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Kam smiled, clearly aware of the effect she had on her, and doubled down on her teasing as she leaned closer.

This was a girl Dillon could picture in the movies, a girl who made sense on the silver screen. There was no shyness, no uncertainty.

“And what do you think?” asked Kam. “Are you going to want to see me again?”

All at once, the current coursing between them made the sea air torrid. Dillon suddenly couldn’t stand the people millingaround them. The jaunty Christmas carols blaring through the buzzing speakers. The bright lights of the Ferris wheel. The laughter of rowdy teens enjoying the freedom of their weekend. She wanted shadows. Quiet. A cooling breeze.

“C’mon, Kam-Kameryn,” she drew her off the rail, walking backward toward a set of wooden steps that led to the beach.

“Where are we going?”

“For a swim.”

“No, absolutely not!” Kameryn laughed, defiant, but offered no resistance as Dillon lured her toward the sand.

Stepping off the staircase, she pulled her into the shadow of the pier, moving closer to the water, where the barnacled pilings grew mossy, the air turning damp, smelling of salt-soaked wood and drying seaweed.

“Okay, this is where I draw the line,” Kam protested, still laughing as she drew up short just feet shy of the rippling tide. “I don’t want to get my shoes wet.”

“That’s why we generally take them off for a swim,” needled Dillon, kicking off her trainers and tossing the stuffed dolphin further up the sand.

“You know I’m not swimming with you,” Kameryn said, even as she stepped out of her sandals. “I know you know that.”

“Just your toes,” Dillon coaxed, backing a few steps into the chilly water, stopping when it reached her calves. “Don’t bottle out on me now.”

“I’m notbottling out,” Kam mocked her accent, taking a tentative step and gasping as a gentle comber broke against her shins. “Holy shit! It’s freezing!”

Dillon laughed. Itwascold. But she wasn’t willing to admit it. “It’s tepid, at worst.”

“You’re crazy. Has anyone ever told you that?” Kameryn stepped to her, catching her hands, preventing her from moving further away.

“Yeah, maybe once or twice.” Dillon cocked her head. “Is that going to scare you off, Kam-Kameryn?”

“No.” Kameryn brought her hands to her neck. “It’s one of the things I like most about you.” The response was more serious than Dillon had been expecting, the answer firm. It was as certain as the hands Kameryn slipped into her hair, pulling their faces together. As adamant as the mouth that covered hers.

Her thoughts, chaotic, spinning, diminished into a single collective channel as she became aware only of the warmth of their bodies pressed together, and the unfettered desire flaring through her, head to toe. She couldn’t feel the water rising, soaking her to her thighs, or hear the muted strains of Mariah Carey belting out of the speakers fixed to whirling carnival rides.

She knew only that Kameryn’s skin smelled faintly of jasmine, that her mouth tasted of peppermint from the tea she’d sipped as they’d strolled along the pier.

How long they stood there, knee-deep in the surf, she wasn’t sure.

Long enough for her feet to go numb in the undulating tide. Long enough for the cold winter moon to work its way toward the middle of the starless sky.

When they finally drew apart, Kam’s breath was shaky, despite her attempt to make light. “So, was that the swim you were hoping for?”

Dillon could feel a shiver flow through Kam’s fingertips as she drew her back to dry land.

“Better than, I think.” Her thoughts were momentarily derailed as her eyes swept across the dark shoreline. Wherever their shoes had been, the advancing surf had claimed them for the Gods of the Sea.

Kelsey would have gone mental. Kameryn only laughed as she realized the situation, kicking a clump of seaweed in her direction.

“It’s going to be a long walk back to the car barefoot.”

“Look on the bright side,” Dillon scooped up the stuffed dolphin that had survived the rising tide, “we didn’t lose your choice prize.”

“Good thing. I’m expecting you to bring that all the way home with you, you know?”

“I’ll buy it its own seat if I have to.”