“Which beach? Can we go to the snorkel beach in Destin?”
“Only if you promise to stay close to me and not go out to deep.”
“Promise.”
Luckily Madison swam like a sea otter, but I was always extra careful with her because she had no fear of the water. “Okay, let’s go get ready.”
Madison jumped up and grabbed her backpack as she ran toward the bathroom. I took the box of cereal and Madison’s empty cup back to the kitchen. We’d have a bit of a walk down Osteen beach to the good snorkeling spot along the jetty, so I filled a couple of water bottles with ice water and packed a lunch. In no time, Madison came running into the kitchen in her adorable swimsuit that glistened with a metallic mermaid scales print.
Streaks of white on her arms and legs showed her ineffectual attempts to put sunscreen on. “Come here, goober.” Squatting down, I helped her get the sunscreen smoothed out and rubbed in, then put some on her back and shoulders.
“I already got my shoulders.”
“Well, it won’t hurt to put more on.” When I was done, I pointed to the peanut butter sandwiches I’d been making when she came in. “Go finish those and I’ll get ready.”
In my room, I felt the suit I’d worn the night before. It was still damp and there was nothing worse than putting on a wet swimsuit. But when I went to my drawers, my other two suits were not in good shape. The black one was faded from chlorine into an ugly mottled gray and the lime green stripe was missing one of the straps. Poop Monkey!
The only suit I had left was a tankini I’d ordered online without seeing what it had looked like in the back. From the front, it was a gorgeous aqua halter top fell loosely down to cover my waist, but still gave me plenty of support in the chest because it had a built-in bikini top as well. The bottom of the tankini wrapped around my back and tied around my waist like a sarong. The whole thing was adorable but I’d never worn it because I was always with my friends and this suit exposed a lot of my back. I’d have to keep my posture perfect to make I didn’t have any rolls showing. But it was just going to be Madison and me and a lot of tourists we didn’t know, so that wouldn’t be a big deal today.
Gathering my courage, I put on the suit and stood in front of the mirror, turning to look at myself from every angle. Dang, I looked really cute. Perky on top, curvy in the hips, my waist camouflaged by the design of the suit. The color made my light tan look darker so it really popped. Luckily, I had shaved yesterday before going to the beach so my legs were still smooth.
My bedroom door opened and Madison came in without knocking. Of course. “Ooh, I love that suit. Oh my gosh. You look beautiful.”
The admiration in her voice did a lot for my confidence, even if she was only seven. Kids were way more honest than adults. “I don’t look fat?”
She shook her head. “No. You looked way fatter in the big t-shirt you were wearing, but not in this.”
I lifted an eyebrow at her, but she didn’t see because she was too focused on my suit. She grabbed the bottom hem of the tankini top and lifted it, exposing my stomach. The girl had no boundaries. “Maddi, stop.”
As I tried to push the top down, she pushed on my abdomen. “See. My mom’s tummy s all jiggly and pokes out. Yours doesn’t jiggle at all.”
“Okay, okay.” Let’s get going before I change my mind.
I grabbed my waterproof phone case and my phone from the top of my dresser and only then saw that I had a message. From Dante.
Dante: Hey, Sorry about last night. You mad?
Now, how did I answer that?
I wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen it, but if I did, he’d think I was mad at him. And I wasn’t. I just hated the truth he’d spoken.
Madison tugged on my hand. “Come on, Sadie.”
“Hold on. Let me answer this and we’ll go.”
She groaned with all the dramatic impatience a seven-year-old bossy-butt. “I want to go.”
She was distracting me and making me feel rushed, so I just sent a quick reply.
Me: Not mad at all. On my way to the snorkel beach with Madison. Talk later.
I grabbed my beach bag and dropped my phone in it. “Okay, let’s get our stuff and go.”
A few minutes later, I got in my car and adjusted the air conditioning and the volume on the radio while Madison buckled up in the back seat. Just as I was about to put the car in reverse and head out, I got another text.
