“Yes,” I breathe out. “Meet me at the beach, please?”

“Five minutes. I’ll bring a blanket. See you in a few, beautiful.”

I hang up and hop out of my bed, trying to be as quiet as possible. The last thing I need is for my parents to wake up and Helicopter Mom to follow me outside to the beach.

Loose gravel crunches, and I turn to find Griffin walking down the moonlit beach toward me, a huge smile on his face, a flashlight and a blanket in hand. When he reaches me, he wraps one arm around my waist and brings me in close to his body. He presses a deep kiss against my lips, lifting me onto my toes. I grip the back of his neck for support and arch my back to get a better angle on our kiss.

Slowly he pulls away and presses a kiss against my forehead before spreading the blanket on the sand.

Because of the cooler air rolling in at night, I changed into a pair of gray yoga pants and a light-green thermal shirt. I’m glad I did—the wind whipping off the ocean is colder than I expected.

Griffin sits down and pulls me with him. “Your parents have terrible timing.”

“The worst ever.”

Not satisfied with sitting side by side, Griffin guides me between his legs so my back is against his chest, his long legs on either side of me. I’m not the only one who made an outfit change. Griffin is in a pair of black athletic pants and a long-sleeved henley.

He snakes his arms around my shoulders and presses the side of his head against mine as we look out toward the ocean, an electric energy igniting once again between us.

“Thank you for meeting me down here,” I finally say after a few minutes of comfortable silence. “I needed to see you, kiss you, after what you said.”

His lips find my cheek. “It was all true,” he murmurs. “You’ve done something to me, Ren, something I can’t quite explain, but what I do know is I was meant to find you stuck between those two trees and drag you out of your car.”

“I think so too.” I kiss his forearm and then lean my head back against his shoulder. “My mom wants to meet you.”

“Oh yeah? You spoke that highly of me, did ya?”

I playfully elbow him. “Don’t get cocky. She’s really involved in my life, too involved, really, and when I started talking about you—”

“Which is really fucking cute, by the way. What did you tell her?”

I blush. “That I thought you were handsome.”

“You did?” His five-o’clock shadow dances across my cheek, a sensual whisper over my skin, sending goose bumps down my body.

“Mm-hmm.” He kisses my neck, and I lean to the side to give him better access.

“What else did you say?”

“That you’re a gentleman and so kind. That you were my first friend in Port Snow.”

He pauses and turns my head so I’m looking him in the eyes. “Is that true? I was your first friend?” I nod. “Huh. I like that. I actually really like that.”

“Who knew weeks later I would be the one who got through that wall of yours?”

“Ren, you went through it the first day I met you, when you started talking about a suicidal moose.”

I chuckle. “I just don’t understand why it wanted to die . . .”

“It was a daredevil; all moose are.” He squeezes me tighter. “So your mom wants to meet me. Are you going to let her?”

“I don’t know.” I chew on the inside of my cheek.

“Ashamed?” His voice is playful.

“Yup, you got me. Totally ashamed of dating a sexy volunteer firefighter who rescued me from a smoking car and carried me up a hill without even working up a sweat.”

“The car wasn’t smoking,” he deadpans.

“Felt like an inferno.”

The rumble of his chest behind me is another turn-on.

“Why don’t you bring your parents by the Lobster Landing tomorrow? You can introduce me, and maybe we can catch dinner over at Snowmageddon.”

I pull away, getting a good look at him. “You want to have dinner with my parents?”

“Why not?”

“Uh, because my mom is going to berate you and ask you a million questions.”

“That’s fine. I’ll answer them.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I want this relationship to last longer than two days. Believe me, you’re going to want to stay away. Just lay low, and I will see you on Wednesday for our date.”

“Ren, I want to meet your parents, and I don’t think I can just lay low. I couldn’t make it a few hours without wanting to run over to your house, break down your door, and take you up to your room. At least let me spend some time with you while they’re here.”

