As he laughs he starts walking us toward the bed. “What do you mean?”

“The whole place screams low-key beach living, but it’s also got style.”

Turning me around, with his body pressed against mine, he lowers us to the bed and hovers over me. “Go on.”

I look up into his eyes, smell his familiar scent, feel his body, and I know—I have fallen for him. I try to control my crazy emotions. We haven’t known each other long enough for me to be feeling like this. But the pull I feel toward him is so much stronger than what I felt in college, so much stronger than I’ve felt for anyone.

“Earth to S’belle, earth to S’belle. Have you gone to heaven?” he laughs.

I smirk at him and try to shove him away, but he doesn’t move. “I don’t know. I feel like it has a barefoot, carefree beach vibe that is all you.”

His mouth finds mine. “I’ve never had a girl in my room before.”

My breathing picks up. “You’ve already got me on your bed. You don’t need to feed me any lines.”

He raises himself up on his forearms. “I’m not. I’ve never had anyone here with me. In fact, until you I haven’t been with anyone since March and I certainly never took anyone to heaven in these sheets,” he adds with the biggest, baddest, devilish grin.

I laugh hard and long because if I don’t I might confess the depth of my feelings for him.

“Spend the night here with me tonight. Be my first.”

I grab his face in that way I know drives him crazy and crush my lips to his. I want to taste his mouth, feel his tongue, touch his body for hours. I want to hear him call my name.

“I’m starving and I have to go soon, so could you hurry it up?” Trent calls from downstairs.

Panting, I smile up at him.

He shakes his head. “I’d kick his ass out if he wasn’t leaving today.”

I lift myself onto my elbows. “I’d love to spend the night.”

He hops off the bed and we head back downstairs. Ben goes out to grab food while I sit down with Trent and talk about college and Hawaii. Before I know it we’re in Ben’s office at his computer and I’m showing Trent just how to accomplish one of his biggest wishes.

“What’s going on?” Ben’s voice carries from the door as he eyes us curiously.

“She’s f**king awesome,” Trent says enthusiastically.

“Yeah, she is but tell me what specifically makes you say that,” he says with a smirk on his face.

“So, you know how I never know what time of day is optimal to hit the waves until the morning tide rolls in?”

Ben nods and moves closer to the desk.

“Well, Bell took all the factors I use to determine when I want to ride and developed a formula she’s going to use to create an app that can forecast over the next week the optimal times of day to hit the surf at whichever beach is selected.”

He rounds the desk to stand behind me. His hands rest on my shoulders, squeezing them in the most delicious way. When I turn my head he’s staring at the screen in amazement. I feel a slight sense of pride that I could put that look on his face.

“I already knew you had a talent with apps, but you never told me you were a math whiz,” he says.

I shrug. “I was a biology major. Math was just a prerequisite.”

“She’s f**king brilliant,” Trent says in awe.

“That and so much more,” Ben responds.

“Come on, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

Ben’s eyes devour me as if I’m what’s for lunch—and the way he looks at me makes me wish I was.

As soon as we’ve finished eating, we say good-bye to Trent and then both fall on the couch in a post-meal stupor. Naps on Sundays are the best. But naps in Ben’s arms, on a sofa that is beyond comfortable, with a view of the ocean, well, that’s almost heaven—almost.

The ocean calms the chaotic and tames the wild in anyone who dares allow it. And I do. And I can tell Ben does.

When we wake up, the sun is just starting to set and he builds a bonfire on the beach so we can sit eating s’mores for dinner while we talk and listen to the sound of the waves as time slows around us. At first we merely kiss and touch each other, but once the touches intensify, we hastily take our clothes off. I even prance around him in my bikini—finally. And with only my top on, we have sex in the sand near the fire.

The entire night is magical in a way I’ve never experienced. Eventually we make our way to his room and he takes me in his bed too. Afterward he holds me tight as I nod off with the same calm I felt on the beach when I first arrived.

CHAPTER 33

Best Day of My Life

Ben

My alarm goes off way too early. The sun is just beginning to rise.

“What time is it?” She pulls the sheet over her head.

“Six,” I say, flopping back on the bed.

“That’s illegal.”

I laugh. “What is?”

“Getting up at six in the morning.”

I shift to my side and press against her before lifting the sheet to find her head so I can nuzzle her neck. “Take a shower with me.”

“It’s too early to get up.”

To persuade her, I run my hands down her sides and across her hips to settle between her legs. Her body jerks and she moans. My fingers play with her folds. She tries to act as though she’s going back to sleep, but her movements give away her excitement.