I knew it.I knew tonight was too good to be true. This beautiful woman who loves family, has a heart for volunteering, laughs like she’s enjoying every day to the fullest…and has crabs. Crabs that she’s currently bending over to show me. Her generous curves are flaunted to their fullest as she digs in her…bucket?
“Wait, the bucket is for your crabs? That big bucket? How many are there?”
She huffs a laugh as she continues to dig. “Ourcrabs, yes! Unless you want them crawling all over you and nipping at you all night! They can get pretty big, and it’s as many as you can find, really. I don’t think we’re exactly going to run out.”
It’s been such a long dry spell for me that my dick actually twitches. Just a little one, excited at the prospect of attention after so long, and from such a total package of a woman, no less. Even the thought of crabs isn’t enough to keep lil’ Ted down.I guess if we’re going to put them in thebucket…
“I swear, I’m going to kill my brothers for messing up my crab bucket! I had it just how I like it, and they have to throw their crap in when they use it, so that I can’t find anything!”
Close family, sharing a crab bucket…
“Well, I’ll have to look a little more to find my net, but here’s your flashlight.”
Now Ellie’s bent back over the bucket, and I have a flashlight in my hand…to look for her crabs.Everything else about her is perfect, Teddy. She might be your chance. Just be cool, go with the flow.
Taking her word for it, I turn my flashlight on and move behind her, bending over to take a look and—
“Teddy?” Ellie straightens and looks at me in confusion, noting my posture and the fact that I was on my way to looking up her skirt. A small white crab with yellow legs scuttles behind her, across the edge of one of the picnic blankets, just within the beam of my flashlight.
Ohhh. Oh, you idiot. Save it, man. Get it together.
“Sorry, I thought I saw one!” I stand to my full height and run my fingers through my hair, trying to seem chill and not like the creep I was just incredibly close to being. “Wow, so crabs on the beach, huh! Who woulda thought? Not me! When did you start doing this? How do we find them and catch them? What kinds of crabs are they?”
You’re ranting at her. You’ve already gone overboard with the whole picnic thing. Bring it back from the brink of insanity now before it’s too late.
Deciding to shut up, smile, and hold out my hand in hopes she’ll take it, I wait. The universe favors me once again, and Ellie takes it. I grab her bucket before she can, and she rolls her hazeleyes at me but doesn’t protest. Pulling me behind her, we set off down the dark beach, flashlights guiding the way.
“I’ve been hunting them since I was a little girl. Papa would bring us all for a picnic, more like option one from you this evening, I’d say, and we’d wait for the sun to go down, then all grab our buckets.”
Ellie keeps our hands firmly clasped together, swinging them gently between us as we meander down the beach. I have my flashlight and the bucket together in one, but my hands dwarf hers, so it’s not a problem for me to hold everything. She’s beautiful in the moonlight, baby hairs around her temple blowing in the sea breeze.
“To hunt them, we shine our flashlights, and when we catch them with the light, they’ll freeze! Like this!”
She punctuates her statement with a pose I can only describe as a gremlin mixed with a T. rex, and I’ve never seen anything cuter.
“They’re ghost crabs, and their biological subfamily name comes from the Greek for ‘swift’ and ‘foot.’ And they live up to it for sure, scuttling and trying to get away. But when they freeze, we scoop them up and plop them in the bucket! Some people collect them all night before they let them go, but…”
“But?”
“It’s silly, but I’ve always been afraid that if I take one from one end of the beach to the other, they might be away from their crab family. Or they might not recognize where they are, or be able to find the resources they need, and then they’ll panic or be sad…or whatever emotion a crab is capable of. I know how dumb that is, but I still—”
My lips on hers cut off the rest of her explanation. It’s forward, and I should have asked first like the gentleman I am, butfuck, she’s so sweet and beautiful and smart and cute, worrying about how crabs feel. It’s a soft kiss, but I’m weak in the knees at her taste, the chocolate of our dessert mixed with champagne. I only allow myself a moment before I pull back to see if she felt anything close to what I did.
Her eyes are slightly glazed as she blinks up at me, then slowly trails her tongue out to lick her bottom lip. She breaks the silence first with a whisper.
“One of their claws is larger than the other.”
What?“What?”
Her lopsided smile makes me want to kiss her again—harder and for longer—but she continues, slowly pulling me back toward our picnic area.Shit, is she ready to go? It’s been a while. Maybe the kiss was bad. I knew I should have asked Thatch to practice…
“They’re not symmetrical. They have one thicker claw, and these little eyestalks that are so cute. It’s too bad you won’t get to see one up close tonight.”
God, I knew it. She’s done with me. I had it coming, I suppose. Dropping the flashlight and bucket to the ground beside the gingham blanket, I sigh heavily, unable to turn to face her until I can think of my apology. Finally, I straighten my shoulders and start to say my piece before turning.
“I’m so sorry for ruining tonight with the kiss. Like I said, I really should have asked, and I—oomph!”
Any thoughts I had, apology or otherwise, are obliterated as I’m tackled to the ground. The enchantress who’s bewitched me since the moment I laid eyes on her in the hospital has executed an impressive jump tackle and taken me to the ground, slamming her lips to mine and thrusting her hands into my hair. My glasses have gone flying, but I don’t need to see right now. I can justfeel.
