Ten minutes later, I cuddled up on the couch with my Kindle and began to read the first chapter of The Indian in the Cupboard. I smiled at my book selection, but I knew in my heart it was the right choice. No romance whatsoever. My earbuds were firmly in place with my white noise mix dialed in just the way I liked it.
My head was resting on the pillow, and I was holding my Kindle in front of my face when Cody appeared out of nowhere. I let out a little yelp and sat straight up, nearly throwing my Kindle at him in the process.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered, laughing quietly at my reaction. "I tried to get your attention so I wouldn’t scare you."
"What are you doing?" I asked, glancing into the mostly dark room.
"I was just coming to check on you," he said, kneeling on the floor in front of me. "And to let you know you can sleep on the downstairs couch if you don't want to be alone up here."
"I'm fine."
"We usually only sleep outside for a night or two," he said. "It's a tradition."
"I'm good," I repeated.
His mouth lifted in a slight smile. "Okay," he said. "I was just making sure."
"Thanks for checking on me," I said.
The two of us fell into a deep stare for several seconds—the kind where it was obvious what we were thinking. I knew he wanted to kiss me. I could see it in his eyes. He looked directly at my lips.
"I guess I should go," he said, reluctance evident in his tone.
Because of he way he was positioned on his knees in front of the couch, there was a fair amount of space between us—at least a few feet. It seemed like a gigantic, uncrossable, chasm, especially now that he said he should go.
I couldn't let him go, so I did the unthinkable. I made the first move. I closed the distance between us, leaning over where my face was significantly closer to his.
"There," I whispered. "I could barely see you from way back there."
A wry smile fell onto his lips. "You could see me just fine."
"Nu-uh, it's dark in here."
He gave me an almost imperceptible flick of the chin along with an irresistible, confident smile. "You just want to kiss me."
"No I don't," I said.
"Fine," he said, beginning to stand.
I put my hand on his arm to stop him.
He looked at my hand, and then at my face again. "I thought we were done here," he said.
I knew he was teasing me—calling my bluff. "We are," I said, taking my hand off of his arm. There was no way I was letting him win. I was way more stubborn than he was.
I sat back on the couch. "Thanks for checking on me," I said, in a tone that meant see ya later.
"All right, I guess I'll see you in the morning."
"Yep," I said.
My whole body was in a state of chaos. I felt as if I was being electrocuted with nerves and excitement. The anticipation was unbearable.
"Okay, so, I’m leaving now," he said, getting to his feet. He smiled down at me as if he was perfectly content to wait as long as it took.
"Uhhhh!" I groaned, looking down and shielding my eyes with my hand.
"What?"
"You know what."
"I thought you might let me kiss you if I came up here, but you said you didn't want me to," he said.
"I never said that," I said squinting up at him.
He let out a laugh. "Yes you did!"
"Well, I didn't mean it."
"So you want me to kiss you?" he asked, with emphasis on the word want. He braced his arms on the back of the couch and leaned over me. I just sat there and stared at him as he placed his face only inches from mine.
"I might," I said.
"You have to say it."
"Say what?"
"That you want me to."
"That's embarrassing," I said.
"What's so embarrassing about it?"
"That you're making me ask for it," I said. "What if I ask and you say 'too bad' or leave me hanging or something?"
He moved closer to me. Our lips were only an inch apart. I could feel him breathing. I wasn't breathing at all.
"I promise I will not leave you hanging, Paige."
"Ryan said you don't break promises," I said.
"I don't." He hesitated for several long seconds, his warm breath tickling my lips. "So say it," he urged.
"I want it," I whispered.
"You want what?"
"I want you to kiss me. Please, Cody, would you kiss me?"
He took one of his hands off the back of the couch and used it to tilt my chin up. I knew it was about to happen; I could feel it by the way he was looking at me. He hesitated.
"Why aren’t you doing it?" I asked, feeling altogether desperate to feel his lips on mine. He smiled patiently at me. I was so crazy for him, I felt like I could crack into a thousand pieces. "You promised," I begged.
As soon as the words left my mouth, his lips fell onto mine. They were soft and sweet, and he left them there for a few seconds before breaking the contact. Then, he was kissing me again, this time he placed kiss after gentle kiss on my lips. He must have kissed me ten times before I parted my lips slightly. It was all the invitation he needed. He let the tip of his tongue enter my mouth. It was warm and silky, and I let it touch mine before pulling back slightly.
Cody took his hand off my face and used his fingers to massage his eyebrows. "I better get out of here," he said.
"Is it okay?" I asked, feeling suddenly self-conscious.
He leveled me with a you should know better than to ask such a thing stare. "Of course it's okay. It's too okay."
I smiled at him. "It's too okay for me, too."
He smiled as he stood up with a regretful groan.
"Night," I said. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Night," he said.
And just like that, he was gone.
Chapter 14
I had an incredibly difficult time going to sleep that night after Cody kissed me. I stayed there with my eyes closed, thinking, remembering, imagining, and praying. Although I tried my best to fall asleep, I was up into the wee hours of the morning.
It was for this reason that I slept till almost noon the following day. I awoke to Evan poking my arm. He had obviously been up a while because he was bright eyed and bushytailed when I squinted up at him.
