A Beachfront Education

Prompt: Renegade - "Muscle Beach"

Morosely sucking at the fruity drink that Garcia had delivered him mere minutes ago, Spencer Reid looked around woefully. He hated feeling inadequate. Despised it, actually. For most of his adolescent life, he'd worn those feelings like a second skin. When he'd finally found his niche within the Bureau, or more specifically, within his team, those feelings had dissipated, slowly but surely, during the last few years. But today, they were back in full force.

And all because he sat planted like a tree stump in the middle of a beach towel on this...this...muscle beach.

Gads, he was surrounded on all sides by men that could very well grace the catalogues of those stupid magazines that Morgan insisted on reading. Periodicals like Muscle & Fitness and Maxim, their glossy pages filled with well-built muscular men.

And here he sat, clad in a baggy white tee shirt and Bermuda shorts, his pale skin baking like a lobster in the hot July afternoon sunshine. He knew he had to be sticking out like a sore thumb among these modern-day Hercules.

And it was all JJ's fault.

The young beautiful media liaison had relentlessly hounded him, arguing insistently that he needed to broaden his horizons and get out more. Then, the moment he had followed her suggestions, his turncoat friend had abandoned him on the beach, forgoing his company to frolic in the waves with a ripped Romeo.

Not that he minded. His days of young foolish puppy love for his best friend had long ago passed. Still, he could have been back at his air conditioned apartment in Arlington with a Vonnegut book in hand, instead of sweltering in the hot summer sun on this Virginia beach cursing genetics for his stick thin body.

"Penny for your thoughts," he heard a sweet voice comment from behind him, the tone easily recognizable over the sudden burst of laughter from the nearby makeshift volleyball game.

Glancing over his shoulder at a bikini clad Emily Prentiss, Reid's lips quirked into a shy half-smile as he shaded his eyes with his hand. "Trust me, they aren't worth that much."

"I seriously doubt that," Emily laughed, dropping beside him on his towel and bumping his shoulder with hers in easy camaraderie. "Aren't you hot?" she asked, offering him a sidelong appraisal.

"Baking," Reid nodded, pressing a finger to his arm, watching as the red skin whitened for a bare second. "But I don't exactly have the kind of body you want to showcase on a beach full of Adonises."

Cocking her head to the side as she ran her eyes up and down Reid's compact body appreciatively, Emily shook her head. "There's not a thing wrong with your body, Reid. Lose the shirt," she said, nodding to the white tee he wore.

"You're insane," Reid mumbled in half-shock, tightening his arms where they were locked around his knees. "I glow in the dark, Em."

"Even more of a reason to lose it," Em shrugged, grabbing the hem with two hands and tugging it up his back. "You can work on your tan."

"Emily," Reid admonished, batting gently at her nimble hands as she attempted to invade his personal space, "I'll burn to a crisp."

Sweeping the shirt over his head, Emily deftly plucked a bottle of suntan lotion from her beach bag and wagged it in front of his face. "No, you won't."

"I look ridiculous," Reid muttered self-consciously, his eyes darting around the sandy beach as he made a grab for the shirt she'd too easily discarded.

"No, you do not," Emily argued, smacking his hand with the bottle. "You're hot. Look," she said knowingly, pointing a finger towards a small group of women serendipitously stealing glances at him.

"Yeah, exactly," Reid grumbled, unable to meet the eyes of any of those tanning beauties. "They're whispering about the scrawny ghost getting naked on the beach blanket."

Flipping the cap to the lotion, Emily rolled her eyes. How could he think that? All her life she'd been around hard military men with big muscles and tiny IQs during her mother's tenures around the world. Reid's lean body, with its graceful lines and sinewy muscles, was a welcome change of scenery. A dancer's body. "Reid," Emily said quietly, squeezing some of the white cream into her palms and resting them gently on his strong back, "lie down and learn to recognize your own appeal," she ordered, gently shoving him onto his belly and straddling his back before he could voice an objection.