Dante: Cool. Meet you there.
“What? I’ve got to go change.”
“Sadie, no! You’ll take forever. Please. If we don’t go early enough, we won’t get a good spot.”
Oh man. With a crazy knot of apprehension in my stomach, I backed out. Surely he didn’t mean he was going to the snorkel beach with us. We’d never hung out alone, only with our group of friends. What was going on?
Chapter Three
When we got to the beach, there were still a few parking spots open along the side of the road. “Look, it won’t be too crowded.”
“Yay!” Madison flung off her seatbelt and jumped out of the car. She threw her beach towel over her shoulder and grabbed her snorkel and mask from the backseat.
I took my time getting my beach bag and the insulated lunch bag I’d packed. “Stay off the road,” I warned her as I checked to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. I didn’t want to hike back to the car for anything.
“Want me to carry something for you?” The warm masculine voice behind me made me jump.
Spinning around, I found Dante walking towards us, only a few yards away. “You came.”
His mouth quirked in a half-smile. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Because this was…new. “I don’t know.”
He reached for my pink and white striped bag and put it over his shoulder. He had a towel around his neck and a snorkel and mask in one hand. “I was so bored this morning. Is anyone else coming?”
Oh, …he thought this was a group thing. So awkward. “No. Sorry. It’s just us.”
“Why be sorry?” He grinned. “I don’t mind having two babes to myself.”
Madison lowered her brows. “I’m not a babe. I’m seven.”
Dante looked surprised—probably that a female hadn’t immediately fallen for his charm. “I didn’t mean baby.”
She shrugged. “I know what you meant. Let’s go.”
I chuckled. “She’s in a hurry to get there.”
“And just a little bit feisty. Takes after her aunt there.”
“Whatever.” We crossed the street and walked down the sidewalk shaded with palm trees. When we got to the sandy beach access path, I enjoyed the shade from the long row of oleanders and bamboo since we’d be out in the baking sun soon.
“So, you really aren’t mad at me?” Dante asked.
Trudging through deep sand was not my ideal time to chat. “I’m really not. And next time I’m afraid there’s broccoli in my teeth, I’ll know who to ask.”
“Okay, so you are.”
“No. But that doesn’t mean I enjoyed hearing the truth about myself. Or having my self-esteem issues confirmed.”
“Sadie—”
“No more talking right now, please. It’s all I can do to not die walking through this deep sand.”
But Dante was obviously in much better shape than I was. Well, just looking at him would tell you that. Anyway, he kept talking.
“Look, I couldn’t stop thinking about everything I said last night, and I don’t think I explained myself very well.
“Oh yeah?” Great. He was probably going to try again. This was going to be fun.
By that point, we’d finally made it to the beach where tourists from the big condos on this end of the beach clustered under beach umbrellas. We still had a good walk to the jetty, however. Maybe we could get this over with by the time we got there. And if not, well, I’d just put on my snorkel gear and go underwater.
“Look, I wanted to make sure you understood that I wasn’t saying you aren’t pretty, because you
are. I’ve always thought so.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And lots of guys think curvy girls are sexy, including me.”
I rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see them since we were walking side by side while Madison ran ahead of us. “That’s why you date so many of them.”
“You don’t know all the girls I’ve gone out with.”
“You’re totally convincing me. Why don’t you go on and make up a few chubby girlfriends really quick.”
“Dang, Sadie. What do I have to do to get you to believe me? Did you even see that guy back there get smacked by his girlfriend because he was checking you out when you walked by? And in that suit, well, who could blame him?”
I screeched to a stop and turned around to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, some skinny blonde was griping at the guy with her. College kids probably. But there was no way to tell if Dante was right.
“Seriously, Sadie. You’re hot.”
I closed my eyes. As much as it had hurt, I appreciated his honesty more than this. After a second, I collected myself and started walking again. “Dante?”
“What?”
“Just leave it alone, okay?”
