He pulled up in front of Sebastian’s house and waited for her to come out. She eased out the door wearing black running shorts that sat high on her long, lean legs with a white spaghetti string tank top. He wanted to say screw it to the running and push her right back in the house straight up to her bedroom.
“Hey,” she said with a bright smile, her eyes still a little sleepy with the early hour. She walked toward him and he held out his arms, bringing her in for a hug. He kissed her, trying to contain himself considering the morning hour, but damn was it hard.
She pulled back from him, squeezing his biceps. “I’m all stretched out, but go ahead if you need to.” He hated he’d missed that.
“I’m good,” he said.
“All right then, local guy, lead the way, and I’ll try to keep up.” The grin on her face told him she was no rookie.
They made their way up Sebastian’s street to 30A. Bo usually ran by himself, but having her beside him was so natural, like they’d done it a hundred times. He had started out slow, not knowing how fast she wanted to go, but she seemed to be pulling him along, running a step ahead of him. He was up to his regular pace, but he still seemed to be dragging along behind her.
She ran like a gazelle, her lean legs stretching out in long strides, her breathing remaining steady and quiet. He was practically struggling to keep up, but he didn’t mind. He enjoyed the challenge.
They ran past the palm trees that lined the entrance of the town of Alys Beach, and he led them through the neighborhoods so she could see the Mediterranean-style houses of 30A’s most exclusive community. He showed her private cabanas and pristine pools flanked by palm trees. They ran on the wooden boardwalk through the nature preserves and over the lake. Maybe she’d fall in love with it enough to make her want to move there.
He led them back toward 30A to the Alys Beach playground near George’s restaurant. She followed him as he ran up the grassy hill, the path winding around it. He collapsed at the top, and she sat down next to him, barely breathing hard at all.
She lay back on the hill. “My God, Bo. You’ve overloaded me with beautiful today. I loved that run. I felt like I was somewhere in Greece.”
“Good,” he said.
“Do you run here a lot?”
“Not as much as I should. Hell, sometimes I end up on the treadmill at the gym. Seems kind of ridiculous after that though. I keep a few pools in this community. You should see the inside of some of these houses.”
She shielded her eyes from the sun. “I don’t know if I’d want to. I’d be jealous. I can’t imagine the kinds of lives these people live.”
“They’ve got their own set of problems like everyone else,” he said.
She turned on her side, resting her head in her hand. “Do you have any good gossip on any of them?”
He thought for a minute. “Rumor has it there’s a woman who lives just down the street here runs a prostitution ring.”
“Really?”
“No, but it’d make a good rumor if we wanted to get one started.”
She lifted her eyebrows and widened her eyes. “Ooh, let’s do it.”
Her blue eyes shined with mischief, doing that weird thing to his stomach again. He leaned toward her to kiss her, but she backed off. “You can’t kiss me now. I’m all sweaty and stuff,” she said.
“I don’t care about that.” He leaned back in.
“Seriously, I’m probably stinky now.”
He rested on his side, with his hand on her flat stomach. “What if I like stinky?”
She scrunched up her cute little nose. “See, you’re just gross.”
He moved his hand slowly, back and forth over her stomach. “Disgusting.” He went in for another kiss, but she rolled away before he could.
She made her way down the hill, and he went after her. She ran across the playground fast, but he felt like he was nineteen years old again with renewed energy. He caught up to her and grabbed her from behind, flinging her around in a circle. She gave a playful squeal as he swung her legs around and repositioned her in his arms, holding her like a groom holds a bride. He lay her down on the grass then pinned her wrists down with his hands, hovering over her, and from the look on her face, she didn’t mind being caught.
He pressed his lips against hers, tasting the salt on her skin. Something about them having just run all those miles side by side, being outside in nature, bodies sweaty and warm, made him more primal for her than ever. She’d led him most of the run, but she didn’t seem to mind letting him have control of her now. Man, what he’d like to do to that long, lean body of hers.
“Mommy, look!” a child’s voice called out. “They’re doing it!”
A mother ushered her kids back to the playground, shooting Bo an evil look like he’d just corrupted their young son. Give it some time, he thought, her precious baby boy would be doing the same thing to some girl one day. Bo rolled off of Maya.
“Do you see what you’ve done now?” Maya asked. “Children scarred for life.”
“I think I’m the one who’s scarred. I might have pulled something trying to catch you.” He shook out his leg.
“Old men tend to get those kinds of problems.”
“I guess young ladies like yourself don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff. I turned thirty-five the night I met you. How many years younger than me does that make you?”
“Lots and lots.”
“All right, it’s going to be like that?”
She eyed him up and down. “If I tell you will you promise not to hold it against me?”
He outlined a cross with his finger on his chest. “Promise, hope to die, all that crap.”
“We’re close in age. I’ll just put it that way.”
“How close?” he asked, not letting up.
“Really close.”
He nodded. “I’ll accept that. So you don’t have any aches or pains?”
“None I’m going to tell you about.” She hopped up and headed back toward 30A, walking, thankfully for him.
