“Selena.” I tested the name, liked how it felt in my mouth, liked how it made me think of moonlight on dark water.
“Beautiful name for a beautiful woman doing mysterious midnight things.”
“And you’re back to the terrible lines.”
“Would you prefer I stick with the shark facts? Because I have a lot of those. Like, did you know tiger sharks have incredible night vision? Best in their family, actually. They can see everything in the dark.”
She paused, her bag halfway over her shoulder.
“Really?”
“Yeah, so if I was a shark, I would have been able to see how many times you’ve looked at my abs during this conversation.”
She pursed her lips.
“That’s very specific knowledge about tiger sharks.”
“I’m a very specific kind of guy.”
“The annoying kind?”
“The persistent kind.”
I stood and stepped closer to her, close enough that I could smell the coconut oil on her skin, the sea salt in her hair.
“The kind who’s going to be thinking about you for the restof the night. The kind who’s hoping you’ll be thinking about me and back here tomorrow, same time, same place, so I can trip over you again.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“The thinking about me or the coming back?”
She shouldered her bag, but I caught how she bit her lip to fight another smile.
“Both. Neither. Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want to eat me.”
“Maybe I do.”
I wasn’t even trying to be smooth anymore. It was just the truth. I reached out and took her hand, and a spark passed between us, electric and golden. It reminded me of the taste of the ocean here.
“Goodbye, stranger,” she said, but hesitated before pulling her hand away and walking up the beach. “Try not to get eaten by sharks. It would be embarrassing to die from your own overconfidence.”
“Would you miss me?”
“I’d feel bad for the shark. You’d probably give it indigestion.”
I laughed. Couldn’t help it.
“Selena?”
She paused but didn’t turn.
“What?”
“Same time tomorrow?”
