But the next time I glanced over, some fucker was hitting on her. I caught the first wave back to the beach and jogged across the hot sand.

By then, the asswipe had disappeared in the other direction, so I assumed Caro had given him his marching orders. The amused expression on her face told me the rest.

“What did he want?” I asked, trying and failing to keep my voice neutral.

“Don’t blame me, Hunter,” she said, raising one eyebrow, “You’re the one who bought this itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini for me. Anyway, I told him my boyfriend was surfing, so you don’t need to worry.”

Not fucking acceptable. Fucker should have stuck around to get his face rearranged.

“Did you have fun?” she asked, and I knew she was trying to distract me from homicidal thoughts of any other guy touching my woman.

“Yeah, not bad. Got some good rides.”

“I know, I was watching,” she said, pointing to the camera, “I got some great shots, too.”

“Really? I’ve never seen any pictures of me surfing.”

I sat down on the towel next to her and scrolled through the photos she’d taken. I was impressed, both by the way she’d framed the shots and the quality of the images. I knew her camera was expensive, but these photos were good enough to make it into Surfer magazine.

“Wow! You’re a really great photographer, Caro.”

“I have excellent subject material,” she smiled, then snapped a close-up of me.

“What’s that for?”

“Just so I know you’re real. I think you’re a figment of my overwrought imagination, and you might disappear when I wake up. But now,” she said, waving the camera at me, “I have proof.”

I grinned, loving the current easiness between us.

I pressed her back into the beach towel with my body, kissing her the way I wanted to with no apology. She ran her fingers over my damp hair and smiled up at me.

“You’re cute when you’re wet,” she smiled.

“So are you,” I teased.

We ate our lunch on the beach, some bread and fruit sold by a kid under a sunshade. I felt deeply relaxed. Even the shadow of imminent deployment couldn’t dampen my good mood. I even fell asleep in the sun, something I never normally did.

When I woke up, I wanted to head out for a final surf. The guy in the rental shop said that the air pressure was rising and that tomorrow the sea would be flat. And there was something else I wanted to do; I wanted Caro to ride the board with me—tandem surfing—something I hadn’t done since the last time we’d been together.

“Come on, Caro, I’ve wanted to try this for a long time. Let’s take the board out and catch a wave together. I’ll do the paddling and I can stare at your gorgeous ass while I’m doing it.”

I pulled her to her feet and she tried to adjust her bikini top so her beautiful tits didn’t spill out. God, I loved that bikini.

Once in the water, Caro lay on the board first, and I jumped on behind her. I couldn’t resist giving her ass a quick bite.

She squeaked and tried to slap my arm. Too fucking cute.

We paddled out to just behind where the waves were breaking, then as the water started to rise, I turned the board around and we began to speed down the front of the wave.

“Get ready to pop up!” I yelled. “Go!”

She scrambled to her feet and the board wobbled slightly so I had to make some minor balance adjustments before I popped up, one hand steadying her hip as we raced down the face of the wave.

It was the best feeling—pure joy with no bullshit, no one else but us.

When we caught the last wave back in, Caro’s skin was cool to the touch and she was shivering slightly.

“Your nipples are hard,” I remarked, studying them carefully.

“Well, what a shocker,” she snarked. “I’ve never seen them like that before.”

“Is that right?” I said, raising my eyebrow. “I’ll see what I can do about it later.”

“Promises, promises,” she sighed.

What the fuck? I didn’t care if it was a joke—that was what I’d call a challenge.

“Bed, woman. Now.”

Caro’s eyes grew really big and she bit her lip.

“Don’t you want to find somewhere to have dinner first?”

Hell, no. I shook my head, my eyes raking up and down her body, hypnotized by the way droplets of seawater rolled into the amazing valley between her tits.

I tugged her along the beach to the shop, only slightly repentant that she was having to jog to keep up, but she didn’t complain. We got the key to our room quickly, but when the owner wanted to talk surfing and whether San Diego or Monterey had the better break, I was grinding my teeth with frustration. I wanted to tell him to take a hike, but seeing as he’d cut us as a deal on the room, I didn’t want to piss him off.

Caro winked at me and walked down the beach to our cabin. My eyes followed the movement of her ass the whole way.

“You have a very beautiful girlfriend, signore,” said the owner, his smile too fucking appreciative by a long way.

I cleared my throat and his eyes snapped back to mine.

“Yeah, I know. And I’m taking her for dinner tonight—can you recommend anywhere?”

“Ah, si! I know just the place. L’Acquapazza in Marina di Cecina. Just five kilometers. Is very good food, very good views. My cousin, Lazzero, is the owner. Tell him Salvi sent you.”

I nodded my thanks and headed to the cabin. By the time I got there, I was revved up and ready to go. So I was somewhat fucking disappointed that Caro wasn’t naked in bed, but shutting down her laptop. I guessed she’d been catching up on her messages.

“What’s so funny?”

She looked up, a huge smile on her face.

“Oh, I just had an email from my friend Nicole in NYC. She wants me to have mindless sex with an Italian stallion.”

Was that supposed to be funny? “Why is she saying stuff like that to you?” I bit out.

Caro rolled her eyes.

“Oh, don’t be such a prude, Sebastian! It’s just a joke. She’s always nagging me to find a man.”

“What about me?” I growled, my tone angrier than I’d intended.

Caro huffed quietly. “I haven’t told anyone about you. I like having you to myself. But I will, if you want me to.”

Was she ashamed of me? Was this just a summer fling to her after all?

The old fears rushed back—I was a secret, her dirty little secret. Again.

“I want to know your friends, Caro,” I tried to explain, before my anger and fear bubbled through. “Although I’ll fucking tell ‘Nicole’ that she can keep her comments about ‘Italian stallions’ to herself.”

Suddenly her phone rang and she stared at it in surprise. It was the first time I’d heard it ring since we’d been traveling.

She picked it up, her eyes widening as she read the caller’s ID.

“Nicole, hi! Wow, it’s great to hear from you. How are you?”

I wandered around the room, moving her shit off of the bed, listening to one half of the conversation.

Then she said, “Nicole, I sent you a picture of him. His name is Sebastian.”

So she had mentioned me? I couldn’t help looking across and smiling at her.

“No, seriously, Nicole. That’s a photo of my friend. I promise you.”

Caro was smiling and shaking her head.

“I’ll tell you some other time … I can’t. Later … because he’s standing right here, Nicole … it’s true.”

She raised her eyebrows at whatever was being said. “What?” She shook her head again then she handed me her cell. “She wants to talk to you.”

Surprised, I took the phone. “Hi, Nicole. This is Sebastian.”

“Wow! So you really do exist!” said a female voice with the clipped voice of a native New Yorker. “Well, listen up. Lee is my best friend and one of the nicest, most honest people I’ve ever meet, so if you’re planning on using her, don’t even think about it. If you do anything to upset her, I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and rip your balls off with a blunt spoon. Capiche?”