The Summer I Said Yes

by Tess Harper

  “Was too.”

  Great. We were having a grade school argument. Way to stay suave and cool. Thank God Sophie bailed.

  “Look, I only said that because I didn’t think you had the balls to do it.” I paused. “And from what I can see, you don’t.”

  “Well, that doesn’t surprise me since your eyes are closed. You should come on in. Take a better look.”

  “Fine, I’ll get in the pool. But only…”

  I heard him stop splashing.

  I smiled. Now I’ve got his attention. “Only if you play a game with me.”

  I heard the water rippling. He was probably moving closer to the edge with his strong, powerful arms and a sexy grin on that gorgeous face and…I frowned. So what if this guy was hot. He was a cocky asshole. Why was my mind in the gutter?

  “What kind of game?” he asked. I could just hear the smile in his voice.

  I smiled back. “Marco Polo. You’re it!”

  I heard a low chuckle from the pool. “So I close my eyes and count to three?”

  I separated my legs and hopped up and down, getting ready to run. “I’m glad you know how to play.”

  “I’m almost surprised I still know. I haven’t played this since I was eight.” The water splashed, probably because he pushed himself away from the edge of the pool. “I knew you were a wild girl when I first saw you running around naked, but this is pretty damn kinky even for me.”

  Without waiting for a response, he took a deep breath and submerged himself in the pool. Or at least I thought he was underwater. I locked one arm around my chest and wiped the water from my brow, then opened my eyes.

  Yep. He was under.

  I didn’t waste any time. After all, I only had three seconds. I took off across the lawn.

  I wasn’t covering my good bits. Anyone who crested the immaculate grass hill would see me in all my glory—or at least the top half that Victoria wasn’t currently keeping secret. That should have bothered me more than it did. I mean, the groom’s mom could have been giving her new daughter’s family a tour of the grounds, or my boss could have decided to step out for a smoke. But the guy in the pool had gotten under my skin. I hated him with the burning passion of a second grader. It was on. Boys vs. girls. Jupiter vs. Mars. I needed to find Soph ASAP and get a cootie shot.

  “Marco?”

  Damn, he was already done counting! I grit my teeth. Grass and mud caked onto my ankles and in between my toes as I hauled ass up the hill.

  “Marco?” It was louder. He was yelling.

  “Fish out of water!” he boomed.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see him lifting himself out of the pool. Damn that boy was ripped. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was a swimmer or runner or…someone with great endurance.

  My fight or flight instinct kicked in. Well, actually just my flight instinct. I ran faster than I ever remembered running before, away from him…and my clothes.

  ***

  Soph thought it was pretty funny when she heard me hissing at her from behind the bush near our car.

  “What the hell Em? Is that you?”

  “Yes!”

  “Why are you hissing?”

  “I’m trying not to draw attention to us!”

  “By hissing? You sound like a poisonous snake!”

  “Then how the hell did you know it was me?”

  Soph laughed. “Do you really want to know?”

  “Yes!”

  She crept closer. I couldn’t tell if that was because she was taking my advice and staying quiet, or if she was still a little worried. “Well, I’m not gonna lie. I was about to grab a stick for protection and leap onto the hood.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  “But I figured a stick was too small. I’d need like an elephant tranq—”

  “Thanks BFF,” I interjected.

  “And then I remembered you’re really weird and…OH SHIT YOU’RE NAKED!”

  I wanted to scream: Quiet down! But that would defeat the purpose, so I put my finger to my pursed lips and started hissing again.

  Soph put her hand on her chest. “Sorry. I just wasn’t expecting that.”

  I wrapped one arm tighter around my breasts and handed her the keys with the other. “That’s fine. Could you toss me the blanket in the back, though?”

  “Sure, but where are your clothes?”

  “Ugh. I left them by the pool.”

  Soph threw the blanket over my head. “You what?”

  “I can’t believe you left me there.” I wrapped the blankie around my shoulders, shivering. “Wait, you left me there! I’m mad at you!”

  She pulled me into a quick hug. “I know, I know. I’m such a bad friend.”

  “Yeah you are!”

  “I freaked. I thought you were behind me.”

  “But why didn’t you come back when you realized I wasn’t?”

  “I was scared!” she wailed.

  “Shhh!” I hissed.

  “Okay. Sorry,” she hissed back.

  I giggled. “Is that really what I sound like?”

  “It’s actually more like this.” She started making this horrific sound that sounded like a snake dying in a Darth Vader mask.

  “Eww!” I hit her arm. “I do not sound like that.”

  “Um, Emily…”

  “And even if I did,” I continued, “you shouldn’t bring it up after abandoning me!”

  “You’re right.” She ushered me into the car. “I’ll make you my special coconut chocolate chip cookies when we get home.”

