Melting - Sean Ashcroft Page 0,42

now, so I figured I’d won this argument.

This was the closest we’d come to actually fighting. Each of us trying to let the other keep a stuffed animal.

“I can definitely smell burning,” Hayden said after a moment, looking around the beach. People were already congregating in groups, beach towels and picnic rugs laid out, fires being started, shouts of laughter, children playing.

They probably wouldn’t all make it to midnight, but the way the carnival atmosphere had moved through the town over the course of the day, finishing up at the beach, that was a kind of magic.

Otter Bay was a kind of magic. Andre had been right—this was my Costa Rica. My paradise. I never wanted to be anywhere else.

“I think we’re looking for the smell of a wet towel on fire,” I said. “Like, considering Seth’s practical expertise in setting fires…”

“There are fireplaces in that house, he probably knows.”

“I will bet you everything you have that Mark sets them,” I said, confident I could win this.

“Yeah?” Hayden asked. “Do I get everything you have if Seth knows how to start a fire?”

“I don’t have much.” I shrugged.

“I dunno,” Hayden said. “Stunning good looks. Great body. Pitching arm good enough to win a stuffed otter at a fairground stall. I could go for having those.”

I laughed, swinging our joined hands together as we came to a stop, pausing to meet his eyes.

“Hottest mouth I’ve ever seen, great ass, next-level cooking skills,” I said. “Could go for those, too.”

“You already have a great ass.” Hayden twisted around to look behind me, making me laugh all over again.

“Mmhm,” I agreed, slapping his with my free hand and giggling the entire time as he gave me the most precious scandalized look. “That’s true, your ass is mine.”

“We’re not fighting over who’s got a better ass,” Hayden said. “Seth’s up there by the dunes, by the way. Saw him while you were betting me he didn’t know how to start a fire.”

I peered around Hayden to see Seth in the middle of doing exactly that, jaw dropping as I watched him stack firewood just-so, encouraging the flames with the same kind of confidence he had when he was applying false lashes.

“Wow. He really is setting his own fire,” I said, genuinely surprised.

“I think a lot of people misunderstand him,” Hayden said quietly. “He’s not anything like me, but I do think I get him, all the same.”

“You’re adorable,” I said, darting in and brushing a kiss over his lips. “And sweet. And I think a lot of people misunderstand you, too. But I’m trying not to.”

“Sometimes I think you understand me better than I understand myself,” Hayden said softly.

A heartbeat of silence passed between us, still holding hands, standing awkwardly by the shoreline, the retreating tide not quite touching our feet anymore. All the sound faded into the background, distant, like a movie soundtrack as I looked at him, eyes glinting in the failing light, reflecting the few tiny bonfires further down the beach, around the curve.

This time, when he kissed me, it wasn’t a light brush, it wasn’t the desperate kiss of a man turned on by ice cream drips, or marking his territory when he hadn’t been sure of me.

Hayden’s hand slid up my neck, fingertips just barely nestled in my hair, head tilted, eyes closed, fingers trembling in my hand.

He was scared, and I was scared, too, because I knew we’d crossed a line somewhere that neither of us had intended to, and I didn’t know what that meant or how we were going to handle it or what came next.

But I knew that I couldn’t get enough of the way his mouth felt on me, or the warmth of his skin, or the all-consuming comfort of the way he kissed me. Like it meant something. Like I wasn’t a disposable warm body to him. Like he cared that it was me.

My heart was definitely doing something stupid right now.

A wolf-whistle broke us apart with a start, Andre grinning and waving at us from a few yards away.

… holding Isaac’s hand.

Just as well it was dark, because I knew I was blushing all the way to my hairline.

But I was happy for Andre. Isaac seemed sweet, and he’d been heartbroken since Blake left. I wanted him to be happy.

All I wanted was for all of us to be happy.

And right now, holding Hayden’s hand, smiling like busted schoolboys who’d been caught eating candy before dinner, I was happy.

“C’mon,” I said, tightening