“I would have expected this reaction if I’d said there was a shark behind you, but a jellyfish?” I teased, adjusting my hold on her.
“I don’t like jellyfish,” she hissed, her arms tightening around my neck.
“Any tighter, Tori, and I won’t be able to breathe.” The grip didn’t relent. “So, I’m guessing this is the last of our beach trips?”
Head turning to me, she frowned. “No, it’s not.”
My brow quirked as I waited for her explanation.
“We can stay on the sand.” Her voice was a high-pitched question that had me grinning.
“We can do that.” I repositioned my arm so that her butt dipped into the water, and she rolled her body further into mine to avoid it. “We’ll stick to the pool at my place or yours for the swimming.”
“We have pools?” she asked as I made my way back to shore.
“Did you bother to even look at your apartment complex when you rented there?”
“Cash found it for me,” she admitted, giving me a bashful look. “I was too busy putting things in place for my parents, interviewing a new bookkeeper and prepping to leave.”
“So, your brother found the place, and that was it?” I lowered her onto the blanket, fighting the image of climbing over her as I removed my hands from her skin.
With a shrug, she replied, “I trust Cash.”
I tipped the umbrella back to let the sun hit her and dropped next to her. She wiggled her toes and dipped her neck back while she rested on her elbows, and I couldn’t help but stare at how alluring she was.
“Tomorrow, we explore your complex.” I averted my eyes and stared at the pounding waves.
“That sounds good to me. Where is the pool in your complex?”
“Further in. It’s nice, but I’ve never used it.”
A gaze weighed on me, but I didn’t turn to meet it.
“You’re complicated, aren’t you, Gabe?”
My chuckle came freely. “That’s the best way to describe it. Although that’s coming from the woman who is terrified to go into the ocean because of jellyfish.”
“They’re nasty things, and they hurt,” she said with a shudder.
“Has one ever stung you?” I glanced at her, waiting for her explanation.
“Well, no. But one stung Cash when he was on a trip in middle school. He told me it was horrible. They had to peel it off of him, but its suckers stuck in his skin, and it kept electrocuting him…”
I was laughing so hard by then that I had to hold my stomach. Bewilderment had her brows stitched and an expression of indignation sat on her face.
“How can you laugh? It was horrible.”
“How many years older did you say Cash is?” I asked, trying to calm my laughter.
“Six. Why?”
“So you were what? Maybe six or seven?”
She sat up and crossed her arms. “I don’t think this is funny, Gabe.”
“It’s hysterical. Jellyfish don’t do that, Tori. He played you. I’m guessing you don’t get to the beach often?”
Brows drawn, she said, “No. We went to the lake. The shore was too far.” She scratched her nose. “Cash went to the Jersey shore with his best friend’s family that summer.”
