“The dress can handle it.”
She considered that for a moment. I knew what I saw in her eyes at dinner. The feelings were still there. I didn’t think they would ever go away. Was she afraid to be alone with me because she knew there would be no denying that spark? I told myself not to rush. I would let her dictate how things went. I could be a gentleman.
We took our shoes off and left them in the car. I rolled up my pant legs as far as I could get them, which was only about mid shin. I took her hand, expecting her to protest, but she didn’t. We fell into an easy pace beside each other. The beach was quiet. A few lights from the houses up the shore. We had most of it to ourselves, which felt like a gift.
She bumped her shoulder into mine, which earned her a bump back. She bumped her shoulder into mine again, harder this time. I looked down at her with a warning, brow raised with a challenge. She did it a third time and I shouldered her back, sending her sideways a step. She laughed and recovered, planting her feet in the wet sand and shoving at my arm with both hands. I didn’t move an inch.
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” I told her.
“I’m warming up.”
“Terrifying.”
She bumped me again, hip to hip this time. I let it move me just enough to make her feel powerful. The smile it earned me was worth every bit of the dignity I sacrificed.
We walked closer to the water’s edge. The tide was coming in slow and easy, foam washing up around our feet and then retreating. The sand was cold between my toes. She walked right to the edge of it without hesitating, the hem of her dress catching the air as the water rushed over her feet. She sucked in a breath.
“It feels good,” she said. She looked down at the water pulling back around her ankles.
I waded in beside her. The water hit my rolled cuffs immediately and soaked through. I didn’t care. I would have walked in fully clothed and been completely fine about it.
She was looking out at the dark water with the moonlight sparkling across it. Her hair moved in the breeze. I watched her without trying to hide the fact I was watching her. She knew I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It was an affliction I suffered from the very first night I met her on that beach. I didn’t want to be cured. I loved looking at her.
She turned and caught me staring. The smile that broke across her face was the one that had kept me company on about a thousand sleepless nights. Before I could react, she swept herfoot sideways through the water, sending a wide spray across my chest.
I looked down at my shirt. Then I looked up at her with complete shock. “What the hell?”
She was already backing away. She was giggling and shaking her head. “Oops!”
“Oops?”
“I didn’t mean to get you that wet,” she said, which was a complete and obvious lie. The smile said she had no remorse.
I stepped forward and bent down, sweeping both hands through the water, sending a wall of it toward her. She shrieked and spun sideways, but she caught the worst of it across her hip and the side of that beautiful dress. She spun back around with her mouth open in mock outrage.
“This is a dress,” she said. “A very nice dress. It can’t get saltwater on it.”
“You started it.”
“I barely touched you.”
“You soaked me.”
She looked at my shirt before she burst into laughter. “I might have misjudged the power of my foot.”
“Bullshit.” I stepped toward her and she bolted. She splashed through the ankle-deep water, the dress billowing around her legs. I caught her around the waist from behind, both arms locking around her.
She grabbed my forearms and dug in. “Colt Anderson, don’t you dare.”
“You started a water fight on a beach,” I said. “This is the natural conclusion.”
“Don’t ruin the dress!”
She twisted in my arms just as a wave rolled in. It caught us at the knees and she lost her footing. I managed to catch her andkeep her from going down. The hem of the dress was soaked and my pants were wet up to my knees.
“That was close,” I said. “You almost went swimming.”
She shoved away and ran inland to avoid the next wave that caught me again. She was standing on the beach, the light behind her highlighting her blonde hair. She looked like an angel. A mystical creature. I couldn’t look away. My legs were moving without me even realizing. I was drawn to her. Always had been. I remembered a movie about a mermaid. Or maybe it was a fairytale. Mermaids supposedly had the power of enchantment or something. That’s how I felt with her.
