Beneath me tiny bright colored fish swam around. They were gorgeous and seemed unafraid of us. One tickled my arm as it swam by.

I swam farther and saw a crab scuttling over a small rock.

The coral was gorgeous and in a rainbow of colors.

I’d never seen anything so beautiful before and I was flooded with inspiration for designs.

Seeing all of this beauty made me realize I’d been missing out on so much that life has to offer. I’d been stuck in my hometown for so long that I forgot that magic was all around us.

A piece of aqua colored coral—or maybe it was some kind of weird grass—swayed from the ocean current.

A finger tapped against my elbow and I jolted.

I turned to look and saw Arden. Her red hair billowed around her like a flame. She pointed to my right and I glanced that way.

It was a turtle and it swam right up to us, completely unafraid of us like the other fish had been. I itched to reach out and touch its shell, but the man we met with on the beach warned us to not touch any of the animals. After all, they were wild and this was their home.

I don’t know how long we swam around, but eventually we all emerged from the water with wrinkly fingers and toes.

Instead of returning to the beach house and hanging out there, we set up on this beach.

Hayes met us with Mia—the bucket now full of seashells. Mia was grinning from ear to ear and clinging onto him. I’d say the little girl had a crush.

Arden went over to join him, smacking a loud kiss on Mia’s cheek. Mia giggled merrily and reached for her mom.

I headed over to my bag and pulled out my towel, using it to dry my body before sitting down.

I grabbed my tanning oil and started rubbing it on my body.

Arden put her towel down beside mine and sat with Mia between her legs. Mia immediately toddled off of the towel and into the sand. She picked up a handful of sand and threw it at her mom’s legs. Arden merely shook off the sand.

“It’s unfair that you can get a nice pretty tan and I’m going to end up looking like a lobster and I’ll probably gain a hundred more freckles.” She nodded at my already natural olive-toned skin. She tugged her hair back into a ponytail and then began slathering herself in sunscreen before grabbing Mia and putting some on her too.

“Hey, I might get a tan but I’d kill for your hair.”

“I guess we all want what we can’t have,” she quipped.

Hayes strolled over to us and squatted down so that he was at our level. “I thought Ms. Mia might want to dip her toes in the ocean, if that’s okay?” He addressed Arden.

“Sure, if she wants to.”

Hayes turned to Mia. “Want to be a mermaid?”

The little girl nodded her head enthusiastically and I wondered if she actually knew what he said. I wasn’t around kids enough to know what they understood at what age.

Hayes picked up Mia and lifted her onto his shoulders. She grabbed the longer strands of hair on top of his head and tugged. “Horsie!” She cried.

Hayes winced and loosened her fingers. “Don’t do that.”

“Sowwy.” She frowned.

Before she could get too upset he took off running, holding on tight to her, and her giggles trailed behind her.

Beside me Arden shook her head. “It’s the craziest thing. Normally Mia hates strangers, so I don’t know what it is about him that she likes so much.”

“He’s a nice guy,” I supplied.

“I suppose so.” She shadowed her eyes with a hand to her forehead as she watched Hayes and Mia in the ocean. He was holding her now, barely dipping her toes into the water. She giggled and her legs flailed wildly.

Mathias and Remy sat in chairs off behind us beneath an umbrella, far enough away that they had some privacy from the rest of us.

Emma and Maddox were talking to the man we’d seen earlier about something, while Ezra was walking down the beach.

I itched to join him, but I knew Emma would see and draw conclusions.

I hated keeping our arrangement a secret from her, but I had to. No one could know. It was already messy enough with only Ezra and I involved. But if the others found out, I knew they’d root for us to end up a couple, and when we didn’t I feared that would lead them all to feel like they had to pick sides. If they didn’t know, they couldn’t form an opinion and pass judgment.

I watched Ezra pause and stoop down to pick something up out of the sand. He turned it over in his hand before tucking it into his palm. He squeezed it tight and continued on.

“I’m going to take a nap.”

Arden glanced at me and arched a brow. “Didn’t you go to bed early?”

“Uh…yeah. But the beach sun makes me really sleepy,” I lied. I couldn’t tell her the truth—that Ezra had kept me up most of the night. The possibility of getting caught had heightened every sensation in my body, and the effort to quiet my cries of pleasure had been exhausting.

“Okay,” she said doubtfully. “I’m just going to read for a little bit since Mia’s occupied. I never get to read anymore.”

I nodded and laid back. My sunglasses shielded my eyes from the sun and the warmth from the rays felt like a blanket.

I really was sleepy and in no time I drifted off.

Cold water prickled the skin of my stomach and I jolted into a seated position.

“What the hell?!” I exclaimed and looked up to find Hayes standing over me with a squirt gun. Where he found that I had no idea.

He smiled boyishly. “I didn’t think you’d want to miss this.”

“Miss what?”

He pointed to the sky.

“What the hell?” I repeated, blinking my eyes. “Is that—?”

“Yep,” he answered, grinning at the sight before us with his hands on his narrow hips.

“They’re insane!” I stood up, leaning my head back so I could see better.

Maddox and Emma were parasailing. To say they were adrenaline junkies was an understatement. They were always looking for another crazy adventure.

Ezra stood a few feet away with his phone held aloft, videoing our crazy best friends.

“One day they’re going to get themselves killed,” I groaned.

Zip lining, skydiving, and now parasailing. What was next? Cliff-jumping?

“Probably,” Hayes answered.

“Did I say that out loud?”

He chuckled and nodded.

“Oops.” I glanced away and noticed that Arden and Mia were gone. “Where did Arden go?”

“Mia was sleepy so she headed back to the car. We’re leaving after these two finish.” He pointed up at the sky.

“I’m posting this on YouTube,” Ezra chuckled, “the whole world needs to see these fools.”

“Wouldn’t your manager have a heart attack if he knew Maddox was up here?”

“Hells yeah,” Hayes laughed. “He’ll probably shit his pants. Julian is such a fucking fun-sucker.” He paused, his lips pursed in thought. “Maybe if he got laid he’d be happier.” He snapped his fingers together with a sudden though. “Ez, we should hire a hooker for him.”

I reached out and smacked the back of his head.

“Ow,” he rubbed the spot and mockingly glared at me, “that hurt.”

“Aw, poor baby.” I pouted. “I think you’ll live.”

Hayes smiled and his eyes dipped to my breasts.

I rolled my eyes and pointed to my face. “Eyes up here Hayes.”

“Sorry,” he cleared his throat, “I just can’t help myself. They’re just right in my face.”

“Dude,” Ezra glared, anger flashing in his eyes as he completely forgot about the video he was currently taking, “do you want me to punch you in the face?”

“Oh, so are you two—?” He trailed off, waving a finger between Ezra and me.

“No,” Ezra said adamantly, tucking his phone into the pocket of his board shorts, “but have some respect.”

Hayes made a sound in the back of his throat that made it obvious he didn’t believe Ezra. “Whatever. I’m going back to the cars. You guys can wait for them.”