Filthy Beautiful Forever

I rise and remove my sunglasses. ‘I’m game.’ I can only sit in the sun for so long. Typically after an hour or so, I head inside and check my email while Tatianna continues sunning herself to a deep bronzed glow.

‘Are you seriously going to go down that thing?’ Tatianna asks, eyeing the slide with disdain.

‘Sure, why not?’ I shrug.

‘I’m not getting in that freezing cold water,’ Tatianna says, laying down again. ‘You two have fun.’ She lifts the fashion magazine she was reading back in front of her face.

When I get close, Mia spanks me across the ass with a noodle. An unexpected laugh falls from my lips. There is something so playful and whimsical about her personality. She can still make me forget myself and just let go, despite our years apart. She’s always possessed that skill. It was most helpful right after my mom passed away. I needed that levity more than ever, and Mia provided it. And I suppose now is no different. I like that she doesn’t act her age.

‘Come on. I’ll let you go first down the slide,’ she says.

‘Let me, huh?’ I lift one eyebrow. I pick her up and set her down on the top of the slide. It doesn’t escape my notice that she’s removed the shorts she’d been wearing all afternoon. Her bikini bottoms don’t match the top. They’re lime green. And the rounded curve of her ass cheeks peeking from the bottom is highly distracting. ‘Down you go.’ I place my hands on her shoulders and give her a playful push while still holding her securely.

‘You wouldn’t.’ She glares at me while her mouth is curved up into a crooked grin.

‘Maybe I’m not as nice as the guy you remember.’

‘You’re perfect,’ she says, her face going serious for a moment.

She can’t say things like that. It’s confusing as shit. The conversation I had with Colton last night spins in my brain. He was convinced that I’ve been in love Mia since I was a kid.

‘Collins?’ she asks, her face still holding its serious expression.

‘Plug your nose,’ I tell her and give her a shove.

Mia goes barreling down the slide toward the ocean and just before I hear the splash, she lets out a playful squeal.