Down Too Deep (Dirty Deeds, #4)(47)

While the boys played catch, Marley, Olivia, and I got ready for the fireworks show.

I pulled on my tank and shorts, and then I took the girls inside and got them changed in the bathroom. I hadn’t packed clothes for myself, but I was dry enough. I hadn’t gone completely under the water. My top had barely gotten wet.

When we made it back outside, I laid out their swimsuits to dry, along with our towels, then grabbed one of the picnic blankets Davis had provided from the basket labeled TAKE ONE.

Once we stepped off the tiled patio, Olivia and Marley ran ahead, kicking up sand and waving at the boys. I wasn’t sure where the fireworks were going to be set off. I’d simply been told the beach. Well, Davis seemed to own a massive stretch of it. I couldn’t see another house for miles.

I glanced around. It was beautiful here. Colored lanterns were strung up between posts. Tiki torches were lit. There was even a bonfire going.

I spread the blanket out near a group of others already set up and smiled at the families. Everyone was eating Popsicles.

“Help yourselves!” a woman said, pointing to her cooler.

“Awesome. Thank you!” I grabbed five, returned to our blanket, and sank to my knees just as the girls rushed over, holding hands.

“I think the fireworks are gonna start soon,” Olivia said, her eyes lighting up when I held out a Popsicle. She dropped to her butt and tore the wrapper off. Her nose wrinkled. “Gross, green. Marley, do you like lime?”

Marley collapsed next to Olivia on the blanket and leaned over, licking the Popsicle my daughter held out. She hummed in delight.

Olivia giggled. “Guess that’s a yes!”

“Here, Olivia. I think this is cherry.” I passed her another one.

After confirming the flavor, Olivia put her back to me and scooted to the edge of the blanket, digging her feet in the sand. Marley did the same. I opened another cherry and was halfway finished with it when the boys wrapped up their game. Oliver rushed over to us while Nathan jogged to the house.

“Mom, you know what Davis said?” my son asked, his cheeks flushed and a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. “He said he’ll get us tickets to a game! And we can go on the field and stuff. He actually said that!”

“Cool!” Olivia squealed.

“Wow. I hope you thanked him for offering that.”

“I did. I thanked him a bunch of times. You can ask Nate.” Oliver collapsed onto his knees and caught his breath. “Oh, Popsicles.” He licked his lips.

“Do you want to get changed?” I asked.

“No. I’m dry.” He pulled the wrapper off a lemon-flavored one and bit the end.

Nathan returned to the blanket with a set of noise-canceling headphones for Marley. He must’ve gotten them out of the truck, because I didn’t remember seeing them in the diaper bag. He’d also changed out of his swim trunks and was wearing his T-shirt again and a pair of gray basketball shorts. His hat was back on. I grinned when he slid the aviators into place. Olivia giggled at him and held up her thumbs.

“The sun isn’t really out anymore,” I whispered when Nathan sank down onto the blanket beside me. “Can you even see through those things?”

“I can see you,” he said, voice serious.

I pressed back onto my heels. Despite the chill of the Popsicle, my chest and stomach warmed, delicious heat spreading through me.

God, is there a better feeling than this?

I smiled, knowing he could see it, and passed Nathan his Popsicle.

The kids spun around, and the five of us chatted until Davis announced a two-minute warning until showtime. Then he took off running down the beach.

Oliver and Olivia jumped to their feet and chanted their excitement, along with a few other kids around us. Marley crawled between Nathan’s legs and scrambled into his lap. She yawned and rubbed at her eyes, her little body slumped sideways against him.

“Your mommy loved fireworks,” Nathan told her before sliding the headphones over her ears. He kissed her head.

I smiled warmly at them and asked, “Has she seen them before?”

“No. And the last ones I saw were before she was born.”

I reached out and rubbed Marley’s leg, just below where Nathan held her. “I bet she’s going to love them. My kids did at this age.”

“Yeah?” His hand slid lower and bumped mine. Then his thumb rubbed over my knuckles.

My breath caught. I slowly lifted my head and stared at Nathan, at those sunglasses with the ridiculous tint I couldn’t see through. But it wouldn’t have mattered.

Tint or no tint, I knew he was looking right at me.

His thumb moved slowly, back and forth, back and forth, then grazed between my knuckles and circled in a pattern.

I forced myself to breathe. God, my heart was pounding. This touch was nothing, nothing in the grand scheme of touches or compared to the embrace we’d shared the other night, but his thumb…my skin…it was unparalleled. I couldn’t remember ever feeling anything like this before.

How was that possible?

Just when I thought I felt a little push, a force to turn my hand and bring us palm to palm, the sky lit up and a loud boom shook the earth.

I wrenched my hand back when Marley’s legs kicked out in surprise. She tipped her head up, eyes round as her fists clenched and her arms locked and trembled.