She shrieked out a laugh as she sprawled across his chest.
Sand and water scraped the hell out of his ass as he tried to sit up. “Nice.”
“I’m sorry.” She tried to stop laughing, he’d give her that. But she inched up his body and put her face in his neck, her shoulders shaking with repressed laughter. “I’m not laughing at you.”
Deacon gave up and flattened on his back. If anyone came by, they were just going to have to look away. Man, he had sand in places he just didn’t want to think about.
She hovered over him and flipped her soaked hair out of her face. “What is it with us and rain and mud?”
“It’s going to follow us around obviously.”
“Well, we are in Texas.”
He lifted his head, looking down at them then back at her face. “The grass hurt less though.”
“Aww, poor baby.” She slid off of him, wincing. “Wow, that was a lot of tequila last night.”
“Ya think?”
She stood up and all thoughts of tequila left him. She was a pink hued bronze from the sun yesterday. Sand and a few tiny shells stuck to her belly and along the side of her breast. Her hair was a tangle from the sea spray and rain, but that smile.
Damn.
She pointed at him. “No. Get that thought out of your head.”
He propped himself up on his forearms. “What thought?”
Harper glanced down at his unmistakable hard-on. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“You kinda look like the mermaid from the bar last night.”
“You’re a very sick man. I look more like a hungover college student.”
He rolled to his side and rose to his knees. “Okay, I can work with that. I’ve never been a frat guy, but we can play frat boy and sorority girl, if you want. I prefer the helpless mermaid though.”
She snickered. “Helpless?”
“Thankful?”
Harper’s head fell back with a delighted laugh. She pushed her hair out of her face. “Seriously, though.”
“Oh, I’m serious.” He leaned forward on his knuckles and got one foot under him. “This big, bad fisherman is going to do unspeakable things to you.”
“Deacon.” Her voice was full of warning. She glanced at the door then back at him, her gaze tripping over his body, especially his cock, making him even harder. Christ, he missed playing with her. It was so rare to get this side of her lately. He wanted more of it. And would definitely make sure he didn’t let them fall back into a rut.
“You’re not going to beat me to that door, Lawless.”
The tip of her tongue came out at the corner of her mouth and he really had no choice. He shot up, snatching her off her feet before she could move a muscle.
She wiggled in his arms. “Deacon,” she shouted and dissolved into giggles as he hauled her into the cottage. “Our stuff.”
“Later.” He tucked her under his arm, heading for the bathroom.
“You can’t manhandle me like a caveman. I’m an independent woman.”
He simply looked down at her with a raised brow. “Now I’m a caveman?” And when she broke off in another fit, he laughed with her. “I need to shower off my mermaid and turn her back into a real girl.”
“God, you’re such an ass.”
He set her down and opened the wide glass door to the ceiling to floor shower that made up half of the bathroom. He turned on the water and hit the dial on the full body shower heads that sprayed from each wall.
Dragging her inside, he stood them both under the wide rain style hood in the center, sunk his fingers in her hair, and leaned down to her mouth. With water pouring around them, he kissed her, swallowing her laughter with a healthy amount of sand and salt. When her fingers came around his wrists like they always did, he simply sank into her. Steam, Harper, sweat, and a few aches created a hazy bubble of just them.
He lifted her onto the bench, flipping a few of the wall mounted sprayers to hit them. With the height of the bench, she actually could look him in the eye. She slid her hands into his hair and linked them around his neck. The kiss was wet and slow. He let himself steep in her taste. Long, open-mouthed kisses easy with familiarity and a slow build toward the peace he found only with Harper.
Deacon banded his arms around her back, pulling her flush to his chest. She gasped, and he felt the sandy grit between them. He reached back for the soap, but she stole it from him, soaping up her hands with the simple bar before tucking it behind her on the shelf. She soothed her sudsy hands over his chest, washing away the debris from their trip onto the ground. She lightly scratched her nails through his chest hair and over his pecs, then down to his belly.