“Huh?” I looked out ahead and snorted a laugh. “The drawbridge is up. With any luck, it will be back down by the time we get there.”
“An honest-to-God drawbridge,” Jeremy said faintly. “Right here in the middle of civilization.”
I laughed and gave him a light shove. “Shut up. It’s not a horse and buggy, city boy.” I smirked at him. “Which they have in that newfangled city of yours, by the way.”
He feigned outrage. “It’s part of the New York City experience, I’ll have you know.”
“Uh-huh,” I replied. I was really enjoying the banter with Jeremy. I couldn’t remember having this much of a connection with someone so soon after meeting them. I slid my gaze over his gorgeous face. I was in serious trouble with this guy.
TEN
JEREMY
Longest. Run. Of. My. Life. The only reason I wasn’t sporting a raging hard-on was that I kept seeing all these women with little kids. Definite boner killer. Usually, I could lose myself in the rhythm of my feet and the sound of my breathing. Now I was focused wholly on the man beside me. Sean was fun. He made me laugh after so many months of taking everything too seriously. What was better was that he didn’t make a big deal out of my so-called fame. And holy God, was he sexy. I never would have considered myself a fan of long hair and ink, but on him—yes, please.
The beautiful houses to our left gave way to smaller homes, apartment buildings, and businesses. Sean pointed to a large building on one of the street corners. “We’re in Belmar now. That’s D’Jais. It’s a pretty popular bar and grill. There’s always music and dancing there during the summer season.” He glanced over at me. “I know you’re not big on crowds, but they have a nice patio that gives you space.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He pointed out an ice cream place, a surf shop, and a pizza place with “the biggest pizzas you’ve ever seen” and, of course, the requisite Dunkin Donuts on the corner.
“Mm, coffee,” I moaned.
Sean laughed. “You’ll get some when we get back,”
I quirked an eyebrow at him. “I certainly hope so.”
He smirked and just murmured, “Somanypossibilities.”
I rolled my eyes. I should have known he’d turn it around on me. Not that I minded. If last night’s performance was any indication, I would thoroughly enjoy anything he came up with. I was so lost in thinking about what would happen when we got back to the hotel that I failed to notice we’d come to the drawbridge until we left the boardwalk and went up onto the sidewalk. “Wow,” I said as we ran up the incline, “This is a really cool bridge.”
I glanced to my right. The inlet opened to the Atlantic Ocean. The mid-morning sun was brilliant on the calm water. “The view is spectacular from up here.” I pointed to our left. “What river is that?”
“That’s the Shark River,” Sean replied. “Boats come from there to go out onto the ocean—hence the drawbridge. There used to be a bigger drawbridge west of here, but the highway got so busy they had to turn it into a regular bridge tall enough to allow boats to go under.”
“That must have been some undertaking,” I said.
His mouth twisted a little. “Yeah, it was. A lot of people weren’t happy about it because it blocked their view of the water.”
“I can see how that would be upsetting,” I replied. Once we got over the bridge, we returned to the boardwalk—much easier on the joints than concrete. The homes to our left got bigger and the businesses all but disappeared.
“This is Avon,” Sean said. “Well, it’s officially called Avon-by-the-Sea, but nobody here says that.”
“That would be a mouthful,” I snarked, knowing how he would twist my words.
He smiled lasciviously. “You would know.”
I couldn’t help myself. I just laughed and laughed—which didn’t help my stride much. Sean was refreshing to be around. Evan was right. I had paired myself with some seriously uptight assholes so I could feel like I fit in on the concert circuit. “You would too,” I finally countered.
His grin just got wider. “Truth.”
As we got farther into Avon, I noticed a building in the distance that seemed to be in the middle of the boardwalk. I pointed at it. “What is that?”
“That’s the Avon Pavilion,” Sean replied. “It’s our turn-around point.”
“Is it really in the middle of the boardwalk, or am I seeing things?”
“No, it’s really there,” Sean answered with a laugh. “The Pavilion is a few things—an actual pavilion where people can just hang out, an open-air restaurant, and a little grill on the side. The restaurant and grill are only open in the summer.”
