He nudged her. “Maya.”
“Hmm? Oh, yes. The red snapper, please.” She handed her menu over and smiled at Bo, and then repositioned her fork.
Chase and Felicity started talking to each other, so Bo looked at Maya. “You were way off just now.”
Her cheeks warmed. “I was thinking about work.”
“Must be a damn fun place to work judging by the smile on your face.”
She gnawed on her bottom lip, knowing she was busted but kind of liking it.
They walked across the street where Chase and Felicity disappeared down a public beach access walkway. Bo led Maya to a gazebo with a swing facing the ocean in a park area. Even as slammed as he was at work, her face had been popping into his head all day. He’d been trying to figure out what his next move was when Chase had called him and asked him to take Maya out with him and Felicity. The proposition had been like an arrow, directing him toward her.
Maya gazed around at her surroundings. “This whole place is so quaint. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“The communities along 30A are one of a kind, that’s for sure.”
“Where are the cheesy T-shirt shops and fast food chains?”
“Not allowed. Only mom and pop places.”
She rested her hand on the swing’s chain. “I can’t imagine anyone who’s ever vacationed here without dreaming of living here at some point.”
He considered her, unrealistically getting his hopes up. “Have you?”
“Thought about living here? Oh, no. I mean, sure, the thought popped into my head, but I couldn’t. It’s a nice thought, but I’ve got my job back home and all.” He nodded. That hadn’t been the answer he was hoping for. Damn, he hadn’t even kissed the girl yet, and he was testing her to see if she’d move there. Dumbass.
He turned to her. “So you work at a marketing company, right?”
Her eyes went wide. “That’s a good memory. I don’t even remember telling you that.”
“You did, when I first met you.”
She nodded. “Mmm. I was a little nervous when I first met you.”
He narrowed his gaze. “What are you like at work?”
“Different than how I am with you.” She smoothed a stray hair behind her ear.
“How are you different with me?”
“I’m not nervous at work. I’m actually very much in charge and full of authority, if you can imagine that.”
“I can definitely see you being like that.” He couldn’t help a smile. “You don’t seem too nervous around me anymore.”
She turned beet red and looked away from him. “More like giddy. I’d die if my work people saw the way I act when I’m with you. I wouldn’t be trusted with sensitive company secrets, that’s for sure.” Her gaze swept over him with that same playful smile they were always giving one another.
A warm, summer evening breeze blew some stray hairs out of her face, the roar of the ocean their background music. Never had there been a moment better manufactured for a kiss. And Jesus Christ did he want to. He wanted to do more than kiss her. He dreamed of exploring every inch of her body with his tongue. But something ate at his gut.
She let out a breath. “Sebastian got a huge kick out of letting Ashe tell us the story about the night you kissed him.”
“Figures,” he said.
“He thought it was hilarious that he’d kissed you, but I hadn’t.”
He turned to her, fighting his gut. “You want me to kiss you?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head, but her smile told him otherwise.
“You don’t want to kiss me?” he asked.
She giggled. “No.”
He was such a stupid idiot. This girl who he was becoming dangerously attracted to was sitting right here beside him, hinting for him to kiss her, and he wasn’t allowing himself to go there. What if he just kissed her? A kiss didn’t have to lead to sex or any kind of commitment, week-long or not. A kiss was a kiss. Simple as that.
She scratched her cheek. “So, what do you do when you’re not working, usually?”
Their conversations earlier in the week had been pure teasing and flirting, but his refusal to make a move had shifted them into small talk. He was more clueless at this moment than when he was at fifteen years old asking a girl out on his first date.
“Pretty much what you’ve seen me doing this week. What about you?”
“I work a lot. I go out with girlfriends sometimes. Date a little, I guess.”
Of course she did, but he couldn’t help a pang of jealousy at the thought of her on a date with some other guy. “You do online dating?”
“I have, years ago. I put that whole experience up there with dental work. Have you ever done it?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Nah. Seems like a lot of work—filling out online profiles about yourself, posting pictures, weeding through people’s profiles. The whole thing sounds exhausting.”
“That’s exactly what it is.”
“How do you typically meet guys?” he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
She shrugged. “Randomly. Occasional blind date.” She rolled her eyes. “God, I think I have one scheduled for next Friday.”
He liked that she seemed to think it was a chore, but still, the thought of some guy taking her out didn’t sit well with him.
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful,” she said, “it’s just that it usually doesn’t go well. People have good intentions, but they think just because you’re single and some other guy is single that you’re going to be this perfect match.”
He grabbed the wooden bar behind him, stretching his arm. “I’ve been there, too. I’ve gotten to the point when someone offers a setup, I kindly decline.”
She considered him. “I may do that next time.”
He wanted her to do it this time, with the date she had scheduled next week, but that was pointless. “You work out, don’t you?” he asked.
“Yes, I do that quite a bit.”
“It shows.”
She motioned at his arm. “Well, clearly I’m not the only one of us who works out. What do you do?”
“Weight training and running basically,” he said. “What about you?”
