by Claire Woods
“I hope that I do.”
“You will.”
“Well, when I do. I’m going to make this up to you. We’ll get up early and stay up late. Binge on The Crown and popcorn and when we wake up, we’ll walk the beach and find more shells for our collection. Then we’ll go to Kiki’s spa and get the works. After that, we’ll have lunch on the boardwalk and gorge ourselves on crab cakes and lobster fritters.”
“I’ve missed you.” My hand puts the phone down, so she won’t hear the sob that escapes. Swiping a tear, I take a deep breath, finding my cheery voice.
“Did you watch the royal wedding?”
“I sure did. I thought she looked beautiful.”
“She did,” I agree. “But the dress she wore to the second reception was even better.”
“You’ll find your prince too, sweetie.”
“I don’t need a prince, Mom. I’m doing just fine.”
“Okay, who is he?”
“He’s no one… shit! How do you do that? You always know!”
“Even though I’m not there… I know you better than anyone. It was in your voice.”
“He’s just some summer guy. I don’t even know his name.”
“Your father was just ‘some summer guy’… look at us now.”
“Yes, but you and Dad are the exception to the rule.”
“Maybe. But remember this, Callie. You never know what’s really going on in someone else’s life. Look at what’s happening to our family. Maybe you should give this boy a chance. Don’t punish everyone for what that snobby asshole Elliott did.”
“Yeah… his name was a sure give away he was an entitled jerk.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it anymore.”
“I won’t. It’s just… Sophie told me last night she saw him in town. His family came back for another summer.”
“Just stay clear of him.”
“I plan on doing exactly that.”
“I love you.”
“Love you, too, my sweet girl. Thank you for taking my mind off the damn pain.”
“I’m coming to see you soon. Maybe even this weekend.”
“You can’t. It’s Memorial Day. You’re needed there.”
“Well, then we’ll video chat.”
“Just warn me first so I can put my wig on.”
“Stop, Mom.”
“I’m serious. I don’t want to scare you.”
“The only thing that scares me is losing you.”
“Ugh, the doctors are here. Doing their morning rounds. Go get that summer boy and have some fun.”
“Okay. I’ll think about it.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, forever,” she answers hanging up.
Feeling better, I hop down and get ready to work. It’s going to be a long, back-breaking summer, but maybe Mom’s right. Letting my hair down with my sexy stranger just might be what I need.
“Cawwlie?”
“Morning Buddy. How did you sleep?”
“Good.”
Charlie holds his favorite stuffed shark to his chest, toddling down to me. He’s five and a half but still so much a baby.
Mom panicked the closer she got to forty and the next thing I knew I was in high school swaddling my baby brother.
“Can you make some pancakes?”
“Absolutely.” I ruffle his hair leading him inside.
Pouring him some fresh orange juice to drink while I mix the batter I turn to him. “Hey, bud. Dad tells me you, and he are moving to the city for a few weeks.”
“Yeah,” he drops his face in his hand, “I don’t want to go.”
“I know. I’m going to miss you a ton. But do you know who misses you more?”
“Mama.”
“Yes. She misses you so much. I just talked to her, and she can’t wait to see you.”
“But I don’t want to go to camp. I want to stay here and play on the beach.”
“I know. What if… I come to get you one weekend and me, and you can hang out and boogie board all day?”
“Okay.”
Feeling my chest tighten, I hold him close, bury my nose in his hair feeling like another piece of my heart’s taking a bruising.
***
“Come on Callie. Come out tonight. You can’t stay home depressed and lonely another night. It’s opening night at Beachcomber. We’re on the VIP list.”
Feeling the oppressive weight of emptiness stuffing me down on the bed—my eyes flit towards the clock.
It’s not even eight.
I’m snuggled in, wearing a ratty T older than dirt, while feeling even older than that. Dad and Charlie left four days ago taking all the sounds of a home with them.
“Fine. But I’m not getting dressed up.”
“Be ready in an hour. Nobody shows up before ten anyway.”
Sighing, I fling my duvet off, shivering as the cold air hits my bare legs. I can’t sleep without a thick blanket covering me like a cocoon, so the thermostat is always set to sixty.
I took a shower before I crawled into bed and my long hair hangs in waves from being air dried. Grabbing a pair of jean shorts, I slip them on, replacing my old T-Shirt with a simple tank. The only bits of flash are my favorite dangly earrings made from mother of pearl.
Spritzing my wrists with my favorite light perfume, I apply some gloss and mascara, place some bangles on my wrists, and grab my Coach wristlet.
Slipping on a comfortable pair of flat sandals, I grab my phone, keys, ID, and cash just as Soph knocks twice on my back door. I grin, feeling better already.
“Do you want to walk or drive?”
“Drive. My feet are killing me after waiting tables all day.”
My eyes lower to her crazy heels. “Wearing those won’t help.”
She turns one leg out, “but don’t they make me look damn sexy?”
“They sure do,” I grin locking up.
We climb into my parent’s summer car; an old convertible Dad fixed up years ago.
With the top down, my bestie by my side, and a night that feels as if something’s in the air—my belly flips with excitement. The first night of summer always does this to me.
Even if I know better.
