“I like the way you saysecluded.”
He rolls his eyes before continuing on, me picking up my pace to walk alongsidehim.
I’m fascinated with how I want to be dominated by him, yet I’m the one taking on the more aggressive stance as far as flirtinggoes.
“Is this the moves you pulled on all your ex-girlfriends?” he asks, the sand kicking up around our shoes as we make our way along thebeach.
“I didn’t necessarily like the way they saidsecluded, if that’s what youmean.”
He sneers. “You’re a regular charmer, aren’tyou?”
“I can stop if you want me to. But I don’t think youdo.”
He turns to me for a moment, like he’s considering telling me that I need to stop, that I should for both our sakes, but I’m relieved when he doesn’t say anything at all…because I know he’s acknowledging that he enjoys being teased by me as much as I enjoy teasinghim.
And hell, how can I keep from flirting with him when his ass is the only thing I’ve been looking at for the past twenty-plusminutes?
As we come to the middle of the beach, he sets down the backpack he brought with him, rifles through it, and retrieves ablanket.
“You said you were with your ex-girlfriend for how many years?” he asks me as he spreads the blanket out and sets the backpack on the corner to keep the wind from catchingit.
“Five. We met freshman year, and we just split a couple monthsago.”
“Did you love her? Did she break yourheart?”
We sit together on the blanket, and I’m pleased that I finally have a chance to look at that sexy face ofhis.
“Eh. Can’t say it was love so much as something to do. Don’t get me wrong, we had a lot of fun, but I knew I didn’t love her. She was like a best friend after a while, and she said pretty much the same thing about me when she broke it off. She wanted a spark. She wanted something that excited her. Not just…whatever the hell wewere.”
When I’m finished talking, he pulls his backpack to him and retrieves a pair of shades, then slides them on, totally ruining my view of hiseyes.
“And now you’re running around town,” he says, “getting your dick wet all overagain.”
“What? No. Contrary to what you might think about me, I’m not the kind of guy who hooks up with people all over theplace.”
“Really? You seem like you’ve charmed the panties off some girls in yourday.”
“Nope. I’m just trying really hard to charm the panties offyou.”
“And here it looked like you were trying to get me to take offyourpanties.”
There’s that Eric I wanted to see, throwing my own line right back at me. This is who I feel like he really is—playful, frisky, fun. This serious act is something he feels like he has to put up because it’s what’s appropriate. But there’s so much more tohim.
He must sense he’s let his guard down too much, because his expression turns serious, his dark brows pulling together. He inspects my face as though he’s trying to read my intentions, none of which are good at thispoint.
“Well, for a guy who says he doesn’t hook up, you sure as fuck could have fooled me the otherday.”
“That was totally unexpected for a lot of reasons, so not sure I can even explain what the fuck was going on in my head withthat.”
“Whichhead?”
Again, his playfulness catches me off guard—so off guard this time that I let out a biglaugh.
“Take off your sunglasses,” I tellhim.
“What?”
“You’re keeping me from seeing one of your bestfeatures.”
