“Excuse me,” I told him before I made my way over to Caterina’s booth and sat down next to her.
“I thought you were only working on Sunday night, catching up on emails.” I stretched my arm along the back of the seat. “You’re on an extended vacation, remember?”
“I’m not working for me, I’m working foryou,right now.” She turned to me with a raised brow before going back to the screen.
“Is this role play?”
She dropped her fingers from the keys and swiveled her head toward me.
“Role play? Seriously, Joe?”
“Oh, come on. You said, ‘working for me’.’” I crept closer. “Are you trying to sell me something? I could besointo this.” I squeezed her thigh under the table. “Come into my office,” I whispered in her ear and nuzzled her cheek. “Peel your clothes off, and show me what you’ve got.”
She jabbed my arm before squirming away. “I told you before, no going into your office when there are so many people here. We’re too loud.” She’d dropped her voice to a whisper at the end.
I choked out a laugh before coming closer.
“You mean,you’retoo loud.” And she was. I’d made her come enough times to know she couldn’t help screaming, except that time on my porch when she bit her lip so hard she almost drew blood.
“All right, just look at this.” She turned her laptop so I could see the screen. “You mentioned that you sponsor local events in the winter and fall, but this is a Halloween tour. Almost like part of a scavenger hunt. They do it across towns around the area. The Beach Pub could be a stop along the way.”
I scanned the online sign up form. “Yes, but this is for pumpkin patches. I don’t have any plants—only sand in the back.”
“Not all of them, and they’re not all real ones. Some establishments conjure them up. What if you buried a few in the sand? You could have the very first beach pumpkin patch. That could be cool. We could decorate the place a little, maybe have some photo ops and food specials. This tour seems to be gaining popularity, and you’d be Ocean Cove’s first vendor to sign up. Maybe boost other surrounding businesses, too, like Maria’s.”
“I think the zeppoles and rainbow cookies I’ve bought since you’ve been here gave her a nice boost already.” I laughed when she elbowed my side. “Is it expensive to sign up?” I tried to keep this place alive in the off-season, but it was a challenge. I’d still have to worry about winter, but a flutter of activity in October would be a godsend.
“Not really. They offer this cash prize at the end, and the participants have to visit each stop. It’s not big enough that they all would do it, but it’s good promotion to get your name out there, and I bet gets others to stop by, too. We just need to make the blurb for this place sound as awesome as it really is. I can take care of that if you’d like. What do you think?”
“I think let’s do it. Wow, this is…” I was distracted by her beaming smile as she clicked to the next page. “Fantastic,” I continued. “I’ve been trying to do something to attract people but never knew where to look.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck and planted a kiss on my lips. “I think this is going to be great. I’ve looked up this tour in a few places, and I think this could be exactly what you need in the fall. Stick with me.”
“Always,” I whispered before I kissed her, close-mouthed but slow enough to draw a couple of glances in my periphery from staff passing by.
I’d stick with her as long as I could.
30
Caterina
“Why are you always so secretive?”I asked Joe, trying in vain to be indignant as I stood before him naked and dripping.
“Because that’s how you plan a surprise. Why can’t you just go with it?” He turned to hand me a towel with a raised brow, his sandy brown hair now almost black from the water and stuck to his forehead.
“Can’t you give me a little hint?” I peered at him with doe eyes and a tiny pout.
“No, and stop being nosy.” Even without contacts or glasses, I spotted Joe’s snide grin.
I lost any words for a snappy comeback as my eyes roamed over his body. I followed the towel as he rubbed it down his arms, then back and forth along his back and…lower. The muscles along his shoulders rippled as his body moved, sucking all the coherent thought right out of my head. I’d never win an argument with him if he distracted me like this.
Since I’d arrived at his apartment on Saturday, we’d done everything together: eating, sleeping, showering. Not that I minded, by any means. In fact, we hadn’t spent more than a couple of hours apart at a time, and he hadn’t annoyed me once. I even missed him when he wasn’t around, which didn’t bode well for me when I pulled out of his driveway tomorrow morning. There was no denying we’d both let ourselves grow attached, which was wonderful, other than the fact we’d inevitably have todetach. And soon.
“You can’t ever stop staring at my ass, can you?”
I rolled my eyes and looked away, cinching my towel between my breasts as I tried to pretend I didn’t get caught ogling.
“Hey, we have a little time.” He turned me around, backing me against the sink.
