Lying down on my towel, I set the bottle of sunscreen beside me and adjust myself, letting my feet sink into the warm sand. The sun is pretty high up in the sky as the waves gently slide over the beach before returning back to the ocean.

All around me, people are walking and some college girls are playing volleyball some distance away. Propping my elbows behind me and leaning back, I take my time in observing the beach as I go over the past week or so in my mind.

Ever since the day Mira and I agreed to become friends.

Things changed, obviously. I met the Satchel girl again, and this time she genuinely apologized for pushing me. Or well, I hope it was genuine. But that's not what happened that matters, especially when gaining the approval of a friend who fucking pushed me on the first meeting is the last thing on my mind.

We became... I huff out a quiet laugh, "dancing buddies" as Mira named us. Which I don't really have much of a problem with, but the title is pretty undeniably cute. Although I did try to keep distance between us, Mira still managed to attend the same dance classes as me. And that does make me wonder if it really was the universe forcing us together at the beginning, or if Mira was stalking me and deliberately ending up at the same places as me.

Now that would be a plot twist I would not see coming. In a way. But the idea of Mira the Stalker is amusing.

Then there were the dinner meals spent together, where Mira cooked food that were surprisingly good-tasting. Small conversations, mostly with her rambling away about her day and what she's excited about while I eat and listen to her. Half the time, my mind went elsewhere for a few seconds here and there, but the other half, the words that floated out of her mouth were interesting.

Perhaps part of the reason was because I would become fixated on the way her lips moved, the cute dimples that would appear whenever she'd smile real wide, that twinkle in her eye that could light up an entire room no matter how dark it is.

After all, she did manage to shine enough light in my soul to be willing to try this whole thing. I've even stopped having my usual flings for her even when she told me that she's fine if I continue fucking other people.

Fuck, what would I not give to just kiss her. I've been ravaged by this desire for so long, despite her not being my type physically. It's just... she's so warm and soft, so I can only imagine how sweet she tastes.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I just throw all caution to the wind, grab her by the back of that pretty, kissable neck of hers, pull her into me, and devour her mouth. Feel her tongue slip in between my lips, exploring, feeling, thrumming with life and need.

But I know exactly what would happen. If I do it before she's sure she's ready, or maybe it's more like the both of us are ready, then she'd fall for me when I can't give her my all. My everything. Mira deserves someone who can give her the best part of themselves. Not break her heart and leave her crumpled up in the dust, all because two other people before her did that to them. To me.

"I brought the mango smoothies!" a sweet voice chirps from behind my shoulder. I glance up to see Mira walking toward me in her light-pink shorts and white crop top, holding two tall plastic cups filled with orange liquid and rainbow umbrellas sticking out from the top.

"About time. I thought you had forgotten about me." I take one of the drinks from her. She walks around me and sits down cross-legged on the spot beside me.

"Never," she huffs. "I just wanted to make sure there's no alcohol in them."

I raise an eyebrow at her. "And is that... a bad thing? I get why you wouldn't want to have it in your drink, but I'm always up for a little booze."

She shifts uncomfortably and chews on her lower lip. "Yeah... um... remember that first day we met... I served you a mango drink and you um... got drunk?"

"That's not a day anyone can easily forget."

"Yeah well... I accidentally...um... poured too much gin in your drink... but you were being mean to me that day so I just gave it to you."

I blink at her a few times in disbelief. "Wait a minute... so you're the one who got me drunk and not the other drinks I drank afterward? Huh, maybe I should be pouring my own drinks from now."

Instead of a retort, her face brightens as she smiles. "On the bright side, if it wasn't for that, we wouldn't have gotten together."

"You mean this—" I wave my hand around. "—could have been avoided?'

"I know you like that we met, Nat." She beams and takes a sip of her mango juice, leaving behind an orange mustache above her lip.

An amused smile tugs at my lips. Not at her saying that I like it, which might hold some truth to it. Mira notices and scrunches her eyebrows together.

"What?"

Without saying a word, I lean forward and wipe away the smoothie print with my thumb. Her eyes follow my hand as I bring it to my face and lick it off. I would be lying if I say I'm not enjoying the growing blush on her cheeks.

"You had a little something there."