“So what does Sebastian have you doing today?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I just get dressed and let him lead the way. Actually, I think he wants to show me a few of your friends’ shops. We’re stopping by Seaside Sweets to meet Cassidy, and then we’re stopping by a gift store of someone’s.”
He smiled. “Marigold’s shop.”
She raised her eyebrows. “That name got a reaction out of you. Is this one of your girlfriends?”
“No,” he said with a huff of a laugh. “Not at all. We’re just friends, but she’s a hot mess. She keeps us all on our toes.”
“You’re a tight little group, aren’t you?” she asked.
“I guess so, as oddball as we all are together.”
“So has anyone in the group ever dated each other?”
“Not that I know of, but Marigold and Chase act like they’re going to half the time. I think they’re both just such huge flirts that they gravitate toward one another.”
She nudged him in the side. “Have you ever kissed any of the girls?”
He grinned and pointed. “There’s the Seacrest town square coming up.”
“You’re avoiding the question.”
He pulled her over in front of the big, white lifeguard chair that displayed the community name. “Come here. I’ll take our picture.” He held out his phone and snapped a picture of their smiling faces. He hadn’t seen himself look that happy in years. “What’s your number? I’ll text it to you.” Sly, he knew, but it was easier than having to get it from Sebastian.
She took his phone and typed her number in, and then handed it back to him. “I’ll let you off the hook, today.”
He reached down and kissed her in response. She was so damn easy to kiss. He walked her over to a palm tree, letting her rest against it while he kissed her some more. He had to make up for lost time somehow.
She pulled away from him, smiling. She was tall, so they were almost face to face, but
he still had a couple of inches on her. “I liked what you said the other night at Sebastian’s house, during your truth confession,” she said.
He tried to remember exactly what he’d said. He got nervous, so he decided to blow up the moment. “I was drunk.”
She smiled and then pulled away, heading back toward the path. “Have you ever been married?”
The truthful answer was no. He hadn’t been married, but it felt deceitful not to mention Angela since they’d been together for so long. But damn, he didn’t want to dredge up that past relationship. There was nothing about it that brought happy memories to him, and Maya was only here for the week. The last thing he wanted was to spend time discussing the most miserable time in his life.
“Nah. But I gave my high school girlfriend a promise ring. Turned her finger green.”
She put her hand over her heart. “Oh, I love those things. I had a couple of friends who had boyfriends give those to them in high school. I bet she wore it with pride.”
“Or with gangrene. What about you?” he asked.
“If I had one, I would definitely wear it proudly, even now.”
He bumped her hip. “I meant have you been married.”
She smoothed hair behind her ear. He noticed she did that when she seemed a little nervous about something. This was the first time she’d done it all day. “No, never married.”
Silence sat between them like a stump. Bo nodded in greeting at some bikers who passed by them on the sidewalk. “You’re leaving Saturday?” he asked her.
“Yes, Saturday.”
“You’re going to just miss my sister, Shayla.”
“The one I talked to on the phone on Saturday night?”
“That’s the one.”
She smiled over at him. “I liked her.”
“She’s not as charming as she seems.”
“I doubt that. She’s kind of like you, isn’t she?”
He furrowed his brow at her. “How so?”
“I don’t know. You definitely sounded alike. Not just your voices, but your temperaments.”
He huffed a laugh. “People do say we’re a lot alike. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“I have a sister,” she said, her mood changing.
“You close?”
She inhaled deeply. “That’s a hard question to answer. I love her. I really do. It’s just that she has this terrible habit of making really poor choices, and it’s so hard sitting by and letting it happen, keeping my mouth shut.”
“You can’t talk to her about her choices?”
She shook her head emphatically. “Oh, no. That makes it ten times worse. Learned my lesson the really hard way there.”
“My sister and I probably say too much to one another. I don’t think either of us has ever let an opinion go un-muttered.”
“That’s nice,” she said with a genuine smile.
“We’ve figured each other out though. We’re so damned predictable to one another that we know when to keep our mouths shut and not even start something we don’t want the other one’s opinion on.”
They stopped while a car turned into a condo complex ahead of them, and she huffed a laugh. “I can’t imagine.”
“What’s that?”
“You being predictable.”
“You think I’m unpredictable?”
She held her finger and thumb together. “Little bit.” She started walking again, and he followed her.
“How’s that?”
“Never mind,” she said, again with the smoothing of her hair behind her ear, but this time, he wasn’t going to let up.
He nudged her side. “You’ve started something now. You’ve got to finish.”
She gave a playful roll of her eyes and slowed down on their path, stepping over to the side and holding onto the back of a bench. “Okay. I guess it’s just that the first night we met, you were very flirtatious.” She held up her hand quickly. “I was, too, completely, but then when I was dropping you off…” She trailed off, giving him a look.
He wasn’t sure, but he bet his cheeks were coloring. Good thing it was hot and they’d been running, or he’d be busted. “I didn’t make a move,” he supplied.
She lifted an eyebrow in response.
He gripped her hip, rubbing his thumb over her stomach. “Well, I guess I screwed up then, didn’t I?”