"Hey," I said sleepily as I sat up.
"Dee-dee called and said I should check to make sure you were still alive up here," he said. "We were all in and out for showers this morning and you didn't budge."
I looked around to find that we were the only two in the room. "Where's everybody now?" I asked, specifically wondering where Cody was.
"Most of them went shopping," he said. "A few of them stayed home, but they're at the beach. I thought you might want to braid my hair," he said.
I nodded and blinked, trying to wrap my head around waking up.
"Dee-dee went to the store this morning to get rubber bands. She got about five different kinds, so I'm sure there'll be something you can use."
"Great," I said. I sat crossed-legged and stretched my arms high above me before extending them out front while popping my knuckles. "I'm ready. I'm gonna need the rubber bands and a comb."
He let out a laugh. "I didn't necessarily mean right this second. I was thinking you'd want to get a cup of coffee and some breakfast—or lunch by now."
"What time is it?" I leaned over to grab my phone from the floor.
"Eleven forty-five or twelve," he said before I could turn on my phone.
Once I did, I saw that he was right. My screen read 11:53. "I never sleep this late," I said.
"You don't have to get up right now if you're still tired, I just stayed back when they left because I thought it might be a good time to try the braids." He began to walk off as if it was his plan to leave me alone and let take my time waking up.
"It's great," I said. "I'm sorry I slept so late. I'll be down in a few."
"No hurry," he called from over his shoulder
.
The house was completely empty when I went downstairs. It was just as it had been the day we arrived. I missed the chaos.
There were areas with trees and shrubs between the house and the shoreline, so you couldn't see the entire beach from the first floor. I was wondering who left and who stayed behind, but I couldn't see anyone on the beach.
"Hey," Evan said, coming out of the mudroom. "Here's the rubber bands Dee-dee bought."
I gave him a thumbs up. I had a rattail comb in my hand, so it wasn't the most successful thumbs up, but he got the picture. "I'll grab some coffee and we can get started."
"Wanna go on the deck?" he asked. I nodded and he headed out there with the bag in his hand.
I worked on his hair for the rest of the afternoon, only stopping to use the restroom, get a drink, and eat a snack. They were the best cornrows I had ever done. I looked up a pattern on the internet and went with a simple, curved design that wound up looking amazing on him.
David, Kathy, and their crew stayed behind, but everyone else (including Cody and Ryan) had gone out for the day. They sent us a text at 4PM saying they decided to see a movie while they were out. They asked if anyone from the house wanted to meet them there, but none of us felt like going. I had barely looked in a mirror since I woke up, and as much as I wanted to see Cody, I really didn't feel like rushing to get ready so I could sit in the dark.
David's family kept to themselves for the most part, leaving Evan and I to hang out and tend to his braids. Every once in a while they would check in on us and say how good they were coming along. He and I got along famously. He had the same easy-going personality as the rest of his family, and we laughed and talked like we were old friends. He reminded me a lot of his brother, but things weren't the same between us. Being with Evan all afternoon just confirmed that I felt something more for Cody.
"You wanna go for a swim?" Evan asked, once we let the group know we weren't going to the movies.
"It's okay. I'll probably go upstairs to freshen up a little bit."
"Come on!" he urged. "You have to get over your fear sometime."
I stared at him for a few long seconds, knowing he was right. I hated being the one in the group who was scared of the ocean. I had never been a timid person, and I didn't like the way it felt.
"You know what? Let's do it!"
"Atta girl!"
"Let me go grab my swimsuit."
Evan and I spent the next two hours in the ocean. He made fun of me for being scared of fish, which made me angry enough to prove to him that I wasn't. Sometimes proving yourself to doubters is the best motivation, and Evan's teasing was just what I needed to get over my fears.
Once I got past freaking out about fish, I was able to appreciate the rhythm of the waves. I went deeper as I grew more confident and found that swimming in the ocean could actually be quite pleasurable.
Of course, Evan was right next to me the whole time. If he hadn't been there, I would have never dared to venture out that far. We got past the waves where the water was calm and stayed out there for what must have been 10 or 15 minutes. I only did it because he bet me that I couldn't, but once it was over, I was so proud of myself.
We had been out there for quite some time when the rest of the family got home. We could see commotion coming from the house, and decided to walk up there.
Everybody, and I mean everybody freaked out about Evan's hair. They all said how I should open a braid shop on the beach somewhere, and charge tons of money to do it. Logan inspected them and said they were even better than the ones he had. Everyone was very complementary about it, which made me feel great. They stopped on the way home from the movie to pick up pizzas, so the house smelled like a pizzeria when we walked in.
"Is pizza okay with you?" Diane asked as we made our plates.
"Perfect," I said. "I could eat just about anything right now. I'm starving."
"Did you skip lunch?" she asked.
"I snacked on a breakfast bar, but I was knee-deep in Evans cornrows."
"Well they look amazing!" she said even though she had already complemented them several times.
"And we've been swimming," Evan interjected. "That always makes you hungry."
"Where'd you go swimming?" Mia asked.
She was looking at me, but Evan answered. "The ocean."