“I do weight lifting classes, yoga, running…”
“It’s working.”
She smiled. “Thanks. Yours is working, too. Oh, God. I meant to tell you. Ashe totally was awake last night when we were whispering about him.”
“You mean when you were saying how hot you thought he was?”
She clenched her fists. “Oh, crap. I was so hoping it wasn’t as bad as I remembered.”
He chuckled. “What’d he say about it?”
She lowered her chin at him. “He serenaded me this morning with an Adam Lambert song.”
“I’m sorry I missed that.”
Felicity and Chase walked down the public beach access ramp toward them.
“They weren’t down there for long,” Bo said.
“Yeah, I figured we’d be here for an hour.”
“You all ready to get back?” Chase asked.
“You’re ready to go home?” Bo asked.
“Yeah, if you don’t mind. We’re both pretty tired,” he said, his arm around Felicity, but clearly they wanted to do more than sleep.
Maya gave Bo a look that said she took the hint, too, and they all headed to the truck.
“Thanks for driving,” Chase said, helping Felicity down from Bo’s truck.
“Thanks for paying. Where are you taking us tomorrow night?”
“Mickey D’s,” Chase said with a wink, and he and Felicity were off to have the wild monkey sex Maya was now just about desperate for. Damn Felicity. Maya had been fine without sex for a while now, hadn’t even given it much of a thought until Felicity started putting these nutty ideas into her brain.
Bo glanced over at her, his hands on the steering wheel, but not going anywhere yet. “Can I take you somewhere?”
He cou
ld take her anywhere on the planet. “Where?”
“Do you trust me?”
She grinned at him. “Maybe. Are they going to find my dead body in the woods tomorrow?”
He squinted, closing one eye. “Not tomorrow.”
“Well then sure. Let’s go.”
Hints of masculine body wash and leather filled the dark cab of Bo’s truck, lit only with the neon lights of the dash as they drove down Chase’s wooded street. The satellite radio was tuned to the grunge channel, Soundgarden’s “Hands All Over” permeating the car. She’d never heard it and wasn’t typically a fan of grunge, but she’d never think of Soundgarden the same way again. He turned it up. He must have liked that song. She did too, now.
He pulled a handful of chocolate mints out of his shirt pocket and offered them to her. She had seen a bowl of them at the restaurant but hadn’t dared to grab one—sugar. She shook her head, and he put them back in his pocket, unwrapping one and popping it into his mouth.
After they drove a little way down 30A, he pulled up to what looked like a high-end neighborhood and powered down the window at a guard station.
“Hey, Bo,” the security guard said. “You here to check the pool?” he asked with a grin.
“We’ll just be minute,” he said.
“Mmm hmm,” the guy said, and the arm lifted.
“Thanks,” Bo said with a smile, and they were in.
Maya pointed back to the guard. “Should I feel cheap?”
He took her hand and laced his fingers inside hers. “You could never seem cheap.”
She smiled. “Good answer.”
He parked in a small lot at the back of the neighborhood that opened up to the beach. “You okay to walk in the sand?”
“Mmm hmm,” she said, a flock of butterflies letting loose in her belly. If this wasn’t a recipe for a kiss, she didn’t know what was.
They kicked off their shoes just where the pavement met the sand, and he held out his hand for her to take, his thick fingers spreading her thin ones.
The cool, powdery sand massaged her feet as she walked. “Oh my gosh. That’s better than a pedicure.”
“You haven’t been to the beach yet?”
“No. This is my first time.”
“First time this trip, or…”
“First time I’ve ever been on these panhandle beaches, actually.”
He gave her a look. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I mean I’ve been further south like to Naples and Miami, but growing up, my family usually vacationed on Lake Michigan, or we traveled to Colorado or Santa Fe or to one of the coasts.”
He nodded, his brow furrowing a bit.
“Where did your family go on vacation?” she asked.
He shrugged. “We didn’t, really. I guess it was too expensive for my parents.”
She felt a little guilty for her upper-crust upbringing. “What about you? Where have you traveled as an adult?”
“I’ve been to New Orleans a few times, Austin for South by Southwest. Ever since Shayla’s been in Nashville, I’ve used my time away from work to visit her there. I don’t know. I don’t really travel much. It’s not like I’m gonna escape to the beach.”
She huffed a laugh. “I guess not.”
They reached the shore, and Maya inhaled a deep breath of thick, salty sea air. He lifted an eyebrow. “You want to feel the Gulf of Mexico on your feet?”
She smiled. “Definitely.”
They stood just outside of reach of the water, her hand becoming clammy with nerves, or was that his? She started to step forward, but he squeezed her hand. “It will come to you. Just give it some time.”
She glanced up at him, her heartbeat starting to really speed up. She’d been waiting only days, but damn if it didn’t feel like she’d been waiting for him to come to her for a lifetime. She stepped forward and then met his gaze. “I don’t have much time here.”
He turned toward her, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed, his expression serious as he scanned her features.
She took his other hand. “What are you waiting for?”
