A Thousand Salt Kisses Forever (Third Book in Salt Kisses series)

Don't

I walked through my back garden and down to the jetty. In autumn months, 'sun high' was between twelve to one p.m. At this time, the sun was at his highest peak in the sky.

It was very difficult for me to get it right on a cloudy day, and sometimes I could wait on the jetty for well over an hour. Today was one of those days, and I sighed when I reached the top of the stone stairway and saw that he was nowhere to be seen. I wore my ripped jeans, and a tight, light blue shirt, in order to appear as human as possible to my neighbours.

Dad's red boat was not there today either, he had gone with Mum to a luncheon in another town, which was all very good in terms of me sneaking off to sea.

I walked slowly towards the end and sat down cross-legged looking out across the waters. My hair tickled my face in the wind, and I twisted it into one big strand and tucked it under my shirt collar. I sat there for some time lost in thought when I suddenly felt a buzzing in my back pocket. Shite, my phone!

I took it out and was about to get up and take it back to the house when I saw the text and froze. It was from my ex-boyfriend, Sam.

I frowned as I opened it. I had not heard from him in months, ever since I broke up with him in London before the summer, leaving him broken hearted.

Hey Crys, how are you? I was invited to Jemima's wedding, I just wanted to check you are ok with me coming? Hope everything's going great for you back home. Sam. X

I smiled as I was reminded how sweet and thoughtful Sam was. Jemima had mentioned she was probably going to have to invite him. And as she had invited the whole uni gang, I agreed it would be really mean to exclude him. I personally had no problem with him being there anyway. He was a lovely guy, it might actually be nice to see him again, provided he was not still cut up about us. That would be difficult.

I was about to reply when there was a splash and Llyr broke through the surface below me. I looked over and smiled down at him as the water dripped over his face.

"Hey," I said, putting my legs over the edge of the jetty and leaning forwards. He pushed himself up with his hands and kissed me. He was cold and wet but it felt good and even though I was now mer, his lips still tasted salty.

I watched him as he hauled himself upwards to sit next to me. He always mesmerized me with his good looks; big tattooed arms and handsome rugged face. His left eyebrow was kind of arched, as though he were raising it when actually he wasn't. I had always found that really sexy.

He put his arms around me and I leaned into his body, feeling immediate contentment.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm alright," I replied, feeling the water from his body soak through my t-shirt. "Perfect, actually, now you're here."

He kissed the top my head and then looked down at my hands and frowned.

"My phone," I explained, holding it up. I was sure he had seen it during that one and only time when he ventured into my house.

"Yes, I have watched you with it before, but I have not had the opportunity to ask you what you do with it," he said, watching it intensely.

I smiled. "Well, you can speak to people in faraway places using it... and you can, you know go online..." I trailed off. I had no idea how I was going to explain the internet to him when I didn't really understand it myself. "So, like, you can take photographs with it, and then put them in a place where people with other phones can see them."

Llyr looked completely lost. "Is it magic?" he asked, hesitantly.

I couldn't help but laugh. "No, it's not magic, but it's like magic, I guess. It's science more than anything."