It's Just Casual

Chapter 29

I watched as Luke and Henry built forts and sandcastles in the sand. They weren't allowed to get too far into the water and they obeyed perfectly fine. Clearly, they were aware of the dangers the ocean could bring if they went too deep.

Regina was tanning beside me. It was the first time since last night that it was just the two of us and I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to say anything about the discussion. We'd both pretended all day nothing had happened, and it wasn't even that big of a deal, but it still nagged at me.

Though when I averted my eyes back to our sons, I realized it was not worth mentioning it. Regina had asked me to let it go and so I should.

I stretched my legs and looked at my sand-covered feet. The sun felt hot on my skin, so the thought of water cooling me off both appealed and appalled me. I didn't want to get wet, but it was almost getting too warm on the beach.

"Are you going for a swim?" I asked Regina, who seemed to be half dozing off with her eyes closed. It was a good thing she'd turned her back to the sun, because otherwise her bikini would have been far too distracting. I'd half expected her to wear a modest bathing suit, but that was on me for forgetting Regina's incredibly sexy, seductive side.

"I'm not much of a swimmer," Regina replied softly. She opened her eyes, put on her sunglasses and leaned on her elbows. "And I'm quite enjoying the sun."

I smiled at her and lay down on my side. I wanted to look her in the eyes, but all I could see was myself in the reflection of her sunglasses. "I could've guessed. You looked like you were dozing off."

"Don't worry, I wasn't," Regina said and inhaled deeply. "I don't sleep in public." I didn't want to continue on this topic, because I couldn't shake the feeling that this had something to do with the sleeping pills. "If you want to go for a swim, you should. I can understand wanting to cool off."

"You don't want to come with me?" I asked and tucked a strand of hair behind her face. We barely touched each other, as we didn't want Henry and Luke to get suspicious, and last night after we'd had our discussion in the bathroom, Regina hadn't spoken to me and we'd fallen asleep without saying anything, let alone touching one another.

Regina laughed softly and took off her sunglasses. "Someone has to stay here with our stuff and keep an eye on Luke and Henry," she said and glanced at the children. They were perfectly content in the sand.

"We can keep an eye on them and our stuff from within the water. You can't book a vacation at the beach and not enjoy swimming, Regina. That makes no sense."

"I'm not holding you back, Swan," she said with a smirk, but I could see she was warming up to the idea of joining me in the ocean. "I'm already dreading applying sunscreen again."

"I'll help you, that's no problem at all," I softly replied, earning me a chuckle from Regina. Helping each other put on the sunscreen was the closest we'd come to sex in weeks and though Regina had been the one to put it off, I could tell she was missing that physical intimacy as well.

She more often "accidentally" brushed her hand against mine and this morning, when I asked her to hand over the milk, her fingers lingered so long, I figured Luke and Henry must've noticed something. But they were ignorant, so of course they hadn't.

I got up and held up my hand for Regina. She hesitated for a second, before she accepted it and I pulled her up as well. She wiped some sand from her body and I tried not to look at her, because it felt rather inappropriate, although we were dating.

Luke looked at us and tapped Henry on his shoulder. He pointed at us and I quickly let go of Regina's hand. "Are you going to swim, mommy?" Luke asked, he seemed incredibly surprised.