Lizzie beat Red to the water and waded out until she was chest-deep. When Red caught up with her, she declared her triumph over him. "I win!"
Lighter in the water, Red playfully wrapped his arms around her and kissed the crook of her neck, enjoying the sea-salt taste of her skin. Lizzie's hands rested on his shoulders. "Yes, and I'm the rotten egg. You know what that means, right?" He pulled back a bit, inches from her face and gazing into her eyes.
"I do." She replied, planting a slow kiss on his lips, her own curling into a smile.
Without warning, she jumped up, pressing down on his shoulders, effectively submerging him under an approaching wave. She went under with him and climbed on his back before he resurfaced, wrapping her legs around his waist.
"Oh, sweetheart, you're gonna pay for that." He growled, miserably failing at his attempt to sound menacing.
"I'm counting on it!" She crowed, and then leaned forward to gently bite down on his earlobe.
Red gasped. "You asked for it!" He squeezed his arms against her legs, holding them tightly around his torso as he lowered his hands and began tickling the soles of her feet.
She squealed and tried to free herself, but his arms were clenched too tightly. She was stuck.
But two can play at this game.
She jabbed both hands into his armpits, giving him a taste of his own medicine, and Red emitted a girlish screech unlike any she could have imagined.
And he tried. He tried so hard to maintain his grip on her legs, but quickly let go in defeat.
When Red turned around to face her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist while they laughed, feather-light and giddy. Lizzie thought they had effectively reached an unspoken truce, until Red leaned in to whisper into her ear, "You know you're playing with fire, Lizzie."
She pulled back so she could make meaningful eye contact when she replied, "Good thing neither of us are afraid of getting burned."
She grabbed the back of his head with one hand and the nape of his neck with the other, directing his lips towards hers. They kissed softly at first, but rather suddenly it deepened. Both moaned when her tongue entered his mouth. As the kiss intensified, it neither strayed from its sensuality nor increased in its speed.
Lizzie's fingers dug into his neck, his shoulders, his scalp, and anywhere else she could reach.
He lowered his hands and pinched her ass. When she instinctively jumped forward, moving against the pain, she inadvertently brushed up against him, reflexively causing her to grind down. Red responded by grabbing Lizzie and pulling her against him tightly. Her legs weakened and trembled, and she lost her grip on his waist. She would have dropped to the ocean floor without Red's firm grip on her.
They relished the sensations of their sudden nearness, aspiring to know each other inside and out, and taking the good with the bad. They trusted each other. Theirs was already a deep love, and this new feeling was better than surreal.
It was sublime.