Chapter 7: Sun Protection Factor
"If he's not your boyfriend, he needs to lighten up a bit, yeah?" Dake knelt beside me, bringing his face within inches of mine. "It looks like you've got a little sunburn on your nose. Either that or you're blushing."
It was a little bit of both. "I-It's a curse," I sputtered, blushing redder. "Red hair, pale skin."
He chuckled. "Aw, poor little bluey. Did you bring sunscreen with you? I'll do your back."
I dug through the contents of my bag with trembling hands and fished out my sunscreen.
He laughed when he saw it was SPF 80. "I usually don't have to use any," he bragged. True, his bronze skin must have spent every minute since birth acclimating to the coastal Australian sun.
He squeezed out a generous amount into his hands and spread the cool cream over my back and shoulders. His hands were strong and surprisingly soft. I closed my eyes and let myself sway slightly as he rubbed neat circles into my skin. I think he kept doing so long after the sunscreen was adequately applied, but neither of us complained. I liked the way his hands felt.
He broke the weighty silence. "I'm starting to get hungry. Are you? Come on, let's go see the vendor. I'm buying."
While Dake bought us something to eat, I used the opportunity to send Auntie a quick text so that she knew I was okay. "Just wanted to let you know that I'm having a great time. Should be home before it gets late." She was always pretty lenient when it came to curfew, but I purposefully I didn't commit to going home at any specific time. Right now, saying goodbye to Dake was unthinkable.
She texted right back. Within the abbreviated jumble of letters, I was able to interpret: "Okay, Sweetie. Have a fun and make good choices!" She always ended her texts with far more exclamation points than necessary.
I tucked my cell phone into the pocket of my tote bag just as Dake came around the corner. He handed me a warm doughnut in a crinkly wax paper sleeve.
I would have been content to keep Dake all to myself, as my secret...but walking along the beach with him the way I had dreamt of doing with Nathaniel just a few short hours ago, and then showing him off in front of Amber and Nathaniel...this way seemed much, much sweeter. I was glad to have exposed him to witnesses just in case I came to question his reality later.
I bit into the soft doughnut and let it dissolve on my tongue, savoring it as long as possible.
As Dake swallowed his last bite, he woke me from my stupor when he suggested, "Now, why don't we go do something a bit more...fun?"
"More fun than this? This is already way more fun than I'm used to. Are you sure I can handle it?"
Rather than speak his reply aloud, he brushed the residual cinnamon sugar off my cheek, then licked the sweetness from his fingertips.
