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"We had a big creek out back of our house ere kids Anda thick rope with a knot at the end for us to swing on"

Us Paige and Whitney As children

"We used to swing out over the creek as far as we could Then we’d let go, flying into the water It was like orking together I’d push Whitney and she’d push ot the farthest?"

"I usually did But it was like we both won because ere a team"

In the halcyon days when there’d been no competition between thereed Then she stopped, tipping her head back to look at hiood suo bad, don’t we?"

"Yes" Just as he’d forgotten--or buried--his lad we’ve remembered"

He turned her in his arers on his hot skin "Your hands are freezing I better get you out of here"

"I’m not cold with your arms around me"

He hadn’t kissed her since they’d left the hotel this ain, he hadn’t touched her This day, this trip, the whale watching, the picnic on the beach, even the ive her soiven him

She couldn’t know, couldn’t possibly fatho out the joy froht

"Thank you," he whispered

Whether he moved or she did, their mouths touched Her kiss was perfect for its very purity Their breaths ainst his chest He licked the sea of chocolate and chaave hiave her the depths of his

The sea surged beyond the on the shore, and the wind surrounded the the silk of her hair across his cheeks His blood was high, screa for him to pull her down to the sand with him, to show her all the fury of his desire Yet his heart wanted nothing more than her taste on his lips, her ar he was, everything he couldn’t say, everything he wanted her to have