather you didn't drown, if it can be avoided."

"And if it can't?" I lift the life jacket in front of my face, trying to figure out how far it expands.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you."

He turns his back, and I hurry to sling this tiny life jacket over my shoulders. It has to be child-sized, because I'm barely able to squeeze into it, even extended to its longest length. Straps dig into my skin as I struggle to force both sides of the buckle together.

Stubborn fucking thing.

I suck in my gut, trying to make myself smaller as I battle with it, and the plastic clips meet in a fleeting touch. I put my strength into it, and finally, the two pieces fasten with a click.

A snort makes me jump, and I glance up to find Tai's face tomato red as he tries not to laugh. "Oh, fuck you!" I holler, and as I exhale, the buckle snaps. Shards of plastic shrapnel shoot through the air like a pipe bomb exploding.

Tai howls with laughter as the corpse of the ruined life jacket hangs off my body, and soon enough I've joined him. He walks on wobbly legs over to me, eyes full of tears as he grabs the broken buckle to inspect it further, and another round of giggles overtakes him.

"Here's hoping you know how to swim," he finally says, his words punctuated with his laughter.

"I do," I assure him, and he wipes his eyes, still crinkled with mirth. We climb into the kayaks, and he watches me closely as I work my lower body into mine. "I won't snap the kayak in half."

He stares at my thick legs crammed inside the plastic shell. "Are you sure about that?"

"Can't be positive," I say, and he bursts out laughing again. It takes a few minutes for us to compose ourselves, because every time I manage to calm down, he cracks up, and I can't help but join in.

We take off towards the island, paddling in silence that's only interrupted by the sloshing of the waves and the occasional chuckle that floats over from Tai. The trip only takes fifteen minutes.

Tai climbs out of his kayak in a graceful motion, light on his feet like a cat. Knee-deep in the water, he drags it into the sand before turning to look at me. Absolute joy shines in his eyes when he sees me still sitting there considering my options. "Do you need help?"

"Nope." Stubborn as always, I try to wiggle my way out of the kayak, ignoring his offer as it starts to tip. My center of gravity shifts past the point of correction, and peals of laughter are the last thing I hear before my head crashes under the water. My legs finally free themselves from the tiny kayak—which also must be child-sized, I've decided—and I emerge from the water to find Tai still laughing.

Soaked, I shake myself off like a dog as I say, "I'm glad you're enjoying my pain." Water blows off my lips, drips from my hair, and saturates every piece of clothing I wear. Tai giggles again, and when my predatory gaze meets his, his eyes widen.

He holds his hands up as he backs away, but I sprint after him. "Come here!" I shout, catching his waist and scooping him into a giant bear hug.

"No!" he screeches as he throws his head back, cackling as the water in my clothes soaks him. I set his feet on the ground, and he leaves his arms around me, hugging me as I smile into his hair.

We settle on a rocky part of the beach while we dry. "Let's play a game," Tai says, eyes closed as he tilts his face towards the sun.

"Didn't peg you as a sports guy." His smile grows as he shakes his head.

"Definitely not, but I'm a pro at party games. This one is called Double Dare. It's like truth or dare, but instead of truths, we only have dares, and anything you dare me to do, you have to do it as well."

"Alright," I say with a nod. "So, I can dare you to swim back to shore, but I have to do it too?"

"Exactly."

"And no truths?"

"You can use your dare to ask a question—to ‘dare' someone to tell you a truth… but remember, you also have to answer whatever you ask of them."

I bump his shoulder with mine, my voice gentler than I intend. "If there's something you want to know about me, you only have to ask." It doesn't escape my notice that we haven't broached the subject of ‘real life' that he forbade us from discussing the day we met.

How was that only three days ago?

"What's the fun in that?" He bumps me back. "You going first, or am I?"

"Oh, most definitely me. I dare you to tell me the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you."