Mia gave me a hilarious, wide-eyed expression. "What?"
I smiled and nodded proudly.
"She swam like a fish out there," Evan said.
"Don't say that word," I said, making him crack up.
"She did great," he said in a more serious tone.
"Paige knows how to swim in the ocean," Ryan said. She had been on Cody's hip telling him what kind of pizza she wanted on her plate while we were talking, but the news of me swimming got her attention and she re-informed her dad in case he hadn't heard.
She smiled at me after she made the statement, and I smiled back. We waved at each other before she turned again to look at the pizza. Cody didn't glance at me the whole time. It seemed like he hadn't heard a thing.
"I'm glad you two stayed behind," Dee-dee said. "Evan got a new hairdo, and you got to conquer your fears."
"All she needed was a healthy dose of teasing," Evan said.
"I hope not, Evan Hunt," Christy chimed in. She smiled at me. "Did he tease you?"
I smiled and nodded. "After you spent who-knows-how-long on those braids?"
"I know how long," Evan shouted as he crossed to an open seat at the dining room table. "Try four hours!"
"Four hours!" about five people exclaimed.
"Yeah, but it's worth it, huh?" Evan said, confidently running his hand along his braids.
"It might not be worth it to poor Paige," Christy said. "Especially when you give her a hard time afterward." She looked at me from across the room but I just gave her a good-natured smile that said I was happy to do it.
The conversation about Evan's braids died down, and everyone began talking to each other in small groups. Cody and Ryan sat in the living room with several others. I kept looking at him, hoping he would make eye contact with me, but he never did.
Finally, I had enough. I went into the living room and sat near him on the couch. He looked at me when I sat down. He smiled, but there was something off about it.
"I missed you today," I said, to Ryan. I knew it was an odd thing to say, and I tried my best not to announce it, but it was true, I had missed her.
She smiled and blinked at me as she chewed her food. "We went to ten-hundred stores and to the movie. Dad went with the grown-ups to see something else, but Memaw took me to see the princess movie."
"I like princess movies," I said. "What'd you see?" I asked turning to Cody.
"Burning Bridges," he said. He was smiling again, but there was just something different about it. He probably regretted kissing me last night, and now everything was destined to be awkward between us.
"Hey," I said quietly as I pushed at his leg.
He looked at me.
"It's all good," I said earnestly.
I wanted to let him know that I was okay with whatever he wanted, even if it was for us to just be friends—I just didn't want things to be awkward. I liked him too much for that.
"I know it is," he said. His smile became a little less reserved like he was finally warming up to me. "Congratulations on your big swim," he said.
I giggled. " I really only did it because Evan was giving me such a hard time. I can't stand to be afraid of something, and he was making me feel ridiculous because of it."
"You want me to take him out for you?" he asked.
"No," I said, even though his question was light-hearted and held no promise. "I was being ridiculous. Once I got out past the waves, I calmed down."
"You went out past the waves?" he asked, glancing at me with an impressed expression.
"You would have been proud," I said.
"I am proud," Ryan said with a mouth full of pizza.
"Don'
t talk with your mouth full, baby girl," Cody said.
I winked at her, and she smiled.
"Uncle Evan taught you how to swim?" she asked once she swallowed.
"She already knew how to swim," Cody explained "he just showed her that the ocean was friendly."
"Oceans don't talk," she said, giggling.
We stayed there for the next little while, eating and talking to each other and everyone else in the living room. Cody was acting happy and friendly, but not quite what I expected from the guy who snuck into my room for a late night kiss. I decided that instead of worrying about it, I would just go along with it. It hurt to think that there may never be anything between us, but I figured having him as a friend was better than not having him at all.
This same (somewhat guarded) approach to our friendship continued for the next two days. We spent a lot of time together, but it seemed to be on a friendly basis. He had lost that predatory look of desire he had when we first started spending time together, and it sort of broke my heart.
I told myself maybe I was imagining things, and maybe he never had it in the first place. I hated knowing we had something together and watching him ignore it, but I couldn't make myself leave him alone. I hung out with everyone in the house, but I always made my way to Cody and Ryan the most.
We swam together, ate together, and made a few epic sandcastles. I documented everything with pictures. He and I had several long, meaningful conversations, as the days passed, all of which made me love and respect him more. I could tell, however, that he was purposely avoiding making prolonged eye contact with me, like he thought if he looked into my eyes for too long, he'd give in to something he was trying to avoid.
Thankfully, the house was packed, and our days were full. I had no time to worry about pining over someone who didn't return my affections. Okay, so maybe I was pining a little, but it was just because he was amazing. The only saving grace was that the days passed quickly. I became a fan of swimming in the ocean, and was exhausted by the end of each day. By the time my head hit the pillow at night, I was out like a light.
Chapter 15
I woke up alone that Friday morning just as I had done for the past two days. Cody hadn't slept in his bedroom since our first night in the house. He planned to; it just didn't work out that way. Evan, and Logan couldn't resist sleeping outside every evening since it was so beautiful. He offered me the bed, but I told him I was comfortable sleeping on the couch.
Meet Me in Myrtle Beach (Hunt Family Book 1) Page 10