He pressed his lips together but nodded.
Madison had already reached the wall of boulders that formed the jetty. She liked to hang out next to them and had already spread her towel out on the sand. “Can I go yet?”
I wasn’t ready to get in the water yet, but I just wanted her to stop driving me crazy. “Sure. But stay close to the shore. Don’t go deeper than your waist till I get out there.”
“Okay,” she agreed, running off and splashing through the gentle waves.
When I put my towel down and took my bag from Dante, I dug through it to find my own snorkel gear. That’s when I saw the sunscreen and realized that in my rush to get going, I hadn’t put any on. With my fair skin, going without wasn’t an option. No, I’d need to put it on and wait till I went into the water and I only had the lotion kind. “Crap.”
“What’s wrong?” Dante asked, dropping his towel in a wad next to mine.
“I didn’t put sunscreen on yet.” I dropped down onto my towel and squirted a large dollop into my hands. I started on my lets first. Why was Dante just standing there watching me? “Uh, you don’t have to wait for me. Unless, do you need sunscreen too?”
“Me? Nah. I won’t get burned since I already have a tan.”
“Lucky.” I let my eyes wander over his dark skin for a moment. I moved onto my arms, making sure to put plenty on my shoulders. I hesitated when it was time to put it on the little bit of my chest that was exposed. I glanced back up at Dante, hesitating. His eyes shifted away, making my cheeks burn.
“Uh, want some help with your back?”
I bit my lip. As self-conscious as it was going to make me, I did desperately need help since so much of it was bare in this suit. “If you don’t mind.”
“Nope.” His voice was light, as if it was no big deal, and held his hand out.
I squeezed some into his hand then turned forward and closed my eyes and clenched my teeth. As soon as his fingers touched my skin, I realized just how terrible, and wonderful, this was going to be. He started in the middle, working in broad sweeps across my skin. Then he seemed to hesitate. “Um. I have to get under your strap.” His fingers worked under the buckle and strap that went around my back. How did something so practical feel so intimate? Then his fingers swept beneath the fabric that tied around my hips. “Oh, this is…open… here.” His voice sounded funny—tight and strained.
“Yeah, it’s just a loose layer over the bikini top. Don’t worry, my skin is covered up there.”
“I’d better get under it in case it shifts in the water.” With his palm flat against my lower back, he ran his finger along my side. His touch was so gentle it almost tickled.
Holy cow, was he taking his time or what? “I’m sure that’s fine,” I said after he’d worked on the other side too. Great. Now my voice sounded funny. “But you’d better get the top of my back since that’s where I burn the most.”
“Sure. I’m going to need more sunscreen though.” He held his hand out, his arm brushing against mine as he waited for me to give him more. I squeezed some into his hand and he got to work again, rubbing it into my shoulders and even under the halter strap tie around my neck. “There,” he said. “Ready now?”
“I need to get my face and let it dry. You can go ahead though.”
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m going to get into the water.”
Then he strode away into the water, not slowing down until he’d gotten into his waist. In one rushing move, he dove forward underwater and emerged again a good twenty yards away or so. It was certainly impressive, but he’d gone without his snorkel stuff. I guess he just needed to cool down.
Feeling uncomfortably warm myself since the sun was brutal overhead now that it was nearing noon, I hurried to get sunscreen on my face, then grabbed my mask and snorkel and joined Madison by the rocks. She had her head out of the water as she looked at something in her hand.
As I waded out to her, I asked, “Finding something?”
“Yeah, a hermit crab. Look how pretty it’s shell is.”
For the next little while, I became Keeper of Madison’s Hermit Crabs. It was super fun—not—but as babysitting gigs went, it wasn’t a bad way to spend the afternoon. The sun was blazing though, so I wanted to snorkel too where at least I’d be facing the sandy ocean floor and not the too-bright sky. “Why don’t you put these on a rock and let them race back into the water before we go into deeper water?”