Even if I know magic isn’t real.
Tonight, it feels like it is as cars line both sides of the small strip with the bass from a dozen different beats mixing. Horns honk as friends pass one another. I grin yelling, “Woo-hoo!” to a group of summer boys that pull up beside us in a beat-up Jeep Wrangler.
They holler back not noticing the light changed from red to green. My foot punches the gas, and we laugh, leaving them in the dust.
***
“See? I knew you’d have fun.”
Sophie was right. I’m so glad I didn’t miss opening night. I’m not putting myself on display like the dozens of single girls here, hanging in groups, with a drink in hand gyrating their hips, showing the men what they’ve got.
Standing under one of the twenty or so potted palm trees, driven up I-95 from Florida every year, turns the club into something that transports you to Miami… I feel the beat of summer running through me as my body moves to the rhythm the DJ’s spinning.
“I’ll be right back—going to get another round,” Soph shouts over the music and the crowd.
Nodding, my eyes turn back to the crowded dance floor.
“Hello.”
A finger taps my shoulder, causing me to turn, coming face-to-face, with him; my handsome stranger who kisses like a devil and looks like a naughty prince. He’s wearing a ball cap low over his face, but his amber eyes beam like lasers as they zero in on me.
Behind him are two huge guys eyeing me like they are in on some secret—smirking like two idiots. I can’t help but smile brightly.
“What? My friends get a bigger hello than me?” He whispers in my ear, index finger rubbing up and down my forearm gently before he takes my hand, leading me away.
“Soph?!” I call back over my shoulder. She wav
es me off, having found a group of old friends from high school we haven’t seen in years.
My hand feels tiny in his as his big body parts the crowd. He leads me to the far corner of the dance floor by the stage, wraps his arms around me and slow dances to a song everyone else is cutting loose to.
He smells divine.
His aftershave and cologne are nice, but the smell of his laundered shirt makes me feel gooey and warm as he holds me close to his beating heart.
“This isn’t so bad is it?” His hand is splayed against my tailbone holding me close pressing me against his muscular thighs. It’s impossible not to feel him against me.
My nipples peak in my bra.
He’s just so overpowering. Intense. Manly as fuck.
I don’t answer, caught up in the spell of the first night of summer. He’s a dark mage casting spells of lust and need on me.
His hands cup my face, mine cover his as he leans down, lips hovering, “who are you?” He looks pained as if not knowing who I am physically hurts. I don’t answer. He lets out a breath, cupping my face hard, capturing my lips, kissing me like he’s dying; thirsting for the taste of my mouth. We moan, hips pushing and pulling apart, grinding on the dance floor like a couple of drunks dry-fucking.
But if we’re drunk—it’s from the taste of each other’s tongues and the crackling sparks shooting everywhere our bodies touch.
Taking his hand, I lead him past the bouncer, down a few steps to the sand—feeling wild and reckless. I want his hands and mouth on me before I need to go home and be the responsible one.
I don’t want more than this—don’t have time for heartache. I’m not sure he’s even looking for more than to put out the fire of passion blazing between us anyway.
With the waves breaking in the background, the moonlight spilling on us, the noise from the crowded bar behind us—he kisses me like I’m his lost love come home.
He’s a rake, a handsome devil, with a body cut from steel, seducing me so skillfully—I wonder how many women have felt the magic of his touch.
He groans, hands cupping my ass, lifting me up. He walks me over to one of the massive pillars under the pier and backs me up against the rough wood.
His fingers trace my cheekbone, eyes beg, “who are you? Baby, please. I need to know whose face haunts my dreams every night.”
Sighing, my hands stroke his sculpted jaw wishing I could just let him carry me off somewhere dark and mysterious and plunder my body like a pirate in a Regency Romance.
“Fuck it. Fine, don’t answer.” His breathing ragged as he runs a hand through his hair pissed and turned the fuck on as he stares at me.
“Don’t. Don’t be mad. My life…it’s complicated.”
“So, uncomplicate it.”
He reaches for me, taking both of my hands raising them above my head as his body pins me to the pole, mouth finding my neck.
“Yield to me, sweet princess. Tell me where to find you.”
My head hangs, refusing to meet his eyes
I’ll break if I do.
But I just don’t have time for whatever this is burning between us. Besides, I know when the days get shorter and colder everything will change. He’ll move on, leaving me with nothing but memories full of nights like this. And I don’t want to be that girl anymore—the one who gets left behind.
“I should go.”
He steps back, the corded muscles of his neck flexing as he stares at me, trying to figure out what in the hell my problem is.
Brushing past him, I take a few steps before turning back. “It’s not you. It’s me.”
His lips twitch. “Really Fanny? I’ve used that line a hundred times, and finally, someone’s thrown it back. I should warn you—” He stalks closer, fists buried in the pockets of his khaki shorts. “… that I never lose. In fact, throwing down the gauntlet only makes me want the win more.”
“You think seducing me is some game? That I’m some prize?”
Anger replaces passion as my eyes go dark.
“No Fanny. You’re the missing piece of my heart.”
“You’re incredible. You are either a complete pyscho or the best player on campus. Maybe drunk girls believe the lies.”
