“God, you’re gorgeous,” he whispered, his gaze as intense as hers must have been.
“Oh.” She had not been expecting the heartfelt compliment. “Flowersandflattery. You must really want me to buy your house.”
He chuckled. “No, I think we’d be having a different conversation if you were gung-ho to buy. And the statement stands, Tessa. You’re the same jaw-dropper today that you were in that white bikini that was made simply to torture helpless boys with raging hormones.”
She leaned back, her jaw loose. “I can honestly say I never thought you noticed.”
He snorted. “No one didn’t—and probably still doesn’t—notnotice Tessa Wylie.” He made a face. “A couple too many negatives in that sentence, but you get my drift.”
“Thank you, Dusty. Honestly, I never got that vibe from you.”
“Did that bother you?” he asked with a tease in his voice.
She inched closer. “Maybe. Did you pretend not to notice me just to get under my skin?”
“I wish I were that clever,” he admitted on a laugh. “Truth?”
“Only the truth.”
He took a minute to think and during that time, the waiter brought their wine and Dusty asked if she wanted to split fried calamari to start. After they ordered dinner, toasted, and sipped, he put his drink down and looked at her.
“Blame Eli,” he finally said.
“Ah, yes. He had ‘dibs,’ as you mentioned.” She rolled her eyes at the memory of young Eli’s sweet crush on her.
“I honestly thought the sun rose and set on that guy,” he told her. “I mean, he was a bit of a dork, but in a way that I longed to be. He had his act together at eighteen, and after spending some time with him last weekend, hestillhas it together. And he’s grieved, so I’m all the more impressed by him.”
She studied him, letting the cold wine play over her tongue. “It was nice of you to back off even if it did shake my confidence.”
He hooted softly. “Nothing should shake your confidence. Anyway, we were friends. I was such a mess, you and I could just have fun. And we did.” A slow smile pulled. “Do you remember the bonfire when we had to call the fire department?”
“Kate just reminded me of it the other day—not that I forgot.” She took a sip, letting her mind slip back in time. “But do you remember the time we climbed the fence into the Coastal Community pool at four in the morning?”
He threw his head back with a hearty laugh. “Hey, you dared me during truth or dare. What else could I do?”
“You could have told the truth.”
“No, I couldn’t. The question was what one girl had I never kissed that I most wanted to.” He pointed at her. “You asked it, by the way, and Eli was right there ready to kill anyone who said your name.”
She shook her head, laughing. “I have no recollection of that, but I do remember a bunch of us walking down Gulf Shore Drive, singing something by The Cars?—”
“’Just What I Needed’,” he said, and at her questioning look, he explained, “That was the song by The Cars. Don’t make me sing it.”
“Yes!” She gave a clap at the memory. “And you had the words all wrong. You kept saying, ‘I guess you’re just what I needed, I needed someone to read!’”
“And you kept getting in my face saying, ‘It’s feed and bleed, you idiot.’”
“Oh. I’m sorry I called you an idiot,” she said, reaching over the table. “That was rude.”
“Also true. I kinda liked it, anyway.” He turned his hand and captured her fingers. “It was like your special name for me. You didn’t call anyone else an idiot.”
“Oh, Dusty.” She bit her lip, unable to ignore what she now knew about the childhood that kid had. “I’m still sorry I said that. But I have zero regrets about breaking into the community pool.”
“Until we heard sirens,” he reminded her.
“We made it out unscathed,” she said, laughing again. “And we’re no worse for the wear.”
The memories continued as they shared the appetizer and ordered blackened fish for dinner, which was almost as good as the conversation. It flowed with no pauses except for belly laughs.
