“Seth is gone,” she said, almost as if she needed the reminder as Luke ran back to her with Buddy trotting along beside him. Luke was tall and had the kind of muscles men earn from years of hard physical work rather than hours in the gym. He had just the right amount of dark chest hair, and watching him come toward her with intent in his eyes sent awareness zinging through her that landed in an ache between her legs.

All he’d ever had to do was look at her in that particular way, and she was his.

“He found a dead bird and a garbage bag,” Luke said.

“Yuck. He didn’t actually eat the bird, did he?”

“I think it was more about giving it a proper burial.”

Sydney looked closer to find Buddy’s paws and nose caked with sand. “Fabulous.”

Luke held out a hand to help her up. “I’ll squirt him off in the yard.”

Buddy’s bath turned into a three-way water fight when Luke trained the hose on Sydney rather than the dog. She fought back, wrestling him for the hose and getting doused again with icy water that had her gasping.

“I guess we can skip the shower,” Luke said with another of those heated looks that made her knees weak. “For now.” He toweled Buddy dry and sent the dog inside for some food and water. “Your turn,” he said to Syd, using a sun-warmed beach towel to dry her face and shoulders.

By the time he dragged the towel over her belly, Sydney was about to combust. “Luke.” The single word carried a world of need.

He ran the towel over his own body, dropped it to the ground and reached for her. “Are you sure, baby? Really sure you’re ready?”

She went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “I’m sure.” Sydney was startled—and even more aroused—when he scooped her up and carried her inside. He kicked the bedroom door shut so Buddy wouldn’t follow them.

As he deposited her on the bed, his gaze traveled over her reverently. “I can’t believe you’re really here,” he said. “And that we’re really about to do this.

“In the middle of the day, no less,” she said, smiling at him. “Scandalous.”

He stretched out next to her. “Very.”

“Your bed will be all wet if we don’t lose the bathing suits.”

“Is that your way of saying we should get naked?”

“If you want to,” she said with a nonchalant shrug that made him laugh.

“I want to.” He kissed her and tugged on the string that held up her top. “I really want to.”