“Hudson.” Riley came running back into the restaurant with eager eyes. “Hurry.” She grabbed my hands and pulled me out of the restaurant with her.

“What’s so urgent?”

“I’ve decided I want to go swimming.” She laughed. “Now take me before I change my mind.”

I stared at her in surprise, my heart suddenly racing. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, let’s do it.” She stood by the car door, waiting for me to open it, and I felt my heart leaping.

“Shit, I’m going to hell,” I muttered to myself as I opened the car.

“Sorry, what did you say?” she asked me with eager eyes, and I shook my head, smiling back at her.

“Nothing.” I took a deep breath. “Nothing at all.”

We drove for about ten minutes until I pulled off to the side of the road and stopped the car.

“This part of the beach is pretty desolate. I don’t think many people come here, so we’ll have some privacy.”

“Sounds good.” She eagerly jumped out of the car and ran to the sand.

I followed her eagerly, wondering what sort of trouble I was getting myself into. Riley kept running, and I frowned as I saw her jumping into the ocean.

“What are you doing?” I asked, confused as I watched her jumping waves.

“I’m about to swim. Why?” she shouted back at me, looking very youthful as she squealed.

“Uhm, you have clothes on.” I pulled my shirt and pants off and ran into the ocean after her.

“You thought I was going to take my clothes off?” She looked so shocked that I laughed.

“I thought we were going to skinny dip.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened, and I saw them survey my naked chest.

“Yeah. Oh.” I shook my head and grabbed her around the waist. “Don’t mind me. I’m an idiot.”

“Put me down, Hudson!” she screamed as I swung her around in my arms.

“Sorry, what?” I grinned down at her as she clung to me.

“Put me down!” she screamed again, and I dropped her in the ocean. “Hudson Blake! Argh!” She splashed around in the water and I laughed. “I’m going to get you.” She stood up and started splashing me.

I tried not to stare at her breasts since her nipples were clearly visible through the thin, wet material. I turned away to stop myself from reaching out and touching her. I wanted to groan at the sudden tightness in my pants.

Riley jumped on my back and attempted to push me into the water. I stood there for a second, enjoying the feel of her against me, and then fell into the water with her still on my back. We splashed around for a few seconds, laughing and coughing up the salty ocean water. I jumped up and pulled Riley up with me. I held her in my arms for a second before letting go and taking a step back.

“This was fun.” She grinned through chattering teeth. “Though it’s a bit cold.”

“It would have been warmer if you were naked,” I joked, and she poked me in the chest.

“Sure it would have.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Do you and Clara go skinny dipping a lot then?” She looked up at me, and I couldn’t tell if she genuinely wanted to know or if she was just trying to bring Clara’s name up to remind me that I had a girlfriend.

I shook my head. “No.”

“I wonder if she’s up and making cocktails already.” Riley giggled, but I frowned at her words.

I was worried about Clara’s alcohol intake. It seemed that she was always getting drunk these days. I thought back to the day we’d first met and how I’d thought she didn’t drink, but Clara had a problem with alcohol. I just didn’t know how to confront her about it.

“Let’s hope not.” I dove into the water and swam out into the ocean.

I loved swimming in the ocean’s never-ending pool of water. It was so different than swimming in a regular pool. The expanse of water was so large in the ocean that I felt like I could drift off and just keep going. In a pool, you always had to stop and turn around. There was something so jarring about swimming in a pool that wasn’t there in the openness of the ocean. I could float away in the ocean and forget all of my worries.

I finally stopped swimming out and started swimming back to shore. I could see Riley standing there watching me with big open eyes. I wanted to know what she was thinking, what she thought of me. Did she think I was a creep because I was flirting with her while I had a girlfriend? Did she hate my kisses? Did she know that she was as special to me as she was?

I swallowed a mouthful of salt water by mistake and starting coughing as I swam back. It was taking longer for me to swim back to the shore because the current was strong and kept pushing me farther back. I knew better than to panic, continuing with my front crawl, and kept trying to swim back to shore.

“Hudson!” Riley called out. “Come back in now please. You’re scaring me.”

I could hear the panic in her voice as she waved me in. I wanted to shout back that I was coming, but I knew I needed to keep my mouth shut in these murky waters. I didn’t want to swallow any more salt water, and I didn’t want to expend my energy trying to communicate with her. I increased the pace of my arms and tried to double up my strokes as I attempted to swim back to Riley.

I saw her start swimming towards me and I panicked. I didn’t know if Riley would be able to make it back to shore with these riptides if she made it all the way to me. I took a deep breath and started swimming furiously. The only thing on my mind was making sure that Riley didn’t make it all the way out to me.

I could see Riley’s arms flailing as she got close to me, and my heart stopped for a brief second before adrenaline kicked in. I swam towards her and grabbed her around the waist before setting her on her back and swimming back with her to the sand. This time, there was no current too treacherous for me to defeat. There was no way I was going to let anything happen to Riley. I made it back to shore in record time, and I carried a coughing Riley out of the ocean.

“You okay?” I looked down at her face as she coughed up salt water and tried to calm my nerves.

“I’m fine,” she sputtered. “I was worried about you.”

“I’m fine as well.” I glared down at her. “That was a stupid move to make, coming out into the water to save me. How did you think that was going to happen?”

“I didn’t think.” She glared back at me. “I just acted. I just wanted to help.”

“You nearly drowned.”

“Only because I had my clothes weighing me down and the current out there is crazy,” she muttered back to me.

“Don’t ever do that again, Riley.”

“I didn’t want to see you die, Hudson.” Her eyes filled up with tears. “I had to do something.”

“Shh.” I crouched down and pulled her into my arms. “It’s okay now. We’re both fine.”

“I know.” She nodded and looked into my eyes.

We were both still for a moment before our lips met, slowly and unsteadily at first, as if neither of us knew what the other one wanted. Then the kiss deepened and we fell back into the sand, our tongues exploring each other while we held hands. The kiss only lasted for a few minutes before we both just lay back and stared at the sky in silence. My heart was beating fast as we lay there, exhausted, but happy, both of us wishing that we were somewhere else. That it was just the two of us.

My ringing phone upset the mood, and I groaned when I saw Clara’s name on the screen. I was going to ignore it when I saw Riley look at the screen and jump up.

“I guess we should go.” She looked into the ocean and avoided my eyes.

“Yeah.” I nodded and got up.

We walked back to my car in silence, neither of us mentioning the moment we’d just had. Neither of us bringing up the fact that there was something developing between us. I guess we both realized that, with Clara in the picture, nothing could happen. Or at least nothing should happen. What sort of people would we be if we went ahead while I was still in a relationship?