Madison frowned, but she knew we couldn’t keep them anyway, so she took them and set them out on a rock that was wet from the waves rolling over it. We watched for a minute as the crabs made a mad dash back into the water before the birds circling overhead got a hold of them. With my attention on them, I hadn’t noticed Dante come up behind us. He had his gear with him now. “You guys coming out deeper?”
“Yeah,” Madison said. “Let’s go.”
I was grateful she answered for me because for some reason I was having a hard time even meeting Dante’s eyes.
We moved out deeper. I put my mask on, then said, “Madison, stay close to us.”
“I know.” And that was it. She was head down, right back to business.
Dante grinned and followed after her. Shrugging, I fitted the mouthpiece of my snorkel into place and headed after them.
We moved along the rocks where we saw lots of fish and lots more hermit crabs, bigger ones than over in the shallow area. I watched Dante swimming around in my peripheral vision, admiring how gracefully and easily he moved in the water.
After a little while, he swam over to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me back over toward the rocks. He tugged me down underwater and his hand slipped around my waist, guiding me down. I put out a hand to brace myself on a rock because the current threatened to push me against the bigger rocks, and I knew from experience that they could be sharp enough to cut you. But Dante pulled me closer, as if trying to help steady me, and pointed under the rock. I finally saw what he wanted me to see—a giant crab enjoying a fish for lunch. It was so cool that I watched even after my lungs began to complain for oxygen. It was cool, but I was being honest, I mostly loved being held close to Dante’s sleek torso with his big hand curving around my waist under my loose top and against my bare skin.
But since drowning isn’t attractive, I finally, put my feet under me and pushed up to the surface.
Dante’s head emerged as I was taking off my mask and snorkel to breathe more easily. He took his off too and grinned at me. “That was cool, huh?”
“Very.”
Very cool. And I didn’t think I could take too much more. This was the kind of thing that messed with a girl’s head and made her get dangerous ideas.
And feelings.
“Where’s Madi?”
He looked around and pointed to her. “Right
there. Don’t worry.”
“I wasn’t.”
Not about that anyway.
Chapter Four
“Be careful not to get sand on your fudge pop,” I told Madison. She was so busy feeding a crust from her sandwich to a seagull that she wasn’t paying attention to the treat in her hand. I’d spent the last eight dollars I had buying three of them from the man who went around on a little boat selling them along the beach—one for her, one for me, and one for Dante.
Dante leaned back, stretched out on the sand next to my towel, and smiled at me. “Man. I haven’t had one of these in forever. I forgot how good they are.”
“Same.” I tried not to look at him again because each time I did, my eyes seemed to linger a little longer. I just kept trying to figure out what was going on.
After we’d snorkeled until my fingers wrinkled and I’d convince Madison it was time to get out and reapply sunscreen, Dante had stayed with us, just lazy and relaxed like we hung out like this all the time. The ice cream had been a way to keep Madison out of the water. I admit, I hesitated over offering one to Dante, but when a guy is sweet enough to show you a crab eating a fish underwater, the least you can do is buy him a fudge pop.
“You know, you’re a pretty cool aunt.”
I shook my head. “Not as cool as I should be. I kinda resent being tied down babysitting her all summer—even though it’s helping my mom and her sister get their cleaning business off the ground. I mean, I want to do it, but I can’t get a real job and I have to take her with me everywhere until they’re done around two o’clock every day. But I do love her, so I can survive one summer of this.”
“You’re babysitting? I thought you guys just hang out all the time.”
I licked a drop of chocolate running down my melting fudge pop. “My aunt is a single mom and she needed somewhere for Madi to go. And I’m it. It wouldn’t be so frustrating except I’m not getting paid.”
“Really. Why not?”
He sounded indignant for me. “It’s because of the whole “pitch in and help the family” sort of thing. And I get it, but I just hate never having much money. The most I can hope for is my Dad slipping me a twenty now and then.”
Never Let Me Forget (Summer of First Kisses Book 2) Page 2