Her face reddens even more. "I–"

"Don't worry, fruit tart. I got every last bit of it." Even though I wish I could have just licked it right off her face. Would have been a little easier. And better.

Mira sets down the drink on her other side and takes the sunscreen bottle. Or at least tries to when it slips from her hands. She catches it, then fumbles with it several times, her clumsiness prompting a slight smile out of me. Just when I'm about to help her out, she finally holds it steady and squeezes out a dollop on her palm.

She then looks at me, her eyes widening just a tad when they roam my body. "Would you... um... would you like me to... um..." she stammers. In a way that would have been annoying coming from others, but from her, it's fucking adorable. "The sunscreen... the cream... on–on you..."

A corner of my lips lifts up in a smirk. "It's up to you. Do you want to?"

Taking a deep breath, she nods.

"Go ahead, fruit tart. My body is all yours." In every way. Just as she starts to rub the cream together in her hands, I grab her wrist. "Wait... You're not worried?"

"About what?" she asks, an innocent look on her face.

I nod toward her hands. "About rubbing lotion on my body."

She shrugs. "That's what friends do."

I raise an eyebrow. "What type of friends? Like that Satchel girl?"

"I know you know her name, Nat." She pouts, then scrunches her face together. "Are you... are you jealous of her?"

I scoff. "What the hell do you take me for?" Jealous? Of that girl? As if she can compete with me.

"Um... someone who gets jealous? You can admit it, you know. It's cute."

I release her hand and blink at her. "Did you just call me cute?"

To be honest, I actually like that when it comes from her. Only from her.

She grins. "Yep. You're cute. Like a cat. I've always wanted one, actually."

I frown. "Since when are cats cute?"

She gasps. "Are you telling me you don't like cats?"

"They're annoying little creatures."

She huffs. "We can't be friends if you don't like cats." She starts to get up.

"Excuse me, where the hell do you think you're going?" I grab her by the waist and pull her down. She squeals as she lands on top of me. Letting go of her just a little, she turns over to face me as she blows a strand of hair from her hair. Her legs straddle my hips, her face close to mine with her hands resting on the sand at either side of my head.

My hands rest on the small of her back as she tilts her head at me, the smile fading away at the same slow rate as her cheeks grow pink.

Her gaze flutters down to my mouth, then back up to my eyes as she nervously bites her lower lip. The heat between our bodies is scorching hot, making me swallow down the urge to move even a little, as the slightest friction might be too much for me to handle.

Fuck, I want to kiss her so badly. And it doesn't help that I'm fucking horny from not having sex for over a week. Plus, her hips are pressed just above mine, and my crotch is throbbing like a fully powered on vibrator.

"So... are you going to rub it?"

Mira blinks at me, confusion filling her eyes. Shit, this is the first time I'm glad she doesn't catch the second meaning of that.

"The cream? The sunscreen. The one in your hands that are now covered in sand."

"Oh!" she squeaks out in an unusually high-pitched voice. I let her go as she rolls off my body, relieving the pressure off my lower body. "Oh, I need to get more of the whip– crown— cream!"

I chuckle softly at her flustered stammering as she squeezes out another good amount of white cream on her palm and sets the bottle down before rubbing her hands together. I lean back again on my arms, watching her as she scoots closer to me.

Mira glances at me with an arched brow, silently asking for my consent to let her touch me. I smile and nod, receiving a quiet exhale in return.

As soon as she touches me, pleasant warmth flows from the spot and through my entire body as she rubs the cream along my skin. Tilting my head back, I close my eyes to avoid looking at her. I softly suck in a deep breath as her hand travels up and down my legs before reaching my sunken stomach.

Her touch is so soft, gentle, and soothing. I don't know how much longer I can manage to refrain from just giving in to my urges, my desire to take her right there and then. To hear her moan out my name.

I don't know how much power I have left in me. Not when her hands, her small, soft hands are rubbing every inch of my skin aside from the ones that are begging for her like crazy. The rush of boiling liquid pooling into my core from each tremble in her touch.

I softly chuckle at myself on the inside. Getting horny for the same girl I hated on day one in the middle of a crowded beach would have been the last thing on my mind a few weeks ago.

Now all I need to do is focus on not coming while her hands are all over my body.