  I pouted. “A big batch.”

  “We’ll eat half of them tonight.” She climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. “By the way, what happened to your clothes?”

  “I don’t even want to talk about it,” I muttered. “Two guys from the party showed up and saw me. I mean, I had my arms around my chest, but still!”

  “Were they hot?”

  “Yes, but they were also perverts. One of them stayed behind and started chatting me up. While I was naked.”

  Sophie drummed her hands on the steering wheel. “Did he recognize you?”

  “I don’t know. He wanted to go swimming with me.”

  Sophie raised her brows.

  “Seriously! He stripped and got into the pool! I had to bluff my way out of there.”

  She shifted the car into drive. “Did he have a nice ass?”

  I grimaced. “Is that really all you can think about at this moment?”

  Soph laughed. “Oh man, he totally did. Your cheeks are maroon.”

  “And you’re a sex crazed psycho.”

  She pulled out onto the main road and smiled. “I don’t know if I’d say that, but I will tell you this: I definitely would have gotten in the pool.”

  Chapter 3

  The sand felt good under my feet and the wet salty air felt cool in my lungs. It was a calm morning and no one else was awake. I breathed in and out rhythmically as the waves hit the sand. There was something about running on the beach in the morning that felt like a meditation to me.

  Well, at least it was usually like a meditation. Unfortunately, I’d had something else on my mind since last night. I couldn’t believe I’d gone skinny dipping…and then watched as the sexiest, most infuriating guy I’d ever met stripped and jumped into the pool.

  I would have jumped in too, Sophie had said to me when I told her the story, and a part of me wished I had.

  Wait, what was wrong with me? He must’ve thought I was some kind of sexual freak who got off on stripping at private functions I catered. And that didn’t bother me at all, because I was pretty sure he was just a cocky asshole.

  A hot cocky asshole.

  I ground my teeth and kept running. Stop thinking about him Emily. There was no use thinking about a guy I met while tipsy, naked and wet. And so what if he was hot? Like I’d said, he was an asshole, and that cancelled out his hotness.

  Or at least it should have.

  I looked out at the hor
izon and started to stretch. The sun hadn’t yet peeked over the water. There were a few locals catching the early surf before the Bennys set up their chairs and littered the waves with their boogie boards. I’m no local to this area, but I have respect for the people who lived here year round and had to deal with the madness of summer tourists and vacation homers.

  Sophie and I had another event for the wedding this afternoon, so I started to run back towards the house. The house where I’d met him…

  Oh God, was I really this pathetic? And if I was going to be this pathetic, why hadn’t I asked him any real questions like who he was, why he was at the party, or how he got such an amazing body…

  You’re getting distracted again Emily.

  I closed my eyes. Just think about your feet and the waves and your breathing and his incredible blue eyes…

  “God this is stupid! Why won’t I stop?” I yelled. I needed Jack out of my head. Now. If I went to work distracted, Sophie would notice and she’d figure out the source of my problems immediately and give me shit about it.

  Fuck.

  I started to run faster and my breathing got harder. Hard like his pecks…Damn it Emily! I sprinted until my throat burned and my legs cramped, but I could still see his tan skin and those blue eyes and that smile that made me go weak in the knees, so I ran faster. Finally, I doubled over with my hands on my knees, panting as I tried to catch my breath.

  The sun was beginning to peak over the horizon and I could feel the warmth on my shoulders and sweaty forehead. I was seriously screwed. Sophie was going to give me so much shit if I was late.

  “Hey stranger.”

  My heart fluttered.

  “You okay there Pre?”

  This can’t be happening. Slowly, I stood and turned. There was Jack in all his godliness. His sandy blond hair was tousled and his deep blue eyes pierced through me. He was holding a surfboard and smiling.

  Just how long had he been standing there, watching me doubled-over and heaving for air? I must’ve looked like such a rookie.

  “Hi,” I replied, still trying to catch my breath.

  “Where’s the fire?” he asked, chuckling. “You were running pretty fast.”

  “I was uh…startled,” I said, still breathing hard. “It was the, err…” I looked up. “Seagulls. They were chasing me.”

  Seagulls? God I’m pathetic.

  “I mean, I saw The Birds once when I was a kid,” I babbled, trying desperately to make this stupid thing I’d just said make sense, “And ever since, I’ve been afraid of all sorts of birds…like seagulls.”

  He raised his brows.

  Are there even seagulls in The Birds, Emily? Why couldn’t you have picked a movie you’d actually seen! One of them squawked above me and I glanced up, studying it furiously. “Seagulls, with their beady eyes and…talons…”

  It looked like he was biting his lip to keep from laughing. Asshole! What if this was a really a trauma of mine? “So, you a Hitchcock fan?”