"Ouch, right out of the gate!" He puts his hand over his heart and grins. "Alright, I don't even have to think about this one. When I was in my early twenties, I had a crush on this guy who was a DJ at a local club. Now, I was more of a partier back then, but I still wasn't wild or anything, you know? I was out of my element in the middle of a rave, but I was determined to get this guy's attention."

He grins as he looks out into the water, shaking his head with a chuckle. "I squeezed my ass into the tightest pair of leather pants I could find. Those things were so snug that I almost needed to slather butter on my legs to slide them on. I'm not even sure what my game plan was, honestly. Show him I had a dick by wearing pants tight enough to see it?"

My core tightens as my cock gives a little wake up stretch, suddenly very interested in the picture he's painting. For the second time today, I try to be discrete as I shift.

"I drank too much," he continues, "and I wanted to dance. So here I am, even skinnier back then, if you can imagine that. Leather pants that were so tight, I could barely even bend my knees. I work my way to the stage and catch his eye, throw him a cocky smirk, and turn around to shake my ass. That's when I heard it."

"Heard what?" I ask, my grin spreading with his.

"The loudest rip in the world… you could hear it over the music. Those pants split straight up the back, and, as I've mentioned a few times now, they were tight… too tight to wear underwear."

"No," I whisper, embarrassed for him.

"Oh yeah. There I was, bent over dancing with my asshole on full display to this guy. Then I tried to play it off and fucking winked at him like a creep."

"You winked at him?" I shout, holding my stomach as I wheeze a laugh.

"Flashed my asshole at him and winked ! Who does that?" His head tosses back in a shrieking laugh that has my sides splitting along with him.

Still giggling, he leans over and rests his forehead on my shoulder. "The look he gave me was horrified , and I just… bolted. Ran through that club with my bare ass hanging out, called a cab, then rode home with my naked butt on some stranger's seat."

Our laughter is unfiltered out here alone, Tai doubling over and clutching his stomach as he wipes away tears of joy. Giant grins are on both our faces as we collect ourselves again.

"Alright, your turn," he says, and I groan.

"Okay, okay… I was at a football game a few years back with friends, and I… well. I ate a few chili dogs at halftime. Bad idea number one." Tai chokes on a laugh as he nods, because everyone knows that was a poor choice. "We're nearing the end of the third quarter, and it's bad , man. Cramping and so fucking uncomfortable, and I decided that I was going to wait until the right time and… relieve some pressure."

Tai's already snickering, and I nudge him with my elbow. "You can't laugh yet! I'm not done!"

"Sorry," he says, trying to keep a straight face, "I'll try to contain myself. Continue."

"Okay, so I'm plotting and planning while my bowels throw a goddamned party, right? And then it happens—my opportunity. The ball is in motion, the path clear for a touchdown. This was it ." Another choked laugh comes from Tai, and I can't help my own that sneaks loose. "He scores, and everyone jumps up and cheers, and it's my fucking chance. It was like trumpets from heaven as I let it go. So much relief, until I turn and see that the lady beside me didn't stand."

Tai's hand flies over his open mouth. "You didn't."

"I did," I groan, and he bursts out in a fit of gasping giggles again. "Right in her face, man. Right in it. And I'm staring at her, praying to everything that is holy in the world that she's going to pretend it never happened."

"Let me guess, she didn't?"

"Oh no, I'm not that lucky. The cheers are dying as she shrieks, ‘You just gave me pink eye, you asshole!' Swear to God, every head in our section turned to look at me. My buddies never let me live that down. They called me Pink Eye for years afterwards."

Tai falls against me as we both laugh, and I wrap my arms around him, hugging him and soaking in the warmth of his skin against mine. When's the last time I touched someone so casually, just because I liked the feel of them under my hands?

It should scare me more than it does.

We spend a couple of hours on the island, alternating between laying in the sun, cooling off in the water, and daring each other to do stupid shit like juggling seashells and trying to catch fish with our hands. Somehow, I actually managed to grab a small fish and spent a few minutes chasing Tai with it before we throw it back to sea.

As I squeeze myself into the kayak to head back to the resort, I realize it's the best day I've had in a long, long time.