Making Waves

Fun In The Sun

"But you could say that you got me back, and let it go instead, right?" Fitz had spent most of the morning trying to convince Liv to avoid any type of nasty payback he knew she was concocting for his earlier prank of putting salt into her coffee. He added a toothy sweet smile with a dash of puppy dog eyes for extra effect.

The two of them were sitting outside in the gloriously beautiful sunshine. It had been a few hours since the incident and the consequences from their previous night of drinking had mostly worn off. The yellow ball of light in the sky, along with the warm, golden, white sand was still a tad too bright on their eyes, Thankfully, they had wisely slid on sunglasses before stepping outside.

Fitz absentmindedly dragged his left foot through the soft sand, relishing the feel of the heat on his skin as he people watched and waited for Liv to give him an answer. The beach was crowded, but not overly so, in his opinion. There were a lot of couples and families with kids of all ages enjoying the perfect day at the ocean. Some were splashing in the water, or boogie boarding, swimming, or building sand castles The more he watched, the more he envied them.

He knew from firsthand experience that how a couple appears on the outside doesn't always reflect what's going on, on the inside. That elephant was dead now, and he refused to entertain ideas of it ever again. But the idea of being happy with someone was something he definitely wanted. A wife, a couple of kids, the whole shebang.

One day.

Turning his head to the right slightly, he studied his beautiful bikini clad companion. She was doing her best to ignore him, with her nose in a thick book; undoubtedly one from inside the beach house. Liv was intelligent, beautiful, had the best sense of humor, and, best of all, she had developed some kind of feelings for him.

The feeling was more than mutual on his part. He had thought little more than kissing her again. There was something...magical about her that made his heart beat a little faster and his smile a little wider. He could feel it now. Just looking at her, his heart skipped a beat and the smile on his face was automatic.

How did she have that effect on him after just a few days? Why did watching her slender index finger rise up the top right edge of the page and separate it from the page behind it make him want to feel those same fingers on his body?

Liv wasn't buying his pathetic attempt at avoiding retribution. After pretending to read the words on the page in front of her, she turned the page of the book and turned her head to the left to pretend to read those words. She had just grabbed a book from the book shelf inside the house at random. It didn't matter if it was a whodunit or a love story or a book on gardening. Anything to keep herself preoccupied from staring at Fitz.

Out of her peripheral vision, she noticed that he was looking at her. Almost like he was studying her. Why was that so damn cute? He was probably just checking out her body while she was busy with her fake reading. Thinking she'd catch him off guard and bust him ogling her, she flicked her inquisitive eyes over at him.

He seemed to be looking right at her face. The sunglasses made it a little more difficult to know for sure, but somehow, she knew those baby blue eyes were fixated on her face. It really was cute.

With his smile still intact, he propped his chin into his palm and sweetly said, "hi."

There was no holding back the smile on her own face. He was just too likeable. Setting her book down on her lap - thankful to not have to fake reading it anymore - Liv mirrored his movement and replied. "hi."

"How's your book? Zit any good?"

She was in a haze. The man looked great in board shorts. But the fact that he didn't have a shirt on made it much harder to hold his gaze. She did her best, but her fingers itched to touch his muscular chest. I mean, it was right there! All she would have to do is reach over and...