I don’t know how long I sat there, waiting for Flynn to compose himself. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. The light was slowly bleeding from the sky and the air was getting chillier, making me glad I remembered to bring my jacket.

I felt Flynn beside me before I saw him. I looked up to find him gazing down at me, frowning.

“You want to walk down to the water?” I asked, praying that he’d say yes. I wanted to experience this with him so badly. I didn’t want to pressure him but god; I wanted to have this one perfect moment with him.

Flynn wiggled his toes. “I hate it. It’s getting stuck between my toes. It’s rough and itchy and I want to wash it off,” Flynn said, stringing his words together in a rush of panic.

“Well, let’s go down to the ocean and wash them off,” I suggested. Maybe I was being selfish for pushing this, but I couldn’t help it. I needed him to do this with me.

“Okay,” he said, giving me exactly what I wanted.

I jumped to my feet and thought about taking his hand but figured that wouldn’t go over too well right now. We walked in slow, measured steps to the lapping water. The closer we got, the louder it became. Flynn covered his ears with his hands.

“It’s too loud,” he yelled, though he didn’t need to. I could hear him just fine.

We kept walking until we reached where the water met the sand. Flynn hadn’t dropped his hands and Murphy was running circles around us in his excitement. I wanted to get closer but I knew this was as far as Flynn would be willing to go.

A wave broke on the shore and water surged toward us, washing our feet. Flynn made a face but didn’t retreat.

“It’s cold,” he said.

I nodded. He was right. The ocean was really cold. But it was awesome.

“I’m going to walk closer. You can stay here. You’ll still be able to see me,” I promised.

Flynn clung to my hand. “Don’t go far. Promise,” he demanded.

“I promise,” lifting his hand and kissing the back softly.

I jogged to the water. I rolled up my jeans and waded in up to my shins. Murphy was barking at me from beside Flynn who looked ready to run away.

I knew I should go back to him. But I couldn’t make myself. Not yet. A large wave crashed and I squealed as the water rushed forward, soaking the bottom of my pants.

I was laughing hysterically by the time I pulled myself away from the ocean and returned to Flynn’s side.

“You’re laughing,” he observed, watching my face.

“I am. That was fun,” I said, unrolling my pants.

“You’re happy,” he replied, his own smile reaching up to touch his eyes.

“Yep. And so are you,” I said, pointing to his grinning face.

He laughed, an awkward sound.

“I am. You make me happy,” he said. He reached out and cupped his hand behind my neck, shocking the hell out of me.

He yanked me forward with enough force to make me stumble. I laughed again.

“What are you doing, Flynn?” I asked him; my heart thudded almost painfully in my chest. I had never seen this side of Flynn. He had never tried to take control of our physical interactions. That had always been left up to me.

But he was taking control now.

And it was hot.

He didn’t give me a chance to say anything else. He smashed his mouth to mine with a bruising clash of teeth. I pulled back slightly. “A little softer, Flynn. I don’t want either of us breaking a tooth.”

Not surprisingly, he didn’t pick up on my teasing, but he listened to my suggestion. His lips were gentle when they returned to mine and he kissed me with a passion that made my toes curl.

The wind picked up and swept my hair in our face and Flynn batted it away but he never stopped kissing me. His hand continued to hold my face while the other came up to wrap around me.

This was real. This was perfect.

This was absolutely right.

Flynn pulled away abruptly, his mouth tender and swollen. “I want to walk on the beach. Will you come with me?” he asked and my mind was still trying to play catch up from being overrun by my raging hormones.

“Uh, sure,” I said, blinking in confusion.

Flynn held my hand in his and called for Murphy, who was chewing on a piece of driftwood.

After the unexpected display of affection, I wasn’t sure what to say. I ran my fingers along my lips. They still tingled from being pressed to his. I noticed that Flynn’s face was flushed and I could tell he was worked up. But I also knew that we had once again hit his invisible wall.

We were only able to physically connect so much. But something told me he was trying to push himself for more. And that both thrilled and frightened me.

We had been walking for twenty minutes when Flynn stopped suddenly.

“What do you think those are for?” he asked, pointing to large boat with what looked like a crane on the end just off shore. It rumbled loudly as it scooped sand and deposited it closer to the break line.

I watched the machinery at work for a while and then realized what it was doing.

“I think it’s reclaiming the beach,” I told him.

“It’s loud, can we walk a bit longer?” Flynn asked, covering his ears. I nodded and whistled for Murphy again as we quickly moved away from the boat.

Once it was quieter, Flynn lowered his hands again.

“It was making the beach bigger,” he stated.

“Yeah, it seemed that way. You know how the beach erodes away after a while and those must put the sand back,”