“Hey.” Tucker waved his hand in front of my face.
“We should get something to eat.”
He yawned. “There’s a diner just down the road, and I haven’t had anything but booze since yesterday.”
“Yeah.” I stretched and headed back to the bedroom. “Let me get dressed. I’ll be right there.”
Within a half hour, both of us were sitting on opposite sides of a small booth in an old-school diner on the beachfront. The waitress serving us had been hovering since we walked in, and Tucker was all too aware of it.
“Who do you think she’s after?” he asked, glancing over in her direction.
She was adorable, with short blonde hair, blue eyes, and a cute little waitress outfit that showed off her long legs. She was over by the counter, looking down at her notebook and playing with a pen, but she kept shooting glances in our direction. She looked up, caught my eye, smiled, and then quickly turned her attention to getting us our food. I wasn’t sure what was a more tantalizing prospect, the chicken and waffles I’d just ordered or her.
“I don’t know.” I glanced back over at Tucker and shot him a cocky grin. “Want to find out?”
“How do you suggest we settle this?” He raised his eyebrows at me, obviously amused by the proposition.
“We’ll see who she likes better,” I said and offered the waitress another enormous grin as she headed back toward us with our food. She placed the plates down in front of us, smoothed down her skirt, and then spoke again.
“Is there anything else I can get you?” she asked.
Tucker opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get the words out, I swung in with my own little bit of flirtation.
“Your number, maybe?” I suggested, and she flushed bright pink.
She pressed her lips together, and I could tell she was doing her best to look pissed off at my forwardness, but there was a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. That told me she wasn’t completely averse to my come-on.
“I’ll see what I can do.” She nodded at me with the hint of a smile on her face, turned away and walked off.
I watched as she left, enjoying the sway of her hips and the motion of her legs. Then, I turned to my food. My stomach growled, empty but for the booze I’d put into it the night before. I was more than ready to give it some tasty fried chicken to fill that hole. Tucker sighed as he dove into his bacon and eggs.
“So, I guess you win this time,” he conceded, and I shot him a wicked grin.
“Obviously.” I held my hands up. “I can’t help it if all the girls at Sand Dollar want me, buddy.”
We dug into our food and chatted about the night before. We’d split off from each other relatively early in the night and hadn’t seen much of each other as the evening progressed, so neither of us had a clear picture of what the other had been up to. Tuck sounded like he’d had as good a night as I did, hooking up with a college chick who was visiting her friends after a recent break-up. Tucker wasn’t long off of a break-up himself.
He had just finished up the moping period a few weeks ago, and I knew this trip was probably helping him get all the pent-up frustration out of his system. If I were in his position, I’d want nothing more than to work out all the urges I’d built up over my time stuck in a relationship.
But then, it wasn’t like I had a whole lot of experience with relationships. They weren’t my thing, and I had no idea how anyone lasted more than a couple of weeks pinned down to one person when there were dozens of gorgeous women everywhere I looked. Case in point, the waitress heading back in our direction. She had a playful smile on her face, one that I returned.
“As requested,” she giggled. She had written her number on a scrap of notebook paper and pushed it toward me. I took it from her, our fingers connecting briefly, and tucked it into my pocket.
I grinned back up at her, and said, “Thanks.” I could feel Tucker’s death-glare burning into me as the waitress practically sent love-heart-eyes in my direction. “I’ll call you as soon as I get the chance.”
“Can’t wait,” she said and smiled shyly before she wandered off to let us finish our food. I watched her walk away again and then turned to my food and finished up.
“Was that some kind of set-up?” Tucker demanded.
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, that kind of shit never happens in real life.” He waved his hand in the direction of the waitress who had just headed back to the counter. “Did you pay her off before we came here or something? To piss me off?”
“I can honestly say I didn’t.” I held my hands up defensively. “I guess I really am that good.”
“Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it,” Tucker muttered, and I could tell he really believed this was some kind of game I was playing.
“You’ll get the next one, buddy,” I assured him, even though my brain added the caveat, but not if I get there first. “We’ve got the beach party tonight, remember? Here, let me get breakfast. Soothe your ego a little.”
“Oh, fuck off,” he snapped, but I could see the amusement in his eyes.
I paid the check, and we headed back to the beach house we’d rented for our trip. The food was sitting a little heavy in my stomach, and I needed to work it off. As much as I would’ve liked to sit on my ass and relax, the best thing for my body was to get out of the house and take in some of the fresh ocean sea air. A run would do it.
I changed into some gray jogging shorts and stretched on the beach opposite our house Then, I set out to sweat off the remnants of the booze and women from the night before and enjoy the beach while it was still too early to be cluttered with dozens of people. The beach party this evening would change that. For now, it was my little slice of perfect peace, and I wanted to make the most of it.
Chapter Four
Aria
I stepped out onto the beach, wriggling my toes in the sand beneath my feet. It was almost enough to make me feel human again. Almost.
“Go on, baby,” I ordered, and Betsy came bounding out of the room behind me and onto the beach, immediately sniffing around and scrabbling in the sand as though this was what she’d been waiting for all night. Well, I’d been hoping for nothing more than a decent sleep, but she seemed determined it wasn’t going to happen. I smiled as I watched her running around the beach. At least someone was happy at being up this early in the morning, even if it wasn’t me.
I’d had a little too much wine the night before. Nothing a few more hours of sleep and a strong coffee wouldn’t fix, but enough that my mouth felt like the sandy beach in front of me. I jammed my hands in the pockets of the big-ass hoodie I’d thrown over my pajamas. The look wasn’t exactly high-fashion, but I didn’t care. I didn’t see anyone on the beach who was going to rat me out for looking so crappy this early in the morning. Well, there was one guy, on a run, about a half-mile away. I didn’t think he’d come close enough to the house for me to have to make eye contact. Shame. He looked good, a mess of dark hair pushed back from his face and his t-shirt clinging to his muscular chest.
I eyed him as he made his way down the beach. Any other time, I might’ve strolled over and started talking to him, but this morning? The way I looked? No way. Peeled fresh from bed, my hair crazy and wearing my old, crumpled pajamas that, having doubled as my hair-dyeing clothes for a while, had become kind of gross. As long as the hot guy stayed far away, he wouldn’t get a good enough look at me to throw him off course to avoid the Wicked Witch of the West.