“Oh. It’s not a lie sweetheart. I’ve been with enough women to recognize the real deal when I see it. And you—are the REAL DEAL. I don’t need lines, Fanny. In fact, most days I need to pry talons off me. I’m kind of a big deal.”
“Really?” My eyebrow arcs. “Well, good for you. I’m not interested in another player. So, if you think, I’m going to be impressed—don’t forget I’ve already heard your lackluster singing and witnessed your lack of driving skills.”
“I’m an excellent driver, especially when a woman’s the wheel. My hands can be at six and twelve at the same time. Or if you prefer three and nine… I can do that too.”
I try to hold it in.
I really do.
But he’s so friggin cute, funny, and kisses like a Greek God.
My lips part, with the grin, I tried to hide. “Oh yeah? What if I prefer going in reverse?”
His smile fades. “Don’t tease me.”
Striding forward, he takes me by the wrist, spins behind me pulling me tightly against him.
Taking a fistful of my hair, he sweeps it aside, lips finding the base of my neck. “I like reverse, too. It’s one of my favorite ways to… drive.”
Gasping at the image of him taking me from behind, I melt against him. My hands wrap over his as his lips find my ear. “Go. Go run. I’ll give you a head start. If I find you in the same spot where I saw you earlier—you’re coming home with me. No names, no questions—just the promise of a night filled with the sweetest, dirtiest, and roughest sex. I’ll even make you pancakes in the morning.”
“Gee, what an offer. I’ll think about it. It’s not every night an offer of a one-night-stand includes breakfast.”
He smirks, “It’s not every night the girl I want to take home refuses. But I assure you—once I have you in my bed—you’ll never want to leave.”
“Cocky much?”
“Always.”
Shaking my head, I turn to go, “sex is overrated. It’s never as good as you think it’s going to be.”
“Oh, sweetheart. It is. I promise—I don’t know what douchebags made you think otherwise. But I know for sure—you and I are going to burn hotter than the volcano in Hawaii, and when we erupt—it’s going to shoot us both beyond the stars and back.”
“Damn you are good.”
“The best, sweet thang.”
“I don’t know whether to laugh or swoon.”
“How about both?”
I start running.
“One!”
He calls out.
“Two!”
I trip catching myself right before I face plant in the sand.”
“Three!”
Looking like an ass, I bend down to slip my sandals off.
“FOUR!”
A screech leaves my mouth as I look back at him rocking like a sprinter on the race block.
“FIVE! I’m going to catch you sooner or later! Stop fighting it!”
Taking off, I sprint across the sand, flashing the bouncer the neon orange bracelet they gave me when I paid to get in, looking frantically for Sophie.
“SIX!” His roar stops some of the dancers as it rips through the night.
“Sophie!” I practically scream, stumbling past people, mumbling apologies as I grab her hand. “We’ve got to go. NOW!”
She takes one look at my panicked face and grabs her purse.
Racing to the parking lot, I vault right into the driver’s seat of the convertible yelling at Soph to dive into the passenger seat.
Turning the key in the ignition, the powerful engine roars as I catch his hot eyes in the rearview as I peel out so hard—the tires squeal mixing with the tunes blaring from the car speakers, “The Boys of Summer by the Atari’s.”
He jogs after us, singing the lin
es, “I can see you… your brown skin is shining in the sun…”
“Please tell me you weren’t running from him? Hit the brakes, Callie. What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know. He scares the shit out of me, though.”
“Why?”
“Because he makes me feel wild, out of control. Needy.”
“That’s exactly why you should turn this car around.”
Instead, my foot presses the gas harder.
I’m running.
Running as if the safety of my guarded heart depends on it. Because I know if he caught me—it’d be more than hot sex—he’d be the wave that would drag me under, refusing to let me free. I’d be caught in a riptide of desire, unable to break loose for the safety of shore.
I’d drown in him.
And I can’t afford to do that again.
My first summer love took me years to rebound from.
I blame it on the dozens of Hallmark movies I’ve binged watched. The thing is—I am a believer in true love, rooting for the princess in the fairytale to live her happily ever after.
I’m just not sure I’ll ever be her.
I’m more like Cinderella waiting on others all day but without the wicked step-mother. Without any family at all. Just an empty house where the ghosts of happier times linger.
***
GABE
“Who in the hell was that?”
"Fanny.”
“Fanny? Are you shitting me?”
My eyes never leave the taillights in the distance. “Nope.”
“Well, hell, what did you do to make her run like that?
“I kissed her.”
Marcus spews his beer all over the parking lot. Some of it landing ten feet away on my flip-flops. “Damn. Dirty Player lost his mojo.”
Trey and Marcus hoot hysterically at me standing by the road, taking the loss.
“Nah. She just couldn’t handle the heat I was bringing.”
“Well, she was hot. I mean like that chick Nina Dobrev from the Vampire Diaries.” Marcus pauses realizing what he just confessed to, then shrugs. “What? They don’t let you charge porn when we’re on the road at away games. I needed something to spank it to.”
Shaking my head, my eyes cut over to him when her car’s out of view. “Don’t you ever see her face in that perverted head of yours. She’s going be my girl.”