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Juniper took the trash to the bin and dumped the trays.

“Jo Jo, will you make a sandcastle with me?” Juniper asked.

“I would love to do that,” Jo said, taking her hand. The two of them walked together back to our spot and I pulled out my book. I’d join them. In a few pages.

Juniper played sohard that she passed out on the way home, but Jo was the one who got her out of her booster seat and carried her upstairs while I managed everything else.

“She’s covered in sand,” Jo said when we walked through the door.

“Just take her to the bathroom and brush her off into the tub as best you can and then we can let her pass out for a little while. She’ll probably wake up for dinner.”

Jo nodded and took Juni to the bathroom. I put things away and picked up, smiling when Jo came out of Juniper’s room, closing the door behind her.

“Come on, let’s get clean,” she said, holding her hand out to me.

“I’ve got sand in lots of places,” I said, letting myself flirt with her.

“Oh yeah? I’ll have to do a thorough inspection.”

I laughed and fell into her arms as she dragged me toward the shower and we shucked off our clothes and bathing suits, getting our hands soapy and all over each other.

Eventually we got clean and Jo grabbed the bag of clothes and other supplies she’d packed up when we stopped at her house earlier.

I hadn’t even asked her if she wanted to stay the night tonight. She hadn’t mentioned going home and had set up herelectric toothbrush on the sink and put her moisturizer on the second nightstand. Jo had also brought her ereader and a few other things to make herself at home here.

She was settling in and that was absolutely fine with me. More than fine.

Juniper slept for a while,so Jo and I sat on the couch and watched a few shows, just enjoying being with each other and sharing touches. Her hands in my hair, my fingers making random patterns on the inside of her arm.

We were both drowsy and I didn’t know if I had it in me to have a repeat of last night.

“God, why does the beach make me so tired? It doesn’t make any sense,” Jo said through a yawn.

“Don’t yawn, you’ll make me yawn,” I said and then yawned.

“Sorry. Hey, we can heat up something from the freezer, or we can order dinner. What do you want to do?”

“I’m good with ordering something,” I said. “Let’s wait until Juniper wakes up. Or we decide we’re starving. Whichever comes first.”

Jo nodded and then straddled me.

“Hello,” she said, smiling down at me.

“Hi.”

She held my face in her hands and kissed me so gently. Slowly. No rush, no hurry.

Too soon, she let out a frustrated sound and pressed her forehead to mine. I had to check and make sure I was still sitting on the couch. My entire body felt like it was floating somewhere near the ceiling.

“I can’t start that with you or else I’ll want to finish it. And I don’t want to traumatize our child,” she said, her voice shaky.

Ourchild.

My eyes flew open and I stared at her.

“What?” she asked. She didn’t realize what she’d said. The word had just slipped out without her noticing.

“Nothing,” I said after a few seconds. “I just thought I heard Juniper.”