I turn back toward the ocean, considering the possibility of them meeting. I love my mom and dad dearly, but my mom is a loose cannon. You never know what might come out of her mouth. Am I willing to take that risk?

“She talks a lot,” I blurt out. “My mom, she has verbal diarrhea a lot of the time. I don’t want her to say anything that might embarrass you or me.”

“Ren.” He laughs and pulls me in close to his chest. “Are you forgetting who my family is? They’re the definition of embarrassing. She isn’t going to say anything that will change my mind about you. You’re special, and nothing can take that away.”

I turn in his arms and face him, my hands to his shoulders, his gripping my hips, fingers pressing into my skin. “Why do you always know the right thing to say?”

“I only speak the truth.” He brushes my hair behind my ear, his eyes searching mine.

With the ocean crashing behind us and the peaceful night air spurring on the mood, I straddle his lap before taking his head in my hands and bringing his mouth down to mine.

It’s slow at first, as I savor his gentle lips and the way he seductively kisses with just his mouth, no tongue, no hands, just his lips working mine back and forth.

It’s hypnotic.

And when his hands move up my back, slipping under my shirt and brushing my bra, an initial wave of arousal washes over me, encouraging me to do the same with my hands. I drag them down his chest, over his rigid body, to the hem of his shirt, where I pull it up and over his head in one swoop. His muscles flex under my touch, his pecs large and thick.

I run my fingers through his short chest hair, occasionally dragging my thumb over his erect nipples, and with each pass, I can feel him grow harder and harder beneath me, his breath coming in short spurts, his hands becoming greedier.

Hands moving to the front of my shirt, he lifts it up and over my head, the wind coming off the ocean cooling down the inferno raging through my body.

With a swipe of his tongue, he’s parting my mouth, and our tongues begin to dance, tangling and coiling together.

I wrap my arms around his neck and bring him in even closer, our bodies pressing together, the lace of my bra rubbing against his chest.

And when I press down on his erection, rocking my hips, creating a wonderful friction, he groans in my mouth and gently rolls me down onto the blanket.

He’s so sweet, so protective, even when there is a crazy amount of passion sparking between us. It’s hard not to fall for a guy who treats you like the most precious thing he’s ever laid eyes on.

Reaching under me, he unclasps my bra with two fingers in a quick flick, pulling it off me.

We are on a public beach, neighbors right up the embankment sleeping soundly. Someone could catch us, and yet it doesn’t even cross my mind to cover up or to shy away. I want this, I want him, and if that means taking him on the beach in the middle of the night, I will.

His hand runs up the side of my body, past my ribs and straight to my breast, where he grips it in his large palm, massaging, squeezing, moving his fingers over my nipple a few times, stroking it with his thumb before pinching it between his fingers.

I moan, the sound of the ocean drowning out the sound of pleasure shooting through me as a second wave of arousal eclipses me.

A low throb begins between my legs, my need for Griffin growing stronger.

“Take your pants off,” I mumble between kisses.

He pauses and meets my eyes. “Are you sure?”

I nod. “Very sure. I need you inside me, Griffin.”

“I don’t have a condom.”

I shake my head. “I’m on birth control; it’s okay.”

“Christ,” he mumbles as I start to rotate my hips against his. In one smooth motion, he pulls down his pants and boxer briefs, releasing his erection.

“Oh God,” I say as I take him in—long, thick, incredibly hard. Wanting to feel him in my palm, I reach out and circle my hand around his girth, eliciting a hiss from between his teeth. I move my hand up and down just a few inches before he stops me, his breathing very heavy, a pained look on his face.

“Listen, Ren, I’ll be honest. I’m not going to last long. I’m so goddamn hard up right now that any little touch is going to make me want to fall over the edge. So I don’t embarrass myself, I’m going to have to take charge. Can you do that? Give me control?”

I smile up at him. “I would like nothing more than to give you control.”