Biting his lip as he buried his face in the towel, he desperately tried to ignore how good her hands felt against him...how pleasant her slight weight felt resting on his buttocks. But it was useless. He'd always been mildly attracted to Emily since she'd joined the team, and her proximity at this moment was only adding to his body's growing discomfort.

Smiling as he shivered slightly underneath her fingertips, Emily wondered if his body was responding to hers as quickly as she was to his. Already, her skin tingled where her thighs brushed his sides, a pleasant warmth steadily growing within her core as he shifted his weight beneath her legs. Smoothing her hands down his back once more, she softly commanded, "Now, turn over so I can get your chest."

"Uhmm," Reid hummed, wondering how in the world he could do that without her seeing that more than just his body temperature had risen with the loss of his shirt. "My chest is fine."

"Come on, Reid," Emily grinned, tickling his side, "Turn over. You don't want to be a lobster on one side."

"Emily," Reid murmured, shaking his head as she lifted just enough to flip him over, making his prominent problem all too clear.

"Oh...my," Emily breathed, her eyes glued to his tented trousers, unable to resist the mental picture that came oh-too-easily to her already stimulated mind.

"It...it's a male's natural reaction when he's stimulated," Reid stuttered, his cheeks flushing from more than the glaring sunlight. "It doesn't have to be sexual. It..."

"Reid," Emily interrupted, gently covering his mouth with her fingertips to quell his faltering explanation, "It's okay. Really."

"R-really?" Reid said faintly, meeting her understanding eyes as she settled her hips over his and squirted suntan lotion on his chest.

"Really," Emily said meaningfully, dropping her hands to his chest and gently massaging, drawing a hiss from between his lips. "Feel good?"

"Y-yes," Reid nodded, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously. Meeting her darkening gaze, Reid asked hoarsely, "Emily, what are you doing?"

Shifting her hips against his growing hardness, Emily smiled as shards of pleasure ricocheted inside her. Instead of answering his question, she asked instead, her voice catching in spite of her best efforts, "That depends. Are you enjoying what I'm doing?"

"I..I...," Reid floundered. Clearing his throat, he answered honestly. "Yes," he whispered.

"Me, too," Emily whispered, trailing her hand down his chest to caress his taut stomach. Dropping her gaze to where her hand rested, she licked her lips. Just as she'd suspected...a six pack. How could he not realize how sexy that was?

"But you didn't answer my question, Emily," Reid reminded her as she slowly traced the sharp curves of his hipbones with a trailing finger.

"Consider this some summer lovin', Dr. Reid," Emily whispered, huskily, dropping to slowly exchange a wet, evocative kiss with the formerly clueless genius.

Summer had never seemed so bright until now.

Finis

Author's Note:

Please forgive our extra long rambling today, but we have a lot to share. First, originally we planned to publish all our stories on Mondays. But after realizing we have ten ongoing works, we decided to split them up. So, we will publish five fics on Sundays and five fics on Mondays for the foreseeable future. As always, we will publish the odd oneshot in between, especially when we have notes to share with our readers regarding our forum.

For those following Chit Chat on Author's Corner forum, we have several announcements. First, we'd like to announce our interviews with the very talented authors Reidfanatic and ConfettiLeaves. Next, please check out our mini-challenge…The Creative Reasons Challenge! Now is the time to put your creative talents to work and write a story depicting the events and/or emotions regarding JJ's departure. It can be a drabble, oneshot or multi-chapter featuring any characters you choose. For more info, check out our challenge thread on the "Chit Chat on Author's Corner" forum.

For those of you who want to keep updated on the new threads posted to the forum, you can subscribe by going to the forum page (the link is on my profile page), then clicking "Forum Subscription" in the upper right corner. We have new and exciting discussion threads and interviews, as well as our monthly challenges, planned for the future.

Again, we want to take this opportunity to thank anyone for reading, reviewing, alerting, and favoriting our stories. We truly appreciate hearing from each one of you.