She crooked her finger inside the pocket of his shorts, their bodies hovering close. “You’re just confusing, Bo.”
Hearing her say his name in that sweet, almost-whisper made his chest light up with tingles. He ran his hand over her neck and behind her head. As he went in for another kiss, she scooted away. “Are you ready to run yet, old man?”
He smiled at her, wanting her worse than he’d wanted any woman in a long time, maybe ever. “That’s just hurtful.”
She took off fast, and he struggled to keep up with her for a minute, then they fell into step with one another. When they got to Sebastian’s street they slowed down. He walked her up to the front door, his breath catching back up with him. “You’re not easy to keep up with.”
“I don’t mean to leave you behind,” she said with that grin of hers that he could eat for breakfast.
“What time are you going shop-hopping?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve got a work call at ten-thirty.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Be sure and have some vacation on your vacation.”
She held her arms out to the sides. “This was an awesome vacation activity.”
“Can I call you later?”
“Sure,” she said, tempering a smile.
He leaned in for a kiss, and she didn’t stop him this time. He rested his hands lightly on her shoulders and pulled her to him, covering her salty lips with his. His mind wandered to what other parts of her body tasted like, waking up his cock. It’d been so long since he’d had sex he felt like a twelve-year-old kid out of control of his body. He pulled away quickly before he embarrassed himself. His gym shorts were loose and unforgiving. Luckily, his face was already red from the run, so the evidence of his embarrassment wasn’t so easily spotted.
“Have fun today,” he said.
“Okay.” She gave him a final smile, and then went inside.
He got in his truck and sat there a minute. She’d basically just called him a chicken for not making his move the other night. He needed to talk to a friend. He’d been giving Blake space since he’d gotten back to town from Kansas City. Blake was busy with the move back, working on plans for the new clinic with Chase and being batshit crazy in love and all. He was staying in one of Chase’s rentals in Seagrove just down the road. Bo wondered if he might have a minute for him. He texted Blake.
Where are you?
Home. Where are you?
You got a minute?
Sure.
I’ll be there in five.
Maya opened the door to find Sebastian and Felicity at the kitchen table. “Still mad at us for orchestrating that date?” Sebastian asked. Maya gave him a loving eye roll and kicked off her shoes. He forked a piece of melon from his bowl. “I was in a huff because I thought you went running without me, then I checked out the window and saw a big black truck out there on the street. So my first instinct was to assume the two of you were shacked up in the bedroom.”
“That was your first instinct?” Maya asked.
“But then, Felicity informed me that your door was open, and you were gone. So with my car, Felicity’s car, and the sexy redneck’s truck all here, we pieced it together. The two of you went running together.”
“A regular Nancy Drew,” Maya said.
“Please tell me you’ve been kissed by this man by now?” Sebastian asked.
“You’re a day behind. He kissed me last night.”
“Finally.” He sipped his coffee.
Maya took a seat at the table. “But I had to pretty much ask for it.”
“I’m sure he was kicking and screaming,” Felicity said.
“And this morning on the run?” Sebastian asked. “Did you stop anywhere for a little nookie?”
Her cheeks warmed at the memory. “A few times.”
“Sounds like a fabulous way to get your exercise in,” Sebastian said. “So I think our day has fallen apart. I have a work thing that’s popped up at twelve, and I know you’ve got your call at ten-thirty. Will you hate me if I have to punt today?”
“Of course not. I’ll just hang with Felicity.”
She scrunched up her face. “Actually, Chase is taking me out on a boat. This is the only day he can do it. He’s tied up with work the rest of the week.”
Maya blinked at Felicity. “This is unprecedented for you. You better be careful or you’re going to have to call this a relationship.”
“Bite your tongue. Seriously, it’s not. He’s just really fun, and we have a good time. We’re almost like kissing cousins or something.”
Sebastian pointed with a strawberry on his fork. “That’s just effed up.”
“No, I’m serious. We’re just hanging out. We have sex, and it’s great, but it’s just fun. It’s totally low maintenance and free of expectation. I think I’ve found my ambivalence match.”
Sebastian jerked a thumb at her. “That’s the stuff of romance novels right there.”
“I didn’t come equipped with the love gene and I’m okay with that, just as long as I can have fabulous sex.”
“On that note,” Maya said, “I’m going to shower.”
“Hey,” Felicity said. “So are we forgiven for last night?” Both of them looked at her with raised eyebrows.
She narrowed her gaze at her two friends she adored. “We’ll see how the rest of the week goes.”
Blake stood in front of the refrigerator, staring inside. “Man, I need to go to the store.”
“I don’t want anything to drink. I just wanted to say hi a minute,” Bo said.
Blake joined him at the kitchen table. “I can’t believe we haven’t had the chance to do anything since I’ve been home. It’s like everything’s on fast forward. I’ve been working on these initial plans, and I have changes I think legitimately need to happen, but it’s throwing everything out of whack. I want to get my head around it before I present it to Chase and the team. Seanna and I are meeting with Sebastian for lunch to try to make sense of it. Have you ever worked with him on anything financial?”
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