“Right now, I don’t have a goddamned clue.” He took a step toward her, forcing a wave of heat to rush through her core as he cradled the back of her neck and brought his mouth to hers, pressing his soft lips against hers as a bolt of electricity shot through her body. He parted her lips and gave her his tongue, tasting like the chocolate mint he’d just sucked on, making her wrap both arms around him to get more of his body close to hers. She couldn’t get enough of the taste of him, or of his body that’d she’d had on her brain in high-def all week long. She moved her hands over his muscled back, wanting desperately to slide them inside his jeans, having to strain to keep herself in check. It was their first kiss, and it was on a beach where anyone could walk up at any moment. But her body was buzzing with want for him, making it nearly impossible to restrain herself.
His strong hand eased down to the small of her back, and a fluttering sensation unleashed in her belly as his arm wrapped around her, bringing her body in closer to his. She’d never been kissed by anyone so sure of his hands, knowing exactly how to touch her and make her body melt as easy as butter.
She released her mouth from his, needing to breathe, her body so worked up she thought she might lift off the beach if he wasn’t holding her to the ground. She stretched out her neck as he left kisses in a trail down to her collarbone, giving her a sense of utter powerlessness over her own freaking body.
He paused at the curve of her neck, groaning into her skin. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush against his body, just holding her there to his muscled chest like he was taking possession of her.
Pulling away, he met her gaze, his brow furrowed like he had questions for her, or something to say that she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like. He brushed the hair out of her face, smoothing his hand over it. “I need to take you home.”
The words cut through her core like a serrated knife. “Yes, of course. It’s getting late. You’ve got to work tomorrow, I’m sure.”
He didn’t nod or agree, but took her hand and walked her to the truck. They rode to Sebastian’s house wordlessly, Bo with his elbow on the doorframe, biting on his thumbnail as he stared, laser-focused on the road ahead of them. He pulled up in the driveway and turned off the engine, staring at the steering wheel like he was on another planet in his mind.
She had no idea what he was grappling with internally, but she felt the desperate need for self-preservation. She shifted back into control-mode in her head, taking charge of her situation and emotions in a way that put everything into order for her.
She reached over and squeezed his knee, forcing the kindest smile she could muster. “Thanks for coming with me tonight. I had fun.” She opened the car door, and as she was getting out, she clenched her teeth as he said, “Maya, wait.”
She wasn’t going to make this into a thing. He’d taken her on a date, under obligation to a friend and not by his own desire. He’d kissed her when she’d all but begged him to, and now he was dropping her home and not taking her to his bed. These were the facts of the case. Only an idiot would try to read any further into why he wasn’t reciprocating her desires.
He walked around the front of the truck, and she met him there, giving him what she hoped was an easy smile. She would not let him see her disappointment. He stared at her like he was getting ready to give her the answers she really wanted, and she held her breath as she waited for them.
“Do you want to go running with me in the morning?” he asked.
What she wanted to do was punch him in the gut. “Running?” she asked, because what the hell?
“It’s a great way to see the area up close. We can hit a few different communities if you want to do a long one.”
No. The answer was no. She could only take so much of this torture. The days were ticking off the calendar, and he wanted to go running.
He looked at her with those da
rk, intense eyes and those stupid lips that had just been on her neck and her mouth. She was upset because he was moving slow. To some people, this would be considered gentlemanly. To her it would be considered polite and well-mannered if she didn’t want him so freaking badly and only had days left to spend with him.
She inhaled a deep breath, lifting her eyebrows. “Sure. What time?”
“Seven? Does that give you enough time to sleep?”
Of course it did. She had all freaking night to sleep now. “Perfect. Where should I meet you?”
“I’ll come back here. I won’t ring the bell though so I don’t wake up Sebastian.”
“I’ll be out here at seven.”
He moved in, cupping her shoulders, pressing his lips against hers once, twice, giving her his tongue and then taking it away from her as he finished the kiss with a sweet peck.
“Night,” he said, lowering his chin, smiling at her, and then kissing her again like the sun wasn’t coming up tomorrow.
He pulled away from her and was backing out of the driveway before she could pick herself mentally up from the pavement.
Chapter Nine
Bo drove down 98, making his way to Seacrest and Maya. In his brain, he’d planned on taking her home after he dropped Chase and Felicity off, but his heart had other plans. He didn’t want to sit at a crowded bar with her though, and they had nice beach chairs that they seemed to leave out half the time at that neighborhood. His plan had been to sit there in those chairs for just a little while and watch the waves come in with no one around…just spend a little more time with her, that’s all he wanted. But they didn’t even get that far before he lost every bit of control he’d worked so hard to keep all week around her.
Running. He asked her to go goddamned running of all things. She’d looked at him like he’d lost his mind. He had. She did that to him.
He’d struggled so hard all the way back to Sebastian’s house, willing himself to tell her goodbye and to have a good rest of her trip. He was going to walk away, and he was just about strong enough to do it until she squeezed his knee, and a shot of lust went through him like a firework. So he’d asked her to go running. Because he was smooth like that.
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