Keeping Mr. Right Now: A Kisses in the Sand Novel (Entangled Bliss) (9 page)

“No, that’s not what I meant. I thought first kisses didn’t matter as much to guys as they did to girls, so they didn’t really get nervous. A girl dreams about it. Thinks about it constantly. Wants it to be perfect and go on for hours. Boys want to rush through it so they can get to other things.”

He drifted closer. Tiny dots of light danced in his eyes. His stares always ratcheted up her heart rate, but this time she heard the beat pounding in her ears. “What other things are we talking about?” he said.

A really nice ache stretched up and down her inner thighs that had nothing to do with treading water. “You know,
things.
”

The dimple in his left cheek appeared, and Sophie crushed harder. She couldn’t pull her eyes away. So unlike her past infatuations, where she easily diverted her gaze to save herself from being discovered.

“Oh, I do know. I
am
one of these boys you speak of. But I’m wondering if you could say one of those things out loud.”

“Why?” she breathed. No way was this flirting going anywhere. He had models and actresses and beach bunnies to pick from.
Not this week
.

“Because I—
Ow. Hell.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Thanks for the warning,” he teased.

“I’m sorry!” Her cheeks heated. She’d been so preoccupied with her eyes on his that she hadn’t noticed they’d been swimming the whole time. How she missed the giant rock proved how preoccupied she was.

She swam around him and touched Lady Face. “Wow,” she whispered. Cold and smooth, she rubbed it like it held magical powers.

“You’re shivering,” Zane said. “Let’s head back.”

They swam toward shore, practically shoulder to shoulder. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she said.

He didn’t answer until her toes touched sand, and they slowed their pace, the ocean floor helping to keep them afloat. “There’s something I should tell you before we see my mom and sister.”

“Okay.”

His chest rose and fell. He stopped slogging against the tide. “My sister, Julia, has thyroid cancer. She went to the doctor this morning, so I wanted to see her. They caught it early but…”

Sophie spun around to face him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and squeezed. She’d heard the lump in his throat and, without a second thought, needed to comfort him. “Treatment works extremely well, Zane. I’ve done a lot of volunteer work with cancer patients. She can beat this.”

He blinked and nodded his thanks. Seeing this larger-than-life man out of sorts pinched her heart in a way it had never been before.

“I don’t have any brothers or sisters, but I imagine you want nothing more than to fix this.” She glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of a larger wave rolling at them. Her legs tensed.

Zane picked up her hand and jogged to shallower water as if he sensed the wave behind them. As soon as it crashed at her back, he slowed to a walk.

“You’re, like, one with the ocean, aren’t you?” she asked. A few more strides and they’d reach the shore.

“I like to think so.” He bent his neck to the side and then back so his hair flopped out of his face. “Thanks for the pep talk.”

“You’re welcome.”

They walked up onto the dry sand, and he spread out one of the fluffy yellow-and-white-striped towels for her. She collapsed onto her stomach.

“Tired?” He sat right in the sand, legs bent at the knees, and ran his towel over his face and head for all of two seconds.

She laid the side of her head atop her arms so she could look at him. “If I say exhausted, you won’t think I’m a wimp, will you?”

“Nope.”

“I think I just got a better workout than my kickboxing class.”

He rolled onto his side and propped up on his elbow. “You kickbox?”

“Thanks for sounding so amused.” She dug her toes into the sand.

“You just keep surprising me, is all.”

Her eyelids grew heavy. The warm sunshine on her back combined with the soft sand underneath her was a killer combination of comfort. And if she closed her eyes, she could dream about Zane and all the things she wanted him to do to her.

“Huh. No one tells me that back home,” she muttered.

“You’ll have to change things up, then.”

“Good idea,” she whispered, lids halfway to closing. She probably shouldn’t have stayed up until two in the morning last night watching
Blue Crush
on the movie channel. Things had gone so well at the film festival and she’d gotten back to her room around eleven, happy and pumped up. She’d ordered a hot fudge sundae from room service and, because she obviously hadn’t watched enough surf movies the past few days, needed another fix.

“I hope you had fun in the water this morning. I know I did.”

“Me…too…” Her eyes shut. She’d just take a ten-minute nap and then wake up ready to go and meet Zane’s mom and sister. She hoped they liked her.

Because the biggest surprise of all was Zane and how sweet he was. How thoughtful. How funny and humble. And with what little time they had together, she wanted to make a good impression. That way maybe he’d remember her as much as she knew she’d remember him after they said good-bye.

…

Sophie was dangerous. Zane couldn’t get out of his head how good it had felt to have her wiggling against him when she fell out of the car. He also couldn’t stop thinking about her up to her neck in
his
world, the place where whatever emotional heaviness bogged him down fell away. The ocean always made him feel lighter. Took his troubles and carried them away.

And hell if every word out of Sophie’s lush mouth while they were out there didn’t make him feel even better.

Less alone for the first time in his life.

Bryce and Danny had tried over the years. Even Julia. But whenever they went in the water with him, he shut them out, preferring silence to conversation. Out of the water, they dragged shit out of him, sure, but he didn’t share willingly. They’d witnessed the humiliation his dad doled out, so there was no reason to rehash it.

And for as long as he could remember, the only thing women wanted from him was a piece of his fame, five minutes in the limelight. Which suited him just fine. The less talk, the better. No woman seemed to honestly want to get to know him as a person. They only wanted what was on the outside.

The beautiful, sweet brainiac lying next to him saw through him and seemed to like what she saw.

Why did he care what she thought?

Caring, even for a few days, was a bad idea for a guy who lived out of a suitcase and kept his guard up. A guy who couldn’t shake the crap his father had said to him.
If
he ever found someone he liked enough to have a relationship with, she wouldn’t be someone who’d skipped grades in school and graduated from college early. How would he keep her interested for the long haul?

Sophie was unlike any woman he’d met before, and it messed with his head, that was all.

“What are you doing?” her soft voice asked, pulling him from his thoughts. Her green eyes stared up at him, her lips parted slightly.

“Watching you sleep.”

“How long have I been out?”

“About an hour.”

“An hour!” She bolted up. “Whoa, head rush.” She covered her forehead with her hand and cast her gaze to the shirt that had slipped off her back.

He put his hand on her arm. Her warm, soft skin set his body on fire. He’d fought the urge to touch her while she slept, his willpower truly put to the test. “Slow down. There’s no rush.”

Her long, dark lashes fluttered. “But your mom and sister are waiting for you. I’m super sorry I slept so long. You should’ve nudged me or something.”

Several somethings came to mind. “We’ve got all day. No worries.”

“I don’t have all day, Zane. I need to be back by three, four at the latest, for the concert tonight.”

He’d forgotten she had a job to do. That she had a new career she seemed to love and worked hard at. His schedule was unique, and he couldn’t expect that she’d fit into it. He couldn’t expect anyone to. “That’s right.” He got to his feet and put out his hand. “We’d better get going.”

She lifted his T-shirt with her free hand. “You covered my back with this.”

“I didn’t want you to get sunburned. I figured you put sunscreen on your legs, but not your back.”

“Thank you.” She blinked up at him with soft, appreciative eyes that made him ache to sweep her into his arms.

“Not a problem.” He took the shirt from her outstretched arm and pulled it over his head.

She stepped into her shorts and pulled them up her slim legs. His eyes tracked up the length of velvety fair skin and settled on the slight flare of her hips as her hands zipped and buttoned the clothing. She bent to pick up her shirt, rewarding him with a very fine shot of her ass. Her eyes widened as she straightened. He’d been caught checking her out.

Normally that didn’t bother him.

But with Sophie, he wasn’t
just
giving her the once-over, not if the twinge in his chest was any indication.

He grabbed their towels and avoided further eye contact. He felt like a damn teenager, confused and constantly turned on.

“Your knee okay?” he asked after they’d taken a few steps, the sun at their back, miles of sand and unpeopled ocean in front of them.

“It’s a little sore, but better than it was before. So is this beach really always this empty? It’s so beautiful I can’t imagine people don’t flock here. Especially this time of year.”

“It’s difficult to get to, so yeah.”

She made a face. “You’re not telling me something.”

How did she know that? “The road we took is private, so unless someone knows another way to get down here, things stay quiet.”

“Private meaning cars will get ticketed and towed if they’re caught parked where we are?”

“Probably not, but people don’t know that. Beaches are all public, as is most access, so there’s plenty of shoreline that’s easy for beachgoers.”

“You own the road, don’t you?”

Smart girl. “Yes.”

“The older woman I saw walking when we got here. Was she someone—”

“My mom’s next-door neighbor.”

“That’s nice,” she said with a thoughtful tone of voice that did something funny to the pit of his stomach.

They hopped in the car and talked about random stuff on the way to his mom’s. The conversation flowed with ease.

“This is my first time out of Montana and driving in a convertible, too,” she said.

“Well, I’ve never been to Montana.”

She smiled. “I guess you mostly stick to places near an ocean.”

“Yeah. Open water is definitely attached to my well-being. I need to see it. Be close to it.” Although a picture of Sophie standing atop some mountain, sunlight bathing her in perfect light, wildflowers at her feet, flashed through his mind.

“Someone, I can’t remember who, once said Montana should come with a surgeon general warning that it’s addictive. The sky is big and blue, and the air is always fresh and crisp and scented with pine. There’s a frontier spirit, but also a calmness, beauty in the landscape that slows your pulse.”

“You love it there.”

“I do.” She kept talking, filling him in on her favorite places, gesturing with her hands when she got really amped up about something and barely taking a breath between sentences.

He could listen to her talk all day.

“Teach me a few surf words,” she said, turning and tucking one leg under the other.

The fact that she’d grown so comfortable with him and not
asked
him to teach her had a big smile spreading across his face. With her sweet-as-sin voice and enthusiasm for just about everything, he didn’t mind being told what to do. His mind raced to demands she might make in the bedroom.

“Like what’s a brohah?” she said. “I heard it yesterday.” She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, but a few unruly red strands flew around her face. She kept swiping at them, which he found damn cute.

“A brohah is a dude or guy.”

She nodded and stared at him, waiting for more.

“Uh, fibro means surfboard. Chocka means cool or awesome. Doke means unbelievable or crazy.”

“Fibro, chocka, doke,” she whispered. “What else?”

“Noodled is what you were today.” She wrinkled her forehead. “Exhausted.”

“I’m not anymore. Go on.”

“The rear of a board is called the tail. And if I call you Sheila, it means I think you’re chocka.” He slowed the car as they entered his old neighborhood.

Sophie’s eyes darted around the car like she was trying to recall what chocka was, and then she grinned. “Thank you.” She settled back into her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, the smile staying on her face.

“You’re welcome.”

He parked the car in front of his childhood home, the familiar tangle of nerves settling deep in his gut. Under this roof, the harsh words his dad had rattled off on a regular basis always came flooding back.

“Zane!” His sister ran out the front door and greeted him the second he and Sophie started up the walkway. Her arms went around his waist and she held on tight. He squeezed back tighter. Eight months was too damn long to go without seeing her. “I’ve missed you,” she mumbled into his chest.

“I’ve missed you, too.”

Julia let go and put her hand out to Sophie. “Hi, I’m Julia.”

“Sophie. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Sophie’s running the film festival and had a little time to spare today. It’s her first time to California so I thought—”