I take another bite of my own, but my eyes won’t leave the surf and as Holden emerges, dripping wet and gleaming in the late afternoon sun, I have to admit, he’s more decadent and satisfying than my meal. “I know my eyes are bad without my glasses, but how did you recognize him so quickly?”
I reach for my cream soda and take a sip. Holden dives into another wave. “He’s renovating my cottage.”
I can feel Cat’s disbelieving stare even though I’m not looking at her. “Right now? While you live in it?”
“Yep,” I say with a nod. “Jude hired him and I didn’t know.”
“Oh God, no wonder you’ve been coming by every day,” Cat says and pauses to take another bite of her own lobster roll. “I’d be avoiding my house too if he was in it. But then again, I’d probably stick around to make sure he doesn’t steal anything.”
“I trust him,” I reply without even thinking about it. I do. I know his reputation. I saw firsthand what Cat went through, but something in me wants to believe I can trust him.
“You think he’s changed?” Cat sounds absolutely astonished at the thought.
Holden body surfs a wave almost to the shore, then pops up, shakes the water from his hair and runs his hands through it. I wonder what it would be like to kiss him again, his body slick with water. He’d be slippery and his mouth would taste like salt.
“Winnie!” Cat’s sharp tone snaps my head toward her. She’s got an incredulous look all over her face. “You’re attracted to him.”
“I…I mean…” Why am I going to lie about this? “How could I not be? Look at him.”
Cat laughs at that but grows serious a second later. “So you think he’s changed? He’s not a thieving, borderline psychopath like he used to be?”
“Definitely not,” I reply. “He’s been kind of sweet to me. He helped me when I wiped out on my bike. And we had a really good…talk.”
Cat’s eyebrows jump at that. “Talk? You said that weird. Why?”
Because the talk was interrupted by our make-out session.
“Because it felt like I was really getting to know him and he wasn’t who I thought he was, but then Kidd showed up,” I explain as my eyes drift over to the ocean again. Holden is just standing there, his back to the shore, letting the waves crash around him. “Holden had been out drinking with him and swindling people at pool and so I wonder if I was wrong.”
“If he’s still buddies with Kidd then yeah, you’re wrong,” Cat says decisively as she crumples up the wrapper from her now demolished lobster roll. “That guy was, is and always will be trash. You know Kidd knocked up a girl I went to high school with but doesn’t do shit for her or the kid. He’s like an absentee dad but he lives with them. She can’t get him to change a diaper let alone pay some rent.”
Holden is walking out of the water now. I can’t stop my gaze from drifting straight down to his soaking wet underwear. It’s clinging tightly to his thighs and ass and the impressive bulge in the front. Desire ripples through me. I don’t know if he can feel my eyes on him, but he turns his head and looks right at us. His step falters for a moment and then his whole, wet, chiseled body shifts and he starts walking toward us instead of to his discarded belongings.
Cat grabs her bottle of root beer in one hand and her flip-flops in the other. “I don’t think he’s changed,” she announces. “And since he’s not renovating my house, I don’t have to talk to him. See you later. Remember, you promised to go out with me tonight.”
Cat turns away and starts up the beach toward the boardwalk. I watch her go and fight the urge to change my mind on the whole going out thing. She really wants a girls’ night and I really should try to do something other than drink and cry.
“Hey,” he says and I turn back to find him about a foot from me. Just standing there in his wet underwear like some kind of Baywatch extra. “Was that Cat Cannon with you?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
His eyes drop from mine and land on the small scrap of lobster roll still in my left hand. “Is that a lobster roll from her store?”
I nod again. He groans. It’s wanton and the sound creates a warm sensation between my legs. “God, those things are the best in the state. I fucking love the way they butter then grill the bun and don’t drown the lobster in mayo.”
Without even thinking about it, I hold out the remaining chunk. Those silver-blue eyes widen. “It’s all yours.”
He steps closer, now his perfect body is so close that when he leans forward to take the roll, I’m lightly sprinkled with ocean water from his hair and shoulders. He plucks it from my hand and pops it in his mouth and I’m greeted with another one of those shameless groans. So. Hot.
“You know you can buy your own. You don’t have to eat my scraps,” I tell him as I start to get up. Sitting here on the blanket with him right in front of me means my eyes are in line with his package. And that view combined with that groan is too much for my girl bits to take.
He reaches out to help me to my feet, but I ignore his outstretched hand and manage on my own. A disappointed expression drifts across his face but it’s gone in seconds and he shrugs. “Cat made it clear I’m not welcome at Cannon’s Corner Grocery.”
I’m torn between feeling sorry for him and completely understanding Cat’s point of view. I reach down and grab the blanket Cat and I were sitting on. “I should get going.”
“You headed back to the house?” he asks and runs a hand through his hair sending any remaining water droplets flying. My eyes follow one as it lands on his shoulder and starts a leisurely decent down his chest. “Water is back on in your place. Still have to use the trailer for showers for now, though, until the new one is installed.”
My mouth starts to water and all I can do is nod. He smiles and I’m worried he’s getting off on my getting off on his nearly nakedness. It makes me blush. “You know they make these things called swimsuits.”