  “No!” I blurted out. “I mean, of course not. Because of…you know…seagulls…”

  “And their talons,” he finished for me, looking me up and down in a way that made my toes curl. He chuckled softly. “Yeah, those seagulls can get pretty nasty. Good thing you’re so fast.”

  He smiled as he said this to me. Great, now he thinks I have an irrational fear of sea birds. Can this get any worse?

  Time to change the subject. I couldn’t bear the thought of him taking this conversation any further.

  “You’re quite the early bird yourself,” I said coyly, “how do you know I wasn’t running from you?” Wow, seriously Emily? Another bird reference? Now he was really going to think I was an Audubon wacko.

  He lifted his surfboard. It made his bicep bulge, and I couldn’t help but stare. “Gotta catch the surf before the Benny’s wake up.” He grinned. “What’s your excuse?”

  His smile was so white it was almost blinding, and his blue eyes were so blue they were like a reflection of the ocean behind me. He hadn’t shaved and his scruff was beginning to appear. He looked like one of those perfect kids from The Real OC that used to air on MTV, but he was so much more beautiful, and real, and shirtless.

  God he is beautiful…seriously Emily pull yourself together! No drooling!

  “It’s funny you say that,” I said, “I hate the Benny’s too…I didn’t think you were the type who knew that though.”

  “Bayonne, Edison, Newark, New York…” He smirked. “You think I’m just some rich kid from the city, don’t you?”

  I blushed. “No,” I tried to think of an excuse. “I just didn’t take you for one of the insiders.”

  I almost groaned. One of the insiders? Who was I, some townie with a chip on her shoulder? I was getting way off track. How did he have the ability to turn me into this weird exhibitionist, bird hunter, alter-ego of myself?

  “Insiders, huh?” he smiled.

  God, he said it too. Now he knows I’m a phony.

  “I mean,” I stuttered, “I’m no local to the Jersey Shore, but I can understand how shitty it must get with all of the New York traffic that flocks to the beach in the summer. I like the peace and quiet of the morning. It let’s me experience the beach as it’s supposed to be, non-commercial.”

  “Wow,” he said with a serious look on his face, “that was pretty deep.”

  My cheeks grew hotter as my blush deepened.

  He shrugged. “I just like coming out here in the morning so I don’t have to take a shower.” He flashed a big smile.

  “Ouch!” I said, laughing. “Way to make fun of the girl with heart.”

  He laughed at my sad attempt at a comeback. “You’re tough Emily. I knew you could take it.”

  Emily? How the hell did he know my name? Sure, he’d seen me without my top on, but I hadn’t told him that! I frowned. “How’d you know my name, creeper? Are you stalking me?”

  He laughed again. “You’d know if I were stalking you.” He flashed a big grin as if that comment was supposed to make me feel better. “I saw your name tag on the shirt you left in my buddy’s pool house.”

  My face went beet red. Last night had not been one of my best moments. I’d been so tipsy and distracted by—well, alright, I’ll be honest—his hotness that I’d forgotten to go back and grab my clothes from the pool house. Sophie had been called in early this morning to cook, so she’d taken the opportunity to search for my missing uniform. Unfortunately, she hadn’t found it. Since I wasn’t supposed to be back at work for another few hours, I’d been trying to clear my head with a run.

  Clearing my head would be impossible now. He’d found it? Did the horrors never end?

  I tried not to sound so shocked. “Oh.”

  He smiled again. “I figured you might need your shirt again, so I grabbed it and gave it to your boss as I was leaving the party.”

  My heart stopped and my jaw dropped. He gave my shirt to my boss? What was Jerry going to say to me? He’d know I wasn’t working. God, he probably thought I’d snuck off to have sex with this guy. I was so beyond screwed. I was going to get fired.

  His smile grew wider. “Yeah, he looked pretty pissed.”

  My face grew redder. What the hell? This guy was such an ass! How could he seriously be saying this to me right now?

  He started laughing.

  Seriously? I was about ready to punch the kid.

  “You should see your face right now,” he said laughing. “I’m totally kidding Emily.”

  His words didn’t sink in. “What?”

  “I didn’t give your clothes to your boss. They’re in my truck. Freshly laundered. Smell like spring mist or whatever the hell fabric softener my mom uses.”

  Now I’m not the type to have anger management issues. In fact, I was often overly passive. But something inside me snapped. Maybe it was his grin, or the flippant way he’d joked about me losing my freaking job. I’d had enough of this sexy asshole, and I couldn’t hold back. Instinct took over. Before
I even knew what was happening, I pulled back my arm and punched him square in the chest.

  “Ugchh,” he coughed, as he stumbled back.

  “Oh god!” I shrieked running toward him, “I am so sorry—I didn’t mean to—I mean, I meant to obviously—